What's wrong with American priorities? THIS...

[Triana]

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. It's a display of Traditional American Values.

[Wella]

4. No it's not. Traditional American values were steeped in religion and civic duty

Consumerism is a mid-20th century phenomenon that eroded the real traditional American values.

[truebluegreen]

24. The operative word being "were"...

and I for one don't miss the religion-steeped ones.

[Wella]

25. You prefer consumerism?

That is the religion that's being pushed on us.

[truebluegreen]

35. Either / or? Are you saying those are our only choices?

Because I don't accept the premise. And for the record, I prefer sustainability, not consumerism, not materialism, not capitalism (which of course requires growth). We need a new paradigm, not a return to an old one.

[Warpy]

28. Only until after WWII

That's about when pent up demand that had accrued during the Depression and the war exploded. A lot of kids who grew up during that time emulated their parents and got onto the consumerist treadmill.

Now, lacking leisure and family time thanks to overwork with long commutes, people are staying on the treadmill in the hope that something, anything, will make them feel good, if only for a few hours until they get bored with it.

[BobTheSubgenius]

51. Quite right, IMO.

I think there was also a general feeling that those behaviors were a statement of sorts. A huge elation at winning a titanic struggle, which a great many took as a cue to play the part of Masters Of The Universe.

There was also a glut of available products the like of which the world had never seen, and unless there is another world war and a similar recovery, an explosion like that will never be seen again. Americans made up about 6% of the world's population and consumed about 30% of global consumer goods, and had a manufacturing capability that could export more than the world could afford to buy.

[Kermitt Gribble]

52. Although consumerism grew after WWII,

I think it was conservative until the 80's or 90's. All of my relatives and friends' parents were conscious of their spending - very few items that weren't necessities.

[Jackpine Radical]

53. OMG, Warpy.

That last sentence is perhaps the most poignant statement I have ever read on DU.

Seriously.

It absolutely encapsulates the experience of the working people, from Walmart stockers to physicians trapped in the modern corporate health care world.

[Nay]

2. Amazing! Train people for 100 years to be acquisitive, money-grubbing,

keep-up-with-the-joneses types, advertise to them 24/7, treat them like dirt if they don't have the right clothes/hair/weight/gadget, tell them that they are special snowflakes who did it all themselves, and . . . that's the kind of society you get! Who could have known?

[whathehell]

31. As the posters above indicated, it's more like 60 years.

[handmade34]

3. we collectively

have been duped

[Skittles]

9. count me out

I would never line up for a stupid phone or shop on Black Friday - I find those folk sickening

[handmade34]

11. ok...

there are a few of us that realize the truth... but I always have to talk in terms of the collective group because it is going to take a large percentage of our collective population to fight back and win...

...and I don't find these folks sickening, I find them scared, unaware, cowed, ignorant of how their actions affect the common good...

[Skittles]

20. easily manipulated people make me sick

sorry, they just do - they're pathetic

[paleotn]

23. I'm with you on that. (nt)

[shanti]

15. You and me both, sister

From now until after the new year, I don't step foot in a store except for groceries. Not a fan of the holidays.

[Liberal Lolita]

40. You, and me both

I stock up on groceries before Thanksgiving so I can avoid stores period. I don't mind the holidays, I hate the crowds in the stores.

[RufusTFirefly]

16. There's an abstract and even more ominous side to these frenzies

If they're capable of manipulating the masses to go berserk over a lousy smartphone, think what a demagogue could do with this same power -- especially if s/he appeals to drives that are even more fundamental, like patriotism and fear.

[Skittles]

19. I know two of those line-up-on-first-day nutcases

ever questioned them? They will not admit what REALLY motivates them

[paleotn]

26. I fear it's only a matter of time.....

....and imagine what such a megalomaniac could do with the American military complex and security apparatus. To me it means that politics is more important now than at any time since the Civil War. Probably more important.

[Kermitt Gribble]

54. Did we get a glimpse of that after 9/11?

People were falling all over themselves trying to prove how patriotic they were.

[RufusTFirefly]

55. Yes. And there was an explicit connection made between patriotism and shopping.

What better way to prove you love this country than by buying stuff? On the other hand, if you try to feed homeless people in a public park, you'll be arrested.

[Jackpine Radical]

57. And before Poppy's first Gulf war, the public, with memories of Vietnam yet green,

were opposed to the war by an 80-20 margin.

In a matter of 2 or 3 weeks, using all sorts of crazy propaganda about babies thrown out of incubators and the like, they managed to turn the polls around to 80-20 FOR the war.

[Kermitt Gribble]

58. Thanks for the info.

I've never heard that before. I was only about 20 at the time, and didn't follow politics. Sounds like the Vietnam opposition taught them how important propaganda would be for their future wars.

[Jackpine Radical]

62. Yes, the Establishment learned a lot from Vietnam--

Like, it's bad PR to show gritty pictures or, worse, videos, showing the brutal inhumanity of war. Instead, by GWI they had the whole war reportage with Schwartzkopf & his nightly briefings each featuring a high-altitude video that made the whole war look like a video game. People in redneck bars across the land would cheer videos showing the incineration of hundreds of antlike creatures on the ground, with no acknowledgment that those were human beings being horribly destroyed..

[RufusTFirefly]

65. Reagan actually gave this approach a dry run with the invasion of Grenada

Blame Grenada!

...

Defense officials had long blamed press coverage for the failings of the Vietnam War. So when hostilities heated to boiling in Grenada, they used that war as their excuse to make sure that they had the press under control.

When American soldiers stormed the island's beaches at 5 a.m., journalists weren't there to document the invasion.

Even though State Department officials notified Cuba, the Soviet Union and Western European Allies about the invasion several hours before it happened, they left the nation's press corps in the cold until President Reagan announced the invasion at 9 a.m. that same day. Even then, they restricted reporters to Barbados for another 48 hours.

...

From "Blame Grenada" : Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

[Moostache]

56. That is one aspect of Ted Cruz that scares me...

That man is frightening.

First off, I am massively distrustful of ANYONE who seeks power for power's sake. But when you mix in the religious aspects of Ted Cruz and his whacked out family, things rapidly escalate.

I hate the hyperbole of every presidential election being termed "the very existence of the republic is at stake", but if for any reason that whack-o Cruz ends up on the ballot, the usual hyperbole may actually be understating things...

[hifiguy]

5. A nation of sheep

Ruled by wolves
Owned by pigs

Wish I could rec this post a thousand times.
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo Possum

[Lucky Luciano]

21. Sounds like Pink Floyd's Animals album. nt

[brett_jv]

36. You ... well-heeled big wheel ...

Ha Ha, Charade You Are ....

[olddots]

6. we are a failed culture wrapped in a flag

Holding a cross and hiding from reality .

[Triana]

7. +1

Well said!

[hifiguy]

8. An excellent and perfectly accurate summary

[Rex]

10. America is a consumers paradise. Democracy? Education?

Not so much.

[RufusTFirefly]

12. Media consolidation and relaxed FCC licensing play a key role in this

TV and radio were always susceptible to censorship, propaganda, and corruption. And yet, once upon a time they had two key counterbalances that have been removed:

1. Independence. Pre-Reagan, the media landscape was far more diverse. More than a hundred companies, many of them local, competed for access to your eyes and ears. Now, most of what we see and hear is controlled by just a half dozen corporations with no connection to the community. Profit is everything. Why waste money by doing an in-depth analysis of local elections when you can run highly profitable campaign ads instead?

2. Accountability. Radio and television station licenses periodically came up for renewal. In order to retain its license, a station had to prove to the FCC that is was operating in the public interest. Stations were still in the business of making money, but they understood that campaign forums, local documentaries, editorials, and in-depth reporting on civic issues were part of the cost of staying on the air.

[hifiguy]

13. Damn straight they do.

As did the turning over of news divisions of networks to the entertainment divisions. I grew up with Walter Cronkite. I can no longer watch American teevee news; it's nothing but carefully crafted propaganda in the service of the New Fascist overlords.

[snot]

48. Thanks for making that point. Note,

per the new NPR boss, "We're going to be talking about brands that matter a little bit more."

http://fair.org/blog/2014/09/08/new-npr-boss-were-going-to-be-talking-about-brands-that-matter-a-little-bit-more/

[RufusTFirefly]

50. Thanks for the link!

I always feel bad for well-meaning friends who actually believe that NPR is liberal.
A case could've been made for that perhaps 20 years ago.
But those days are long gone. Long gone.

I can no longer stomach anything news-related on NPR.

[KoKo]

59. Well said.. & yes...the Counterbalances have been removed!

[RufusTFirefly]

63. Thanks! And you're exactly right. Those counterbalances are long gone. n/t

[KoKo]

64. Seems you and I have lived through it...and notice the difference...

Thank you for being alive when I am...

:smiles: We live to "tell the stories." Someday...Someone's will be Glad that we Did.

[Thinkingabout]

14. I wish I could say you are very wrong but we know it would be a lie.

This is sad, our military deploys and put their lives at risk so we could keep this available for us and they just do not show up.

[BlueJac]

17. It is all fucked up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[elzenmahn]

18. Says it all...

...guess it's not as sexy and as alluring to be a citizen as it is to be a consumer.

And more for our USRDA of irony: being a citizen exercises our power, whereas in being a citizen, we give up our power by giving our money (a form of power) to an already powerful institution.

And choosing to give up power is the sexy alternative, it seems.

Sux.

[Thespian2]

22. Yep.

Sums up the training that has been going on for years. Low information people have no idea how corporations screw them every day.

[RKP5637]

27. So many Americans are propagandized and stupid. It's hard to tell now which came first! n/t

[RufusTFirefly]

29. Even more dangerous than stupid people ruled by propaganda....

... are smart people, who mistakenly think they're immune to it.

Don't kid yourself. All of the corporate networks are tools of propaganda. Fox is just the clumsiest, most conspicuous example.

MSNBC is to politics what a stripshow is to sex.

Sorry to mix my metaphors.

[RKP5637]

30. Yep!!! Well said!!! n/t

[appalachiablue]

32. For anti-consumerism, humor and activism watch: "What Would Jesus Buy?" movie

2006, by Rev. Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. US Thanksgiving and Christmas mania coverage by performance activists of Black Friday Shopping Stampedes, burned out Middle America downtowns, Disneyworld consumerism. Hilarious and genuine portrait of our society gone wrong.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

33. Most Americans have their heads firmly implanted up their assholes.

[maddiemom]

34. Sadly, YES in all cases.

[jtuck004]

37. What's the problem. We spend at least 12 years teaching people what's important.

They are doing exactly what they were trained to do.

[Derek V]

38. K&R

Almost forgot.

[alcibiades_mystery]

39. Pffffffft

Load of bullshit.

Don't be so gullible.

[blkmusclmachine]

41. The Christian Right has been infiltrating their wolves in sheep's clothing candidates for decades.

In fact, it was the guiding principle behind the formation of the President's Prayer Breakfast, the first conference for the United States occurring in Washington DC in 1952.

[Odin2005]

42. We have become a atomized non-society.

The vast majority literally don't care about their civic duties as citizens, anymore.

[DeSwiss]

43. This graphically demonstrates......

...what people believe in.

What they value.

What they think is worth their time and energy.

This is not what's wrong with America's priorities. America is a granfalloon. This is what we've evolved into and there are very good reasons why.

The first two pics are part of that reason.

[center]
[/center]

[redruddyred]

44. oh yeah convincing people to vote is like pulling teeth.

shouldn't be that way.

[oberliner]

45. Idiotic propaganda photos

I can show you photos of PTA meetings that are jam-packed and I can tell you first-hand that on the most recent election day there were lines around the block at my polling place.

[KoKo]

61. Where you are located and where some of the rest of us are located...

But, it isn't true everywhere. The demands of today's economic realities, in most of America, mean that two earners and shift workers sharing parental responsibility don't have much time to go to PTA Meetings or Engage in Civil Activities the way it was decades ago. Single Mom's and Dads have it even worse trying to deal.

So, the photos make a point that is the reality out there in much of America. The Economic Recovery is unequal in the pockets of America it has occurred (mostly big cities on the two coasts and Fracking Boom in Texas and Montana.) And even then, it's the top 1-2% who have gotten the most benefit.

[oberliner]

66. That is a fair point

I just don't think it is reasonable to use those photos to illustrate that point.

[bigwillq]

46. K and R

[ileus]

47. Those Iphone cultist amaze the most.

Waiting in line for a once a year sale is somewhat reasonable if you're on a budget and don't mind stupid people in crowds. I just can't wrap my head around standing in line for a cell phone that will be there the next day.

[840high]

49. K/R x100

[Jamaal510]

60. Back in the day,

not everyone could have an education, just as how not everyone was allowed to vote. It makes me mad to see people take those things for granted.