Been thinking hard on this

[nadinbrzezinski]

but there are forces in this country that MAY consider themselves "progressive" who hate unions. Not that they are aware of it, but you just need to read the posts on even places like this, about school teachers (the latest Union to be in the process of being busted.)

And I got to wonder, what the hell is going on? So I go to Target to pick up my meds... and the answer is right there in front of me... the many distractions and the NEED for people to consume. This is also tied to the defense, reflexive is at may be, of Corporations.

We have been well trained to hate ourselves if we cannot consume. We have been well trained to believe that we are somehow inferior, if we cannot consume. And this latest revelation came from a story on NPR on how girls are being told that the add culture we live in, which is insidious, tells them that they are not worthy if they cannot go to school wearing Ugg boots, and Guess Shirts, and whatever other perfume they wear.

This is what this is about.

So here we are going... what if? Well the first step is to realize that you live in a CONSUMERIST culture that depends on YOU to buy, and do so at the cheapest possible price (and why Unions are bad since they raise, ever so minimally the externalities)

That is the first step.

And you know what folks? I don't think that is going to happen any time soon. We are TOO DEEP into consumption and the yearly rites of buying... we just are. And it will take something major for that spell to break. And at this point I don't know what that will be.

I am very close to giving up in fighting this tsunami. There is little I, as an individual can do, and trying to wake up people is not working. So yes, I am very close to just hanging up my hat and moving on with my life... making it as much as I can... knowing well that things will only get worst. But reality is people don't give a real fuck, not as long as there is a next bauble to buy... that's the sad fact.

[SPedigrees]

1. Let me thik.... nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Thanks, I think

[Edweird]

3. Yes, there are union/labor bashers here that claim to be on the left. DLC=GOP.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Too many of them, and sadly they are the majority

and sadly many of them do not even realize they are

[Caliman73]

27. It is a little like younger women who look down on outspoken feminists...

They benefit from hard fought, painful victories, but fail to understand that the battle against reactionaries and power brokers is never really over. I think that things are somewhat cyclical in nature where common people make some gains, the powers that be fight back, the when people get pushed back far enough, they begin to fight anew. Hang in there.

[Greyhound]

5. K&R. We see it every day, this is just one of the hard ones for you.

Get out and do something, this place and time is toxic, but it will be better later before it gets worse, again.
:hug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I am doing some research on labor history

and it is striking how the words used by labor organizers in the 1880s are so-similar to what we hear today from people. Granted we are not fighting for an eight hour day (because we all know that is the rule of the land today :sarcasm:, ask that to salaried people)... but the words are so damn fucking similar. Like we didn't have a fight or something.

Oh wait, I need to get the latest bauble.

That's what gets me.

[Greyhound]

39. The first time for me was listening to an interview with Al Lewis (yes, that one)

from the late 70's early 80's talking about it when he was coming into adulthood in the 20's - 30's labor movement. Same thing, it could be today.

[DailyGrind51]

7. "The one with the most toys at the end, wins!"

Something I read on a bumper sticker on a Porsche driven by a dude wearing aviator shades.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. And that sumarizes the current culture, doesn't it?

[CrispyQ]

12. He's deluding himself. The truth is this:

He who dies with the most toys, still dies.

I'm boggled by the mind set of men like the one you saw. When taking their last breaths, will their regrets consist of a list of material objects they wish they had bought? I could almost feel sorry for people like that & the shallowness of their lives, except it's that same shallowness & greed that is taking everyone down & destroying the planet.

[PA Democrat]

20. Local guy was buried inside his expensive sports car ( don't know the make)

Literally, they put his body in the car, dug a great big hole and buried the car and him in a local cemetery. I guess he was trying to disprove the old saying that "you take it with you." :crazy:

[TorchTheWitch]

30. "I want the last check I write to bounce."

Great line from the movie Ocean's Twelve.

[Warpy]

8. I've been out of step for a very long time

I have sunk into real poverty more than once in my life due to serious health issues. I learned to be a saver, not a spender. That doesn't mean I deprived myself of much, it just took me longer to get it because I didn't use plastic and often by the time I'd saved enough, I didn't want it any more and had moved on to something else to obsess over while I saved.

I forgot how to spend, in other words.

Perhaps if health care had been fully unionized and I'd have been able to get health insurance, I might have supported the consumer culture.

As it is, I'm still a bottom feeder, buying used, refurbished, fixing old stuff, or doing without.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. We save for EVERTTHING we buy

and save for a rainy day...

I guess we are out of step too

[Speck Tater]

11. I'm with you. I've been dirt poor and learned how to live happy without being a consumer.

Consequently, I often feel a sense of smug superiority for not being one of the mindless consuming masses.

[mdmc]

22. funny

I was a consumer until I got sick. Now every penny, not enough pennies in fact, goes to co-pays now.. I still consume - health treatment.

[SPedigrees]

31. Wait til you get caught inside a land boundary dispute.

You learn to save every penny for legal expenses. Take my advice - if you own land, photograph every fence and survey pin or boundary marker on every corner of your property every 5 years, with your kids or pets as a marker for the timeline of the photo.

[Warpy]

32. I never know when the bottom will fall out again

So I'm keeping enough cash reserve to pay cash for an average house in this particular market.

If Gibbs isn't lying (as usual), then there is no help for those of us who had the bad judgment to get sick at some point in our lives coming out of this rotten health care bill.

It just makes it all the more important to push the Grayson bill for a Medicare buy in.

[RKP5637]

13. This is a brainwashed consumer nation, it starts at birth and is programmed daily into

minds... it is the essence by which a capitalistic society exists. It is pathetic, but many get their psychological help through compulsive buying. I am fed up with it too, but it is so very ingrained into the psychic of this place, and the techniques today of intimidation into buying are incredible. What I am saying is, I know exactly what you mean!

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. I will only disagree in this

We are NOT a capitalist country. Having read Adam Smith I know he is rolling in his grave. What we have is a CONSUMERIST economy with corporations as king, and monopolies. Both sickened Adam Smith who had a lot of no good to say about both.

And why I also rail about how words matter... and they have meaning. But I am about to give up on that as well.

[RKP5637]

24. I think you are quite correct! Thanks!!! n/t

[CrispyQ]

17. I watched one of those hoarder shows last night.

It made me want to gather up a box or two of stuff & get it out of my house! I decluttered my entire house several years ago. It was liberating!

Now books, that's another matter. ~sigh

[SPedigrees]

28. What bothers me most about the 'hoarder shows' are the skewed priorities.

One woman who had clung to a beautiful antique rocking horse steeped in sentimental value and was harassed into throwing this treasure into a dumpster! It should have graced her livingroom until her young son was grown, and, in time, been passed onto her son for his children. Another woman was coerced into discarding all her photographic negatives. Um, photos deteriorate (from sunlight etc) before negatives, and a treasure that might have been stored in a small envelope was flung into a landfill. Then there was the tropical fish enthusiasist who was nearly coerced into discarding his old (perfectly usable) aquariums, until he realized they would be going into a dumpster rather than being recycled. Fortunately he put the brakes on that operation. Have the operators of this programme never heard of http://www.freecycle.org/group/US ?

[RKP5637]

29. Yep, so did I, and I started looking around the house thinking I might be getting close! n/t

[Whisp]

34. the very word 'consumer' is disgusting. I remember being called a citisen way back. n/t

[RKP5637]

35. It is, isn't it... it makes it sound like one is compulsively gorging on stuff. I just

get really tired of the whole thing, the pounding of commercials, ads, all of this, 7x24... and buy buy buy. It's ridiculous IMO.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. It sickents you and me

but not most. They are happy little critters going about consuming. Don't bother them with what matters.

[CrispyQ]

14. It's an addiction.

My sister & her husband buy, buy, buy! They owe more on their house than it's worth & their credit cards are close to maxed out, but you know what? They just buy cheaper stuff. Instead of going to nicer restaurants, they go to cheaper ones. If they have $60 credit on a card, they spend it. They are so addicted to buying stuff, that I'm not sure the idea of stopping buying has even entered their heads.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. I am sure it has not

it is an addiction.

I had to buy a set of boots to go to Cleveland (they were not cheap)... but I needed good snow shoes. My niece astounded me, talking about Ug boots.

Not like you can make them waterproof either

[SPedigrees]

18. I admit to carrying the 'shopping gene' in my dna, but I'm a cheap date.

I have an innate impulse to buy, but designer labels do not entice me. I think it is the 'hunter-gatherer' gene that causes me to 'shop.' And the pragmatist, non-peer impulse motivated gene that prevents me from making stupid purchases. I can (and do) live well within my means. Thrift shops, ebay, and tag sales are my favorite markets.

[CrispyQ]

23. The crux of what you said is here:

"I can (and do) live well within my means."

[mdmc]

19. Every dollar I spend is a political act

I have a cell phone with AT&T - it costs 53 bucks a month for the cheapest plan. They are unionized. I could get a better plan from one of the non-union providers but I didn't.

I shop at Shoprite and Stop&Shop (Teamsters). Walmart and PriceChopper are cheaper..

I shop local and avoid the box store. I try to buy American..

Every dollar I spend is a political act..

[Brickbat]

26. Marry me.

I'm the same way. Drives me up the fracking wall when people make excuses. Yes, it's hard. Yes, sometimes you pay more. But it's worth it.

[BrklynLiberal]

38. EXCELLENT! We CAN vote with our dollars and our feet!!

CostCo and Lowe's over WalMart, etc and Home Depot

[Brickbat]

21. They hate unions because they believe union members somehow don't deserve what those members have

fought for. When they hear about someone's union contract with decent wage, benefits, hours and protections, they think, "Why does he have that?" and try to figure out how to make that person lose it, or punish him, or explain to themselves that he is "lazy" and "doesn't earn his money."

By doing this, they are protecting themselves from the question, "Why don't *I* have that?" And of course there are several answers to that question, too, such as they don't want to work for it, they are scared of losing their jobs, or whatever.

[mdmc]

25. Nice OP

I posted a poll based on your OP

[Dinger]

33. I Would Love To Share Something With My fellow Democrats

I have recently won an award, but if I share it here, I fear that some will come after me and ruin it. Is simply don't have the nerve to share it, and that's a shame because my family and I, and my friends are proud of it. I wish I could say more, but I can't. I have worked too hard for it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. Congratutaion on what you have won

My brother got another award as well, one that I'd be careful of sharing any more. I get it.

[mdmc]

40. DInger - did you get the top fund-raising bundler award for the dlc again?

:)