Consumed by Consuming?
Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole. How’s that for a book title? A little dramatic? Yes. Completely true? I think it might be.
I recently read this book by Benjamin Barber about how our capitalist society has turned citizens solely into consumers and how a society of consumers is empowering the corporate world to actually manufacture our needs. To be fair, most of the students I know who have read this book found serious faults in Barber’s argument and in general, just didn’t enjoy the book. It was hard to get through (there are 91 citations in the first chapter) but I totally bought his point (pun intended, haha).
I’m not necessarily recommending anyone read his whole book because it was a little painful, but check out the excerpts below and follow the link to a video clip and take his message into consideration - YOU DON’T NEED HALF OF THE THINGS YOU ARE BUYING!
While you’re watching/reading, take this into consideration: In his last book, Jihad vs. McWorld, Barber predicted that religious extremists in other parts of the world would soon feel so trapped by the West’s intrusion into their cultures that they would be forced to retaliate violently (read: 9/11). He’s a regular Nostradamus.
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