Two Cheers for Consumerism

In the article called 2 cheers for consumerism, the writer Twitchell explains how people, the consumers, are consuming more and more items everyday. According to the author of the article “The really interesting question may be not why we are so materialistic, but why we are unwilling to acknowledge and explore what seems the central characteristics of life.”. Many people spend most of their time and energy consuming or producing items all the time and most of that happened in the 20th century, like for example in the 1960’s. Some people consider this as Commercialism, and others as consumerism, but either way, commercialism or consumerism will stay up high for many people that like to buy stuff. The U.S. is a nation of consumers.

Consumerism affects people in many ways, like for example age and many other things. The main idea for consumerism is that many people can’t resist having a specific item, most of those items are objects that they don’t really need. According to the author “ it is simply impossible to consume objects without consuming meaning.”. This means that consumerism is all around us, currents of desire are flowing around us all the time, like if it were white smoke. Some people say that consumerism It’s pretty much a waste because it’s now a big concern.

America is considered a nation of consumers, one that can never have enough things (Twitchell). Twitchell refers to American material culture as a mallcondo culture; a culture that is trying to be avoided by many hopeful nations and sought after by other willing and expanding nations. The history has shown that the people’s consumption has expanded rapidly over the past 50 years; “We consume more for our families and ourselves, we buy larger houses and splurge on lavish vehicles.” (Twitchell). Considering all this, people must ask what it is that attracts others to our never-ending consumption. Many items that are on sale have such an influence in our lives; people love things, especially if there on sale. Thousands of people evaluate their lives on things, we fill our lives with things and we “live for things” (Twitchell). Twitchell also said that “We create ourselves through things, and we change ourselves by changing our things” (Twitchell). Taking a closer look at the lives that surround thousands of people, it’s not hard to see that almost everyone can be considered a materialist and many people know that an unbiased point of view on consumerism is hard to come by.

It is easy to blame this unflattering culture characteristic−materialism−on commercialism. The blame is passed around when it’s really the materialism and our love of things that are the initial trigger for many people. Twitchell thinks that commercialism is the thing to be blamed, and the reason for that is that people just can’t stop purchasing items. Commercialism is a tool that is used to profit all the time from what is already there. Twitchell does acknowledge all of this, and of course, it’s true that commercialism should take some part in blame. We live in a society where everything can be made into a commodity and be given a price tag. The the main purpose is to produce and sell; therefore, needing to commercialize. There are many examples of how commercialism takes advantage of thousands of consumers, commercials and many other advertisements provide somewhat false, or in many cases completely false hope and offer their product as the solution to happiness. Twitchell then opposes that by stating that these misleading attached meanings do not make us weak and vulnerable; instead, by accepting these meanings, we grow more powerful (Twitchell). Commercialism, he states, “has lessened pain and has made us happier over the years.” (Twitchell,). He continues by stating that money doesn’t buy happiness but the truth is that happiness seems much more attainable with money than without.

Twitchell continues his discussion on consumerism, this time he talks about taking a look at poverty in the Western world. He states that those who lack things−the poor−also lack meaning and therefore, face exclusion from social groups. (Twitchell). Just like everyone else, the poor want to feel a sense of inclusion, association and affiliation (Twitchell). Twitchell then mentions the famous author Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929) and his coined term “conspicuous consumption”. The author also mentions that Veblen stated that the leisure class sets the markers for consumption. Those markers are held as standards that wish to be met by other classes (Twitchell). He explains this as a “keeping up with the Joneses” pursuit. But unfortunately, status through consumption is not something that when achieved will remain; no, status is ever-changing. This as a result, requires the leisure class to continually seek newer markers for others to chase (Twitchell). According to Veblen, the on-going pursuit of new and “cool” objects is wasteful. It would be much less wasteful to provide only one option within a brand, instead of offering various editions. Although Twitchell agrees with Veblen’s wishful theory “less waste means equality between individuals”, he considers that the consumers also need/want options within their consumption. Just as it may be the pursuit to “keep up with the Joneses” it may also be the option to “keep away from the Joneses”, states Twitchell (Twitchell). Objects provide definitions which in turn, provide individuals with a sense of meaning; a sense of meaning that Twitchell claims is “what we are after, what we need” (Twitchell). Following the “Joneses” or differing from them, both will hopefully result in meaning.

Twitchell questions where the meaning of all this derived from. He then began to say that it came from “capitalist manipulators”. Considering this, the author begins to relate to his previous claim about how consumerism does not really necessarily manipulate people. Another way of consumerism is watching television, He also begins to explain how the academic critics see TV watchers as mindless, gullible and passive. After that, Twitchell moves on to oppose their view and to state that TV viewers are very engaged when watching TV. People watching the television are shuffling through many channels, consuming lots of entertainment as they would with objects at the store; (Twitchell).

Twitchell concludes his article by restating that the American material culture is on its way to overcharging and influencing the rest of the world. He also recognizes that consumerism is very wasteful and that often gives false promises to thousands of people. The main thing is that the facts still remain, and the fact is that we love things and will continue to consume every day; we all acquire the meaning and social placement through our consumption. Although consumerism has a lot of faults and can turn the American culture and the rest of the world for that specific matter, into a more increasingly capitalist society, it also represents the freeing and imaginative hobby of today’s society.

This problem is pumped and drawn at all directions through the current commercial world we all know today. For many people, especially young children, consumerism is not against the people’s judgement, this means that it’s regardless of the class or culture that the person has. The materials that people want affects us in many different ways, like for example the age the person has and what the consumer likes, even if it’s something small and insignificant sometimes, people will still buy it because of the low price it has or how cool it looks. Consumerism will affect us for many years to come, no mater the age or item, people will still consume a lot of items.

What I think about this topic is that it’s more clear and it’s more understandable to read, because some of the other readings didn’t really make sense in some ways. Although there were some sentences that were not as clear to understand, but other than that, the reading was fine. I also like how the article is in order and how the writer explains about consumerism, and what it really does to the people. The writer is also explaining what he thinks, and what he feels about consumerism.

Consumerism is a big deal, it affects us in many ways, especially when we are young. It affected many people in the 20th century, especially in the 1960’s, and it’s still affecting people today. Consumerism is all around us all the time, like currents in the air, it’s drawn in all different directions all around the world. Since consumerism is still an issue today, it will affect us for many years to come, no mater the price of the item, or the age of the person, consumerism will stay active for as long as people keep buying things.