RITE AND REASON:Between 20-50 per cent of all that we produce has little or no real value to humanity, writes Patrick Mitchell
WHEN THE President recently suggested that Ireland had been ‘‘consumed by consumerism’’ many reactions were negative, if not hostile. One portrayed Mary McAleese as symptomatic of religiously-minded people gloating over the devastating fallout of the credit crunch, naively hoping disillusioned consumers would turn to God.
But, as we in the West stumble into probably the most severe recession since the 1930s, such reactions miss the possibility that she may have a point worth serious consideration. It is only in the last few decades that consumerism has dramatically taken hold of Western culture and its malign effects now stare us in the face. Consumerism has become a “god” before which everything must be sacrificed.
The market is talked of as a neutral impersonal force that must be unquestionably followed, rather than as a human creation driven by a particular view of life. If there is demand for a product, it is right to produce it, regardless of its worth. Apparently between 20-50 per cent of all we produce has little or no real value to humanity. Would we not be much better off without sugary drinks, cigarettes, lotteries, advertising, weapons, junk food, cosmetics, much clever but frivolous technology, recreational drugs, 100 TV channels of dross and so on? Each of us can make our own list, but the point is that many of the products we consume are more like “bads” than “goods”.
Such consumerism generates its own myths to which we appear gladly to have sold our souls.
One is the myth that more is better – just look at any advert for the National Lottery and how it feeds the dream of unlimited wants being met. A second is the myth of progress – that the endless and increasingly rapid spiral of technological innovation and new product development is obviously a good thing.
A third is the myth that products can buy us happiness. Have you noticed how many adverts tell us virtually nothing about the item for sale, but sell an image of happy fulfilled people?
The most damaging illusion of all, however, is the myth that our love affair with consumerism has no consequences and that our private consumer habits are entirely our own business. The catastrophic effects of the credit crunch tell us otherwise.
Western consumerism has become a monster, eating up the world’s resources at an alarming rate and it is the weak and poor who feel the effects of our avarice, not us.
And yes, the President is right.
The final irony is that it is us, the consumers, who are being consumed. We can actually satisfy our fundamental needs quite quickly. A place to live, three meals a day, work, a network of relationships and spiritual significance do not require huge overconsumption, but we have become its slaves. Excessive consumption leads to the sort of stress, ill-health and manic lifestyles that characterise modern life.
I am no anti-capitalist anarchist who welcomes unemployment and a collapsing world economy, but is it not time to question the sort of hyper-consumerism that has brought us here? As Jesus asked, ‘What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? (Luke 9:25).
At a societal level, as the myths of our consumerist culture lie battered and naked, this is not the time to try artificial resuscitation (as our Government and others are desperately trying to do). Let us rather allow them die and begin a debate about what a sustainable and sane future might look like. At a personal level, Jesus also warned us to watch out for greed: “a man’s life is not measured by the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Rather than spending our money on ourselves one alternative is to give away as much as we possibly can to others who need it more. Now there’s a heretical thought.
Dr Patrick Mitchel lectures at the Irish Bible Institute, Dublin