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Man (growing into very intelligent...android)
Today, man lost all previous values, and we are left with a big confusion.
Except, we have Consumerism.
Yes, man now has embraced a religion of the dollar, and his values are competition and
success: possessing rather than "being" is the key today.
The Media increasingly drives people towards a sense of inadequacy, insatisfaction,
frustration, creating "hunger" for things or products.
Man is losing his identity : who we are merges with roles/images portrayed by media. (2)
Men are becoming very intelligent robots: as pieces of the production chain, travelling in a
traffic jam to go to work, working closed in offices/factories, then back home watching media
and, most of all, accomplishing the ritual "duty" of buying/consuming (our ritual... major goal)
This dramatic decay of people/society can be seen clearly in tv programs: not only ads and
sponsored sport programs (is it sport ?...), but soap operas and junk programs.
Programs which stimulate, justify and even praise the lowest human feelings/behaviour and
the meanest possible human instincts: from emulation and envy to violence and voyeurism.
So, not only the media is driving people to see themselves as "not ok", but it is "educating"
us to a religion-of-the-dollar and a "junk"-"big brother" culture.
Something now unforeseen and unpleasant will most likely happen before this evolution...
but otherwise we might already perceive that man is evolving and would grow into a very
intelligent bionic human, a piece of the production chain: a key difference between him and
an android, being his ability to consume ...
quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, April, 1967 :
"We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered. A nation can flounder as readily in the face of moral and spiritual bankruptcy as it can through financial bankruptcy."
extract from "The stupefaction of a nation" by Manuel Valenzuela, dec. 10, 2003 (1) :
We are the lifeblood of the conglomerate, of vital importance, and, as such, it is in its best interest to control as much of our lives as possible, transforming us into obedient servants of obliviousness
The television has become an opiate for the masses and a conduit from where conglomerates can dictate how society thinks, acts and evolves. Our habits and ethics are manipulated, our ideas and beliefs distorted
Propaganda, both corporate and governmental, has seemingly exploded with the ever-increasing consolidation of the media
Over time we become robots incapable of discerning or even seeking the truth in the news that is provided us
Apathetic puppets we have become, free thinking minds we have none.
from "Consumerism and the new capitalism" by R.Cronk, 1996 (2) :
The hallowed dollar is a cheap substitute for cultural values lost to greed and ambivalence in post-modern America
Self-awareness and self-worth have been distorted. We are what we wear. In the New Capitalism's seduction of the television audience, the individuating personality identifies with advertising fantasies and consumer ideals. Who we are merges with roles and images portrayed in the media. Ever so subtly we are losing our ability to act independently of the justifications of consumerism.
Extensive exposure to duplicity in media advertising has weakened the grasp of consciousness on subjective knowledge of being (or any meaningful sense of truth).
from "The moral decline caused by consumerism" by Alan Pert (3) :
The purpose of our mass culture is to foster false needs, negative values and escapist fantasy.Television, cinema, computers and such have become very sophisticated tools for the brainwashing of the population
Timothy Leary called the generations born after 1945 "electroids", that is, people programmed by electronic means
Jerry Mander, Kirkpatrick Sale and other writers have shown that many modern problems stem from the transnational corporations (TNCs), which are literally taking over the world.The purposes and techniques of the TNCs must be exposed.Their aim is to maximise their power and profits.Their method is destruction: destruction of forests, communities, and natural resources all around the world
We are living in a dying civilization.The evidence is all around.What sort of a society is it that brainwashes little children with consumer values, destroying innocence and true wonder?
In the long run we need a society that is based on spiritual principles. We need to heal our ties with Nature, and live within Nature in a reverent manner.Nature should be our guide and touchstone
from "Ethics for a Global Society", based on conference in Llandudno,Wales, Oct.1993, by Udo Schaefer (4) :
Probably nothing shows the decline of traditional morals and the sickness of our society as clearly as the new dimension of evil with which we are confronted: the brutalization of our world by the increase in violence
A society progressively loses its cohesion and is destined to perish, if there are no ultimate values, no absolute obligations, if there is no civic sense (called "civitas" by the ancient Romans)
Nietzsche called this phenomenon of the devaluation of the highest values and the lack of meaning nihilism: "The aim is lacking; 'why' finds no answer." Nihilism is the conviction "that nothing has any value, that no standards are binding, that no purpose exists, that there is nothing worth living or dying for, that everything is futile"
This critical attitude of the mind, which recognises none but rational values automatically rejects the notion of unconditional duties and the existence of generally binding norms
The emancipation of morals (from religion) which appeared at the beginning of modern times was followed by the emancipation of man (from morals).
Mankind's global society is in need of a global code of ethics
from "Commercialism", by Lawrence Kelemen (5) :
Doug Herzog, while serving as president of Fox Entertainment, thus justified the level of alcohol, sex, and violence on his network, saying, "This is all happening because society is evolving and changing, but the bottom line is people seem to be buying it."
As Dr. Neil Postman, chairman of the Department of Communications Arts at New York University, points out, "What the advertiser needs to know is not what is right about the product but what is wrong about the buyer."
extract from "A thinking mind", by Sushil Yadav (6) :
Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.
If there are no gaps there is no emotion.
Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.
There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.
People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.
Emotion ends.
Man becomes machine.
A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A (traveling) society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
FAST VISUALS /WORDS MAKE SLOW EMOTIONS EXTINCT
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY CANNOT FEEL PAIN / REMORSE / EMPATHY.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY WILL ALWAYS BE CRUEL TO ANIMALS/ TREES/ AIR/ WATER/ LAND AND TO ITSELF
CHANGE IN VISUAL SPEED OVER THE YEARS
One thousand years ago visuals would change only when man physically
moved himself to a new place or when other people (animals / birds)
and objects (clouds / water) physically moved themselves before him.
IN A FAST SOCIETY SLOW EMOTIONS BECOME EXTINCT
MENTAL WORK IS INJURIOUS TO THE MIND AND PLANET
For most people it is a choice between physical and mental work.
The switch-over from physical work to mental work is disastrous for the planet.
Man can do the same physical work every day.
Man cannot do the same mental work every day.
When man used to do physical work ( farming and related activities) he could do the same repetitive work day after day - generation after generation.
After the Industrial Revolution when man switched over to mental work he
began a never ending process of making new machines / things / products--
a process which can only end with the complete destruction of environment (planet).
Change is an inherent feature of mental work.
Since change is an inherent feature of mental work - a society that does mental work can
never be at peace with itself - it is impossible
AS LONG AS CITIES EXIST WE CAN NEITHER SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT NOR THE MIND.
Time is running out for this planet.
We are in the last 20 years
www.bigeye.com/stupefaction.htm (Manuel Valenzuela, 12/10/03) (1)
www.westland.net/venice/art/cronk/consumer.htm
(R.Cronk, 1996) (2)www.rcronk.com/2-6-consumerism.html (R.Cronk) (2)
www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~apert/consume.html (moral decline by Alan Pert) (3)
www.breacais.demon.co.uk/abs/bsr04/45_schaefer_ethics.htm (conference Llandudno,Wales,Oct.93,Bahai studies rev. vol 4.1) (4)
www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Commercialism.htm ("hunger", Lawrence Kelemen in Judaism online) (5)
www.netshooter.com/emotion/main.html (A thinking mind , by Sushil Yadav ) (6)
http://culturechange.org/industrial_mind.html (by Sushil Yadav) (6)
www.commondreams,org/views02/0223-01.htm (Toronto Globe & mail 2/23/02)
www.energygrid.com/society/2003/09ap-manipulation.html (advertising, corporations, "democracy", manipulation)
www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A654969 (allure of consumerism)
http://asadi.95mb.com/ (society, media, poverty, terrorism)
http://www.geocities.com/northstarzone/TV.html (media brainwashing)
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/neuromarketing.cfm (diseases from marketing + neuromarketing)
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041025/asp/knowhow/story_3884993.asp (neuromarketing)
http://www.kon.org/publications/cons_peace.htm (self-esteem tied to what they can consume)
http://www.rcronk.com/2-6-consumerism.html (replacing dollar for cultural values)