The dominant narrative has conditioned so much behavior that people cannot genuinely understand whether they mean to do certain things or if they have been trained to do them. For example, there is the expectation of multiple companies that people will continue to buy more stuff, despite the Marie Kondo movement and the skyrocketing cost of living. Every year, companies continue to push more “sales,” and a lot of the older generations believe that the younger ones should still be behaving like years past, pretending like climate change is irrelevant. Thankfully, many more people–some by choice, others by necessity–are starting to realize that the allure of having more was a manufactured desire.
To begin with, nobody but the wealthy has the money to regularly go on outlandish shopping sprees. People can lie to themselves as much as they want to, but continuing to say that “everyone just figures out the money part” is emotionally immature. Wages have been stagnant, and the psychopaths in charge are doing nothing to make is possible to afford the prices they charge to consume their goods. If people have to choose between new shoes and new food for the week, the answer is always going to be new food, especially with the mercurial nature of the labor market. Boycotts notwithstanding, people are learning that there is nothing to gain from incessant spending.
Furthermore, nobody has the space because the real estate industry demands the right to charge more for less space, marketing “lifestyles” instead of homes. Fewer people are living alone, and with sharing space, it is vital to make oneself appear flexible to potential roommates. Nobody will move in with people who take over all the living space with their “stuff,” so people are being forced to cull their belongings in order to survive. For the people who are living alone, life is becoming more erratic, and nobody knows when/if it will be time to move, so they recognize that filling up their space with a lot of stuff is a great way to spend more in moving costs. Now, people spend more time consuming content than consuming durable goods.
“Just get it and sell it!” say people who have apparently never hosted an unsuccessful garage sale. Most people refuse to continue trying to sell their belongings because of all the time it takes, especially things like clothing and furniture. Yes, sites like EBay provide reasonable exposure to send things across the world, but the onus is on the seller, and most people already spend most of their days at work or maintaining their households (cooking, cleaning, organizing, etc.). More frequently than not, people would prefer to get their own new belongings rather than take over things owned by somebody else.
There has been a lot of money spent convincing folks from the United States to compete with everyone else through material possession. However, envy is not a stable way to run an economy, and thanks to the mental health movement, more people are aware that they are being manipulated into purchases. Never again will masses of people mindlessly shop and blow through their money on things that they will almost immediately lose interest in; the stakes are too high and the “shine” is too dull. Those from the past need to recognize that times have changed, and it is time to stop pressuring people to consume.
Chasing A Dying Empire 