Consumerism 2.0
Christmas is great for many things, but one thing for which it holds a mirror up to humanity is the current state of consumerism.
I never cease to be blown away by how much utter crap is produced for the world - so much stuff that nobody needs or even really wants, and yet continues to be churned out year after year as if it were a law of the universe.
Most of it comes in from China or elsewhere in the Far East, where labour laws are much less strict and producers can afford to produce goods at prices that Western consumers love, but that leave little room for a decent wage for workers. And we’re not yet even into the carbon impact and other negative externalities of rabid consumerism en masse.
We need to move beyond it to a world where things have true value again. Where craft matters. Where fewer, well-made, lasting objects are bought and exchanged. Where we proudly offer one good gift rather than rafts of ancillary shit that’s useless by the time the New Year rolls around.
I don’t know what it’ll take the get there. Maybe it’ll be forced on us by climate change, conflict, trade policy, or some other “stick”. The optimistic case - and I’m ever an optimist, as I must be - is that slowly the cultural evolution towards “less is more” takes us there.
I’m crossing my fingers that’s where we land.