Blind Consumerism

The rich and poor alike are heavily pressured to intertwine their lives with the extreme consumerism that dominates some aspects of American society, though it is much easier for the former to actually live this out without drastic financial consequences.  Whether it is the potential thrill of obtaining new items or yielding to social pressures, if not something else, there is not just one reason why consumerism might be subjectively attractive to the average person.  Consumerism, though, is just the elevation of one aspect of human life and society to the point where people treat it as if is more than truly is.  It is by necessity an irrationalistic worldview and lifestyle, yet one that many people are willing to denounce as they indulge in it at the very same time.  The allure of materialistic pursuit of physical belongings can be strong indeed for some.

People who assume that constantly buying products will inevitably free them from every trial of life or actually align  them with the nature of reality are fools, yes.  To be clear, though, consumerism is not having or loving possessions.  A person could have possessions and not be seized by greed, by arrogance, or by apathy towards more substantial matters.  It is just that consumerism is idiotic and could only ironically be morally good or permissible if this matches up with the moral nature of the uncaused cause, but even then it would not be the foundation of reality, and blind consumerism, the kind many seem to be in the clutches of, is still idiotic because it could only be embraced on the basis of assumptions or preferences, most likely springing from emotionalistic infatuation.  At the same time, the compatibility of owning material things and not making ones worldview, emotions, or lifestyle revolve around them is attainable for everyone.

A person who deeply understands, savors, and builds their life around intangible things like logical truths, knowledge of truths, introspective wholeness and pleasure, and morality (if moral obligations exist) can still have and enjoy material possessions.  There is no hypocrisy in this because there is no conceptual contradiction in these ideas.  Blind consumerism is ideologically and behaviorally idiotic, yes.  Having and enjoying possessions is not the same as embracing economic/consumeristic materialism (distinct from metaphysical materialism/naturalism).  Having many possessions and looking forward to gaining new ones is not necessarily consumerism, much less the blind form of consumerism that only can be accepted on the basis of assumptions, emotion, or social conditioning.

Like any other manifestation of emotionalism, assumptions, or errors, blind consumerism is of course irrational, but so is the idea that material possessions should be shunned or forsaken just because it is possible for certain people to mistakenly orient their lives around them.  Materialistic consumerism is idiotic just like assumed asceticism.  A broad personal library of possessions is utterly unecessary to know the core necessary truths of reason, to understand one's own self, to be a righteous person, and to even obtain some happiness, making consumerism irrelevant to the most foundational things possible, but pursuing material gain and possessions without rejecting these truths is not irrational or consumeristic.