[MD] Where have all the values gone?

[ian glendinning]

Arlo, Mike, Khaled, et al

Me too. Can I just second Mike, in valuing Arlo's post.

Perhaps if I can return to Khaled's angle ... "Everything in Moderation"
Maybe in fact, you're coming over to "Our side" - the side of the ...

"Pragmatists who appreciate both scientific and mystical values and
the relationships between them, embodied in the MoQ."

Ian

On 1/10/06, Michael Hamilton <thethemichael at gmail.com> wrote:
> Arlo,
>
> Great post, kudos.
>
> On 1/10/06, Arlo J. Bensinger <ajb102 at psu.edu> wrote:
> > Khaled, Platt, Erin,
> >
> > "Consumerism" is by definition "over consumption". The problem is that
> > "consumerism" depends on value manipulation to fuel spending. Platt disagrees
> > with this, but years of "The Journal of Consumer Psychology" has underscored
> > the simple premise that advertising manipulates what people value.
> >
> > "Consumerism" is a "meta-problem" associated with this, when the primary message
> > becomes "if you spend money, you'll be happy". Businesses function, then, on a
> > dependency on value manipulation, not simply the value inherent in their
> > product.
> >
> > In modern culture, the Sophists "man is the measure of all things" has been
> > replaced with "money is the measure of all things". We derive our worth from
> > it, with it and through it. It defines greatness and failure. It defines
> > success and defeat. Rich and poor become good and bad.
> >
> > What we value, Pirsig said, is always derived through cultural means. Culture is
> > the sum total of collective activity among a people. When that collective
> > activity is guided by nothing but money, when we are taught from an early age
> > that it is only partcipation in a money economy that motivates great people to
> > enrich themselves (and incidentally improve society), when our cultural
> > dialogue is constantly bombarded with the notion that "privatization" and
> > "private property" are the noble Goods to the evils of community and a public
> > commons, when our very self-worth is dependent on our consumer purchases, I'm
> > not sure what kind of success one can have combatting consumerism.
> >
> > I read an interesting article about the amount of time we spend "engaged in
> > public spaces" versus "private spaces". Over the past century, since these
> > "moral pilgrims" arrived on our shores, we have moved the vast majority of our
> > activity from public to private space. We retreat into our homes, into our
> > cars, into our narrowly defined daily routine that moves us from private space
> > to private space, while a century ago our involvement was primarily in some
> > public space. Interestingly, the authored included metaphorical public and
> > private spaces, citing the changes in involvement in the local taverns and
> > coffee houses. A century ago, a person venturing into one of these
> > establishments not only expected, but demanded public engagement and public
> > forum (although the establishment itself was "private"). Today, not only are
> > these establishments "private", but we demand our engagement to be restricted
> > to an immediate cohort of known interlocuters in a "private dialogue" that is
> > not only to the public.
> >
> > Why did we "value" public engagement so greatly then, and conversely value
> > "private" seclusion so greatly today? Why did we stroll our neighborhoods,
> > talking with people who made a daily habit of sitting on their front porches,
> > when now we drive through developments only to see distant images of people on
> > their rear decks?
> >
> > Consumerism depends on manipulating value to tie self-worth to purchasing.
> > Private property tells us that we must own everything ourselves, that any
> > common or public space is "bad". Put the two together, and you have a good
> > description of modern America, a land where we are debting ourselves into
> > oblivion to build castles of isolation.
> >
> > Just some thoughts...
> >
> > Arlo
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