I was watching TV last night, and normally I don’t pay much attention to the commercials, but this one floored me…
"We are a nation of consumers.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
The trouble is, there’s so much cool stuff, it’s easy to get a little carried away.
But what if more credit card companies were like Discover Card?
What if they actually helped us spend smarter…" (video here)
I stopped listening at this point. I could not believe the audacity of the first two sentences. We are a nation of consumers. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The real problem, you see, is being a stupid consumer. If you are a smart consumer, then everything is okay. Go ahead and consume, derive all your identity and significance from it, just don’t binge, okay?
Which is basically like saying, "We daily consume poisons that threaten to destroy us, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The trouble is, the poison tastes so good, sometimes it’s easy to ingest too much… but what if more poison brokers were like Discover? Helping us consume poison more intelligently…"
The real problem is that poison shouldn’t be consumed. But that option just isn’t on the table, so we just tell ourselves there’s nothing wrong with it.
I have been amazed at how many ways consumerism has edged its way into my life without me noticing. It’s the sea we swim in; it feels natural and normal. It’s akin to a spiritual experience; we feel fulfilled and significant when purchasing a new something-or-other. We’re "in the club" if we own a thing-a-ma-jig. We even find ways to baptize it, dress it up in religious verbiage, and think we’re practicing Christian faith by buying stuff.
It warrants a lot more theological discussion and thought, but I have a hunch that consumerism is the major religion of the Western world (and increasingly, the entire planet), the primary idolatry that we all struggle against, and the most dangerous enemy of the gospel the church is facing today. We need to start taking it seriously, thinking through the implications, discerning how we are to live together in this mileau.
I saw that commercial the other day, and it stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Consumerism is definitely a silent killer. It creeps in and takes over and I think it blinds us from seeing our true calling in this world. It is an epidemic that needs to be addressed, not ignored. Thanks for posting this.
I think your last paragraph is right on. There is a wonderful new book on this topic, “Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire” by William Kavanaugh. It’s a short and not too hard read, but does some very incisive thinking about consumerism as spiritual formation. It dialogues with Augustine on the role of desire in Christian experinence.
Amy, I’ve seen a few other blogs now that have posted similar thoughts about that commercial. Seems to have struck a nerve; saying explicitly what most of our culture believes implicitly, but it still sounds shocking.
Beth, that book is on my list to get to someday (!!), but it just moved up a few spots based on your recommendation and your description (“short and not too hard”) – I need one like that!
It seems there are two Christian spiritual practices – Sabbath rest and tithing – that deal directly with our consumerism poison.
Yet often it seems we ignore Sabbath practices (“It’s just a Jewish thing”), and well… TV Evangelists & greedy preachers have stained the practice of tithing so much that a lot of Christians rarely talk about it.
That’s a good insight, Brian. Perhaps we even ought to re-institute the practice of not engaging on commerce on the Sabbath? Not buying anything for one day a week.
I tried that (taking a day of rest from commerce, work, and harming the environment)… and failed miserably!
It really opened my eyes to how completely trapped we can be in our culture without even knowing it.
So glad you touched on this… I have seen that ad a number of times and want to throw things at the TV every time. The fact is that we ARE all consumers, and there IS nothing wrong with that, so long as we realise
1) The Earth is not an infinite source of resources to be consumed.
2) We need in other ways to be conservers and contributers… ie good stewards of what we have been entrusted with.
ps. And don’t get me started on VISA’s use of Derek Redmond’s story, and other inspiring Olympian examples to suck us into its clutches!!!
Strong post on an important topic that can not be overstressed in the US today. Thanks.
One thought, what are the habits that you cultivate which help you mitigate the effect of the constant media bombardment we all have to endure here?
Kai, excellent point that we do need to cultivate habits in order to “push back” against the constant bombardment of consumeristic thinking and acting (and bombardment is the right word).
Off the top of my head, I’d say tithing/giving regularly very much helps this – it’s a way of reminding myself that my resource/money doesn’t “belong” to me, that I am a steward of these things.
Simply not watching that much TV also helps (a discipline of abstinence). I try to critically evaluate with my kids, too, commercials that we see together…
Those are a few (again, off the top of my head). Your question has made me think, though, that church communities ought to be developing corporate and communal disciplines that can help members resist the consumer monster.
I was struck by the exact same commercial. I’m listening to a series by Marva Dawn right now and she keys in on this issue almost as hard as does Eugene Peterson.