Let me throw this one back at you for thought.
If we didn't have a consumer culture in the first place, would we even know what it is, or all the material benefits that come from it?
To put it bluntly, my opinion is that consumer capitalism is the miracle that allows us to not die at age 35 and wallow in mud and shit for most of our lives. I am, of course, right.
100% agree.
Without consumer culture, we'd all be humming along in a communist environment where mailmen and doctors get paid basically the same wage and all of us are fighting for loaves of bread lined up upside for blocks like those stories you here about USSR back in the day.
I think it was Boris Yeltzin who visited the US, checked out a random grocery store and couldnt believe how stocked it was. He thought it was faked up for his visit. Sounds easy to me when you grow up in a modern country. All it is is a shitload of companies making stuff and shipping it to stores or warehouses and logistics takes care of the rest. And then a bunch of workers put it on a shelf with price stickers or a shelf label. But to him, he was amazed.
It can even be traced to ancient times.
At some point in time, us humans got smart enough to go beyond survival shit like making fire and scrounging around for food. Everyone was doing the same thing, but suddenly some caveman grew his IQ from 1 to 2 and realized he can grow crops and raise animals, and also make a better straw hut. That's really the start of consumerism and trying to do more and make better things. Then he made a necklace out of fish scales for his honey and her unibrow lit up. Sounds like consumerism and materialism to me. lol
For all the naysayers about Monsanto and GMO kinds of advancements, us humans would be nowhere if companies didn't have advances and standards in growing food with little resources leading to standard edible food.
7.5 billion humans arent getting anywhere relying on ancient farming techniques or growing shitty apple trees riddled with insect bites in the backyard..... like that gross crab apple tree I had in my backyard as a kid.
To be fair, consumerism can be wasteful too. Do we really need 100 different types of cookies on a shelf? Not really. Pretty sure if oatmeal raisin cookies werent invented, life on earth wont disappear. But hey, humans like variety because we all have different tastes.
As crazy as it seems, if anyone looks back at life expectancy was 100+ years ago, it was like 50 years old and the average dude was probably 5 ft 6. Thats why old ass houses have low basement ceilings. But add in consumer and capitalism where money flows, and standards improve. Now we live to 80 and not a shorty.
