/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.17577315]

Best books on the cancer that is consumerism? Not a shitpost despite the face I used a basedface pic as my OP pic. I'm legitimately curious what academics and essayists have got to say on the mindset of people like pic related whose whole life seems to be about buying new product and waiting for next product.

[Anonymous No.17577339]

Bossuet's Traité de la concupiscence

[Anonymous No.17577367]

>>17577315
Baudrillard. Consumerism is a cancer that is even worse than the act of «buying».

[Anonymous No.17577369]

>>17577315
I hope you’re not planning to buy any of these books.

[Anonymous No.17577374]

>>17577315
>whose whole life seems to be about buying new product and waiting for next product.
This person doesn't exist

[Anonymous No.17577400]

>>17577369
I pretty much exclusively use my local library or find PDFs of books

[Anonymous No.17577483]

Imagine being so resentfull you rage against entertainment.
Must be a pretty sad existence.

[Anonymous No.17577535]

>>17577374
This. 99% of the strawmen enemies of people on the internet don't exist. People do this because life is easier to understand if you believe the world is split in factions like the Lord of the Rings.

[Anonymous No.17577545]

>>17577374
>>17577535
Jesus fuck, go outside. I've met like 10 people just this past year with that mindset

[Anonymous No.17577725]

>go outside
very smart, anon. encourage people to break the law on a public forum.

as for a book for OP: the Dhammapada

[Anonymous No.17577728]

>>17577315
Not entirely what you're looking for but Postman's Entertaining Ourselves to Death might interest you

[Anonymous No.17577744]

>>17577315
buying books is consumerism

[Anonymous No.17577756]

>>17577374
basement dweller detected.

[Anonymous No.17577778]

>>17577756
t. uppity attic dweller

[Anonymous No.17577804]

>>17577374
>>17577535
actual retards

[Anonymous No.17577811]

>>17577315
Might wanna check these out.
Especially "Society of the Spectacle."

[Anonymous No.17577976]

>>17577374
This. It's projection.

[Anonymous No.17578047]

>>17577545
No you haven't

[Anonymous No.17578086]

>>17578047
You underestimate how much younger millenials (the ones who are getting married now) BREATHE this type of consumerist life

[Anonymous No.17578139]

>>17577374
Go on /v/ right now and see how many people are clamoring after the next big video game, or /tv/ with the next movie, or /co/ for the next comic book. They're all over the place and the only excuse you could have for not seeing it is that you've become too accustomed to it, that it's so normal that it no longer registers as abnormal.

[Anonymous No.17578144]

inb4: infinite jest

[Anonymous No.17578152]

>>17578139
>NOOO STOP ENJOYING THINGSSS!!!!
Also imagine using fucking /v/ and /tv/ as examples. If you browse these shitholes no wonder you have a warped view of reality. GO OUTSIDE

[Anonymous No.17578184]

>>17578139
literally nothing wrong with any of them. getting excited for vidya/movies =//= being a funko pop collecting caricature of a redditor that replaces their personality with products

[Anonymous No.17578253]

>>17578139
>/tv/ with the next movie
/tv/ literally hates every show and movie in existence

[Anonymous No.17578259]

>>17578184
How is it any different? They identify themselves with the products the enjoy, effectively making it their personality. People who play an inordinate amount of video games are gamers, people who watch too many movies are called moviebuffs.

[Anonymous No.17578377]

I always thought the issue was more that these people basically only exist as a source of income for companies. They don’t really do anything and their hobbies are just passive consumption of things like movies or video games or books. If these people dropped dead, the only change in the world would be that Netflix gets 10 fewer dollars per month: It’s not so much “my personality is my favorite brand” that is the problem. Personally, even if it does turn you into a walking billboard in practice, I don’t see anything wrong with showing off what you like - but that’s another argument I’m entirely.

Even critics are at least attempting to add something.

[Anonymous No.17578812]

>>17577374
t. has never gone to an apple store

[Anonymous No.17579285]

>>17578184
Yes it is. It’s honestly strange to me that anyone goes on youtube to watch a trailer for a movie they can’t even see for eighteen more months. It’s about how much energy you put into corporate dicksucking as a passtime.
Having your whole life revolve around video games or television is just as bad as having it revolve around figurines. The whole point of funko pop is that they use liscence from TV shows anyway so that it’s just an extension of an existing obsession.

[Anonymous No.17579359]

Is the consoomer better or worse than the coomer? What about the concoomers that spend money on porn? Not talking about the egirl simps, I mean the ones that buy commissions and things like that.

[Anonymous No.17579474]

>>17579359
Coomer is probably better since it’s probably the result of involuntary celibacy. I find it hard to believe there’s very many people not having sex because porn is better. People who care about concoomers always seem to care a lot more about the girls getting easy money out of it than anything else it doesn’t seem like a real problem to me.

[Anonymous No.17579619]

Entertaining Ourselves to Death

If you analyze Soibois the gruesome thing about them is not that they are avid consumers of pop culture or their gaping open mouthes; that's just elitism and distaste. The real thing is how decayed the male body and mind has become under consumerism, they are like flabby overgrown children unable to face reality and confined to their comfortable bubble of simulacra. They are alienated from something primal and true, their instincts have been suppressed like the androgens that their diet and lifestyle inhibits. It is the destruction of masculinity that is repulsive.

[Anonymous No.17579698]

>>17579619
>Entertaining Ourselves to Death
Amusing Ourselves to Death

[Anonymous No.17579717]

>>17577535
>People do this because life is easier to understand if you believe the world is split in factions like the Lord of the Rings.
Yes.

[Anonymous No.17579813]

>>17577374
Have you not talked to a person this last decade?
"Hey you seen that "new thing" is coming out? OMG i literally can't wait."
Is the most basic conversation you can hear while in a crowded area.

[Anonymous No.17579889]

Is it consuming if I pirate everything?

[Anonymous No.17579949]

>>17577811
>manufacturing consent
Sounds nice
>written by Noam Chomsky
I don't know much about him but he's usually referenced by really dumb people. Plus he unironically believe in "human rights" and "democracy", while the title of that book would suggest that people are very open to manipulative techniques.

>>17577315
Reminded me of a very good series/audio book The Century of the Self https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04 .
Goes into detail on why we consume and how they made us want things we don't need.
Specifically what i remember is the "Torches of Freedom" where they successfully made women smoke cigarettes.
Highly recommended.

[Anonymous No.17579951]

>>17579889
yes

[Anonymous No.17579989]

>>17579949
>manufacturing consent
I've only read a little bit of it and while it seems it will be a slog, I've heard he's pretty right about the media's role. Too bad he doesn't apply it universally.

[Anonymous No.17580007]

My brother was all upset about some Disney bs or another and simply could not fathom the idea of not consuming entertainment at all when I brought up that he could just not watch if he hates Disney that much.

[Anonymous No.17580018]

>>17579951
Fair enough.

[Anonymous No.17580056]

>>17579949
Don't dismiss Chomsky just because you consider some people who like him to be stupid.

>plus he unironically believes in ... "democracy"
its evident you've never read anything in depths by or about Chomsky

[Anonymous No.17580095]

>>17579813
Key words "whole life." People lead rich and meaningful lives outside their small talk with you, anon.

[Anonymous No.17580153]

>>17579359
Buying porn is the only ethical way to consume it

[Anonymous No.17580168]

Madame Bovary. Isn’t my favorite book but about a shrill, materialistic cunt

[Anonymous No.17580197]

>>17580153
Does that apply to all entertainment or just porn?

[Anonymous No.17580248]

>>17580095
>use of anti-depressants increase 100% in 5 years
RICH
>divorce rates climbs above 50%
MEANINGFUL
>suicide is not the number one cause of death in males aged 15-20
LIVES

[Anonymous No.17580288]

>>17580248
Not was a typo but might be right.
It's only second for both genders and as i remember it was higher in men.
Also lmaoing at 10-14 year olds killing themselves at such a rate without anyone caring.

[Anonymous No.17580326]

>>17580248
>use of anti-depressants increase 100% in 5 years
Healing bad.
>divorce rates climbs above 50%
Staying with person you dislike good.
>suicide is not the number one cause of death in males aged 15-20
What cause should dominate instead?

[Anonymous No.17580359]

>>17580326
you´re fucking retarded

[Anonymous No.17580363]

>>17580248
Who cares about the rabble? Let them suffer.

[Anonymous No.17580368]

>>17580326
If the antidepressants are working, then it certainly shouldn’t be suicide, retard. It should be accidents or cancer to put it on par with other demographics.

[Anonymous No.17580367]

>>17580288
bruh who tf is killing so many babies wtf

[Anonymous No.17580386]

>>17580368
>If the antidepressants are working, then it certainly shouldn’t be suicide, retard.
Who said that it's the same people (or that antidepressants don't reduce it)?
> It should be accidents or cancer
I'd rather have no youngsters dying of cancer.

[Anonymous No.17580402]

>>17580359
Seething.

[Anonymous No.17580417]

>>17580367
The main culprits are old hags having kids too late.

[Anonymous No.17580422]

>>17580326
Low quality bait, stop posting.
>>17580363
Valid opinion but a suffering populace will eventually cause the entire nation to suffer.
You're going to be harmed too.
Not to mention that your post just sounds like rabble currently suffering.

[Anonymous No.17580429]

>>17580422
Pseudohermit does not like the truth.

[Anonymous No.17580439]

>>17577374
>>17577535
I've seen and met them with my own eyes. And there is also no way to explain how people pay $900 for a cell phone then, two years later, pay $1000 for a remarkably similar device when their $900 phone is still perfectly functional. And then there are the "merch collectors" who fill their homes with...stuff related to the entertainments that interest them. Just stuff to display, collect, catalogue, etc.

[Anonymous No.17580574]

>>17580439
The marketing industry is worth over $1 trillion. Companies spend more money on marketing their products than manufacturing them. On top of that, the shopping centers are designed to make people spend money and the worst thing is they aren't even aware that they are being manipulated. Such a consumerist behaviour is to be expected, after all it's what drives much of the economy since the 50's.

[Anonymous No.17580606]

>>17580574
I still can't quite believe that advertising works so well. it sounds like utter memes that people's psychologies really work like that

[Anonymous No.17580623]

>>17580386
People die. Grow up and stop trying to emotionally blackmail people. I know exactly what you’re trying to do. If you see that suicide rate and think it would be even worse if we didn’t have this many people on drugs, and then thinks that’s okay, then I don’t think we’ll ever agree on anything.

[Anonymous No.17580628]

Consumerism peaked in the 90s. Aren't there more interesting things to think about now?

[Anonymous No.17580639]

>>17580439
>And then there are the "merch collectors" who fill their homes with...stuff
I don’t see any difference between that and filling your home with art you like, to be honest. Not everyone likes bare, spartan homes.

[Anonymous No.17580736]

>>17580095
Lol shut up fag you know what he meant and nobody is buying your gay attempt at obfuscation

[Anonymous No.17580749]

>>17580606
The ad-men are really smart people who probably study a lot of psychology. For example, a common strategy to market tobacco in the 50's was to include images of "doctors" smoking cigs. The "doctor" is an authority figure regarding health issues so if he smokes, cigs can't be that bad right? Nowadays that seems like an obvious stupid thing to fall for but they still use similar strategies which consist of appealing to your emotions and desires. Most people just aren't very self-aware of these things

[Anonymous No.17580768]

>>17580749
bro all you have to do is put a hot person with your product. It's literally that crude most of the time, though I know some of them are much smarter and have various methods

[Anonymous No.17580769]

>>17580639
Bad bait

[Anonymous No.17580771]

>>17580628
4chan needs a strawman to beat up instead of bettering their lives because that's too hard

[Anonymous No.17580774]

>>17578139
>/tv/ with the next movie
/tv/ hates movies. They shit on everything that comes out and that's a good thing

[Anonymous No.17580782]

>>17580628
>Consumerism peaked in the 90s
Before internet shopping? I doubt it.
It sounds like you’re just counting the number of movies and tv shows that lampooned yuppies, which probably did peak in the 90s

[Anonymous No.17580895]

>>17580574
I'm not saying it's not expected, I'm saying it exists. People aren't consumers by instinct, they're conditioned to be such by a very powerful, psychologically-informed marketing industry.
>>17580639
You're comparing classical art to plastic/rubber figurines released as a set, perfectly timed with the release of the movie the characters are from? I'm not about to defend contrived, "popular" artwork, or suggest it doesn't exist, but we're talking about the distinction between enjoying and engaging with something, versus consuming it out of a sense of duty or desire.

[Anonymous No.17580946]

>>17577315
infinite jest

[Anonymous No.17580956]

>>17580895
>the distinction between enjoying and engaging with something
Yeah, it’s not about “grown men who haven’t outgrown action figures” because children actually get hours of imaginative playtime out of action figures.
The people I know that buy this stuff always do it online, almost as a compulsion and whatever it is often literally sits in a closet after they look at it for five minutes. And it’s always some multimedia IP with a claim to “nerd culture” credit that hit it’s creative peak years ago- we’re not talking about people traveling around town looking at historical curiosities or some hobby like that.

[Anonymous No.17580984]

>>17578139
>if you go to a location of discourse centered around hobbies, the only thing people want to talk about while they're there are those hobbies!
Truly a deep insight

[Anonymous No.17581022]

>>17580984
It’s a perfect example though since i’m sure the whole board is screenshots of blogposts, headlines and social media posts. The catalogue of /v/ is unironically a great example of how much videogames have penetrated into national consciousness.

[Anonymous No.17581118]

>>17577374
that's been western culture for like 40 years bro

[Anonymous No.17581412]

>>17580984
You can be a regular on a video game forum and spend all your free time talking about it without making it your personality. This is the point, that many of these people make it their personality. They exist.

[Anonymous No.17581418]

>>17580956
Right. It's the collection aspect of it. The figures aren't genuinely rare (or if they are, it's totally a contrived rarity), they're mass marketed for people to collect for the sole purpose of collecting, and then displaying the collection. They even sponsor people to display their own collections in order to inspire other people to begin collections, and all tied in nicely with the film release and other consumable products.

[Anonymous No.17581475]

>>17580628
the spectacle is not just mass media and consooming, its also political circuses, social media, taking on more debt than you can handle, porn, ect

[Anonymous No.17581620]

>>17580623
>People die. Grow up and stop trying to emotionally blackmail people.
Practice what you preach?

[Anonymous No.17581807]

>>17577315

[Anonymous No.17581822]

>>17581807
Bad cover

[Anonymous No.17582580]

>>17577374
Are you from the 1890s? Everything is a lifestyle product now.

[Anonymous No.17582628]

Baudrillard's Consumer Society is the best starting point.

McLuhan's writing is good, too. Packard's The Hidden Persuaders and The Status Seekers; also Becker's Denial of Death.

[Anonymous No.17582634]

>>17580749
they do this with veganism and fake meat today, but you like veganism and fake meat, so now you will tell my why that's different

[Anonymous No.17582925]

>>17577374
I have interacted with 4 people like this today

[Anonymous No.17582955]

>>17577744
Not even sure how anybody manages to spend their money now ereaders exist and downloading is easy.
Must be addicted to the endorphins, like gambling addicts but for shopping.
Me? I'm addicted to stealing.
It's a much healthier place to be.

[Anonymous No.17582959]

>>17582925
Or maybe you just never show any interests of your own or show any interest in theirs so they always default to a 'safe' topic like that when talking to you.

[Anonymous No.17582966]

>>17582955
I buy books from small authors because I like directly giving them money as an incentive to continue writing.

[Anonymous No.17583361]

>>17582628
Where do I start with McLuhan? And any other recommendations like these?
>>17582955
I retain information better when I read them in actual books, every book starts to bleed into one another when reading from screens. Fine for some novels, but not for non fiction.

[Anonymous No.17583475]

>>17582959
lol cope faggot

[Anonymous No.17583559]

>>17583475
What are your hobbies?

[Anonymous No.17583570]

>>17577400
Based, I love the library.

[Anonymous No.17583656]

>>17578144

Gorgeous man. Imagine being this smart and this good-looking.

[Anonymous No.17583673]

>>17582959
No

[Anonymous No.17583684]

>>17577315
the Greeks paid to get entrance to plays, they bought product and waited for next product

[Anonymous No.17583697]

>>17582628
>Baudrillard's Consumer Society is the best starting point.

Why/how isn't this on libgen?

[Anonymous No.17583716]

>>17578152

>GO OUTSIDE

I literally just went outside after reading this post. All I saw was empty-eyed people, shops advertising sales on plastic crap from China, everywhere I looked, posters, billboards and screens displaying brightly-coloured imagery encouraging me to eat burgers, watch mind-numbing films, and drink sugar water. I saw people through their windows, watching programming they don't even enjoy on enormous televisions, staring like zombies. I saw no children playing in the streets. I saw no-one smiling, no-one having a conversation. I couldn't find a public square or really anywhere to sit and meet with someone, anywhere quiet to stop and watch the world go by, just dirty streets clogged with cars, the only place you could even sit down being a coffee shop selling bitter bean juice in stylish cups at a huge mark-up and pumping out repetitive music over loudspeakers. I saw everyone, man, woman, and child, staring at tiny screens that they carry around with them everywhere they go. Yeah, it's real great outside. We all just need to step outside our front doors and enjoy this beautiful world we've created.

[Anonymous No.17583734]

>>17583656
Eh, November Rain is a good song, but I never saw any evidence he was smart.

[Anonymous No.17583756]

>>17583673
see >>17583559

[Anonymous No.17583760]

>>17580288

>cancer

*checks thesaurus*

>malignant neoplasms