Oversized Consumerism

Scientia

Scientia

A true lady
MBTI
INFJ
There is something about the size of things in the United States that I find somehow repulsive. If I walk into a store, restaurant or even a theme park, it inevitably occurs to me that everything we can purchase from muffins to soft drinks is just too BIG. The scale of everything (even clothes - a true women's size 2 is impossible to find) seems out of proportion to me and sometimes I think of us as a swarm of locusts, laying waste to everything on the planet, using up natural resources, consuming huge amounts of everything and creating piles of refuse. I realize that many might disagree.

Whatever happened to moderation? Am I being too judgmental? What do you think?
 
Superlative said:
Whatever happened to moderation?
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I don't really think it was there to begin with. it has been an issue, for good and bad, throughout history.


The reason population exploded when we became farmers was that we had the resources to sustain more people, hitting the upper limit. What saved us from overharvesting the forests -first time around- was the black plague. Today we have commercials promoting us to get new mobile phones for free, and whenever we are able to cut living expenses we get another car.
 
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I know what you mean. The size and excess of things has become noteworthy. There was an explosion in storage businesses some years ago because people simply had too much shit to fit in their house. when you are renting a space for your things and yet already own a sizable space to live in, it seems there is a problem! And yes, the bloaty, super-sized stores with an acre of soaps an a mile of chips to choose from, have become a bit astounding. I do remember life before Walmart sized stores were the norm. I remember the first Kmarts when I was a kid and thought they were wonderful. Now I see why my parents didn't.
 
The CORPORATIONS and their PUBLIC RELATIONS CORPORATIONS have been supersizing things gradually over the years

Also the takeover of food production and distribution by the corporations has mostly destroyed alternatives leaving people to lean towards what is available

The corporations in turn are assisted by the politicians who give them tax breaks and various protections from litigation
 
Coprorations in the US prey on human primal instincts and biases. It's hard for people to help it once they're trapped.

I've noticed this about video games lately. I've obtained a couple games recently without paying money for them and how I feel about them is completely different than similar games which I have bought. The very act of paying money creates a justification bias in that you want to like what you pay for. I've noticed on games that I paid $30 for I go out of my way to like it because I don't want to feel like I've wasted my money, but on something I don't pay for I more quickly recognize whether it is utter SHIT or not. This leads eventually to biased reviews and incredibly bad buying habits. You can't always trust someone who paid money to be a good judge of what they want or need because nobody likes to feel ripped off.

A similar thing happens with other products. Companies want you to think you're getting more for your money so that you'll be more willing to part with your money, and once you do part with your money they have you in their grasp because now that you paid money, you want to justify your purchase.

e.g. people will pay $2 for an oversized soda and love the hell out of it because it's designed to produce that effect. If they got that much for free, they'd probably realize pretty quick how sick it is.
 
muir said:
The CORPORATIONS and their PUBLIC RELATIONS CORPORATIONS have been supersizing things gradually over the years

Also the takeover of food production and distribution by the corporations has mostly destroyed alternatives leaving people to lean towards what is available

The corporations in turn are assisted by the politicians who give them tax breaks and various protections from litigation
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I have noticed that there is a decidedly carbohydrate-laden selection just about everywhere. It's quite difficult to eat otherwise.
 
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