I should like to start this piece of personal observation with a disclaimer. I have no expertise in political science or economics. I have attempted in the past to read Marx’s Das Kapital and could never get beyond the first chapter. I found Keynes’s General Theory to be much more readable, but again, never finished it. These following observations deal with our role as consumers in society, and the part consumerism plays in our economy. To say that the role of consumerism is huge appears to me to be a vast understatement. I contend that it has stripped away any semblance of individualism and personhood in our lives. We have become faceless cogs in an economic machine that has run amuck. I submit the following anecdote as evidence that demands of me a response on an existential level.
Several months ago our old Honda Cr-V (2006) awoke to a dead battery, and as my better half has chronic health issues and, consequently, many doctor appointments and prescription drug needs, I took the car to the dealership pronto for service. I was informed that there was a dead cell in the battery, and that the battery would need to be replaced. Ca-ching. Fast forward a week, and again the car fails to start. New alternator. Ca-ching. Another week, and the car won’t start.
At this point the light bulb over my head illuminates, and I think, “ahhh, they want me to buy a new Honda.” I sell the Cr-V for scrap, and go out and buy a new Nissan Sentra. Since family dynamics are always involved, I seized executive privilege. I had to have the ability to get my wife to the hospital in case of an emergency, and she would have belabored the selection process endlessly. I had my son drive me to the Nissan dealership, and came home with a new car the same day.
As far as the car is concerned, I love it. It rides quiet, is comfortable, and I instantly am caught up with fifteen years of technological developments. Collision radar, cameras, bluetooth and device plugs throughout. Great mileage (37 hwy). Now the bad news. A continuous onslaught of calls and emails from random Nissan dealerships across the country trying to sell us something. Santa Clara Nissan? Really? And you know those robo calls saying your extended warranty will soon expire? My one month old Sentra is apparently about to have its coverage run out. And yesterday I received an email from our local Nissan dealer, where we purchased our Sentra, inviting us to enter a sweepstakes to win, of course, a second new Nissan.
I haven’t bought enough. I haven’t spent enough. My input is needed to boost the gdp, or the cpi, or any other financial index you’d care to name. I used to believe we were targeted as financially vulnerable because we are old, and I know that almost every American has, I’ve read, a consumer profile of some 4,000 data points indicating what sorts of products we would be most likely to buy. I want out. A part of me really believes it is possible to unplug, to extricate oneself from the algorithm. I managed to remove myself from Facebook, taking the numerous steps to remove my footprint. I’ve hit unsubscribe from every email I receive daily, but I know my address will continue to be sold to new sellers.
Totally off grid is not in the cards for us, but the days of buying the “latest thing” is over. But remember, you can never own enough Sentras.