Can't buy me love

Western capitalist society is overall the wealthiest, freest, most privileged society in the history of humanity. While it is by no means perfectly equal, even the worse off have a chance, a small chance perhaps, but a chance indeed to better themselves economically and socially in ways that were impossible even a hundred years ago. Consider for a moment the last 3 or so years, having survived the “worse” economic disaster since the Great Depression, yet even at the worse of the economic crisis there was not a third of the poverty and chaos that the Great Depression experienced for more than half a decade. For all the talk of unemployment and banks folding and bailouts to the car industry, it seems that the hurt, while bad for those out of work or with foreclosed homes, is really in historical context laughable in the overall harm caused.   My point is not to argue about the economic issues of our day, but to put them in context and to deal with the real issue of my essay. That is, the real problems society faces in these days is the slow moral degradation of our society, the melting glacier that the effects of are slowly becoming apparent.

My reason for bringing up the economic recession that hit North America, Western Europe and affected in one way or another most the globe was that what became apparent was our moral depravity more than economic. A western society that has begun to shed its Judaeo-Christian roots for consumerism, with Capitalism as the new God and money as the means to glorify ourselves in its name. As a society with virtually no material needs that cannot be met, we have made the new survival social in nature, that food eaten is not a practical act as much as symbol of “traditional” living or modern liberation. The brand is as important if not more as the good that carries it, for the brand is infused with social capital that can be spent with family, friends, co-workers or the whole world through mass communication. Fame is no longer the merely the result of extraordinary talent and accomplishment but a means of its own, another skill like singing or dancing that can be utilized to build up immense social capital. Now I do not mean to say that the above are new phenomena per say, but that our narcissistic, hedonistic society has greatly multiplied the effects of this to more people in general and the ability of individuals to engage in such activity.

The problems with this become the most apparent at the lower income levels of society, not that moral depravity exists here more than in higher income groups, but the disease is more easily seen. This is because the people at the bottom do not have the ability to have their cake and eat it too in the way many wealthier western people are able to. What I is that these people must make a choice, between economic or social capital. That is, they can have blackberries and Plasma TV’s, or food on their plate and manageable debt. Now some at the very bottom can’t have neither, but even most of these can survive, however poor, on western nation’s social programs. So these people have a choice and the question is which to choice? Our modern media and culture promotes social capital accumulation, consume to keep the economy going, consume this pill to lose weight, this pill to feel better, where this brand or eat this food and be more respected. And if you are lucky and win the lottery, you will get on a reality show and become super famous and be lifted out of your meagre existence. Again I say that the above existed as temptations before the modern era, it was not nearly as prevalent or pervasive or as encouraged as ever before.

For those on the bottom, the alternative is to work hard, save your money, live rather modestly, maybe never much better your circumstances so your children or niece or just the next generation may be a little better off than they are. It means status symbols will be few and personal benefit will likely only extend as far as a little stability and a little better future. But in a globalized world with outsourcing and union busting and privatization, even the impoverished yet honest woman or man is increasingly unable to achieve such modest goals. So it is of little wonder that many go for the easier lifestyle and more self-indulgent existence, especially when morally is an increasingly relative term. This helps explains the failure of easy capital and easy pleasure in term so of lower income people. This is because what drives people to massive debt is rarely driven my economic ideal as much as social ones, the idea of social capital accumulation that comes with a bigger house and nicer possessions and the “American” dream, although most of western states could have their country name substituted into that. There is also the problem of deception involved by unscrupulous bankers and lax government regulators that allowed for practices to continue and sold an idea of every individual deserves success and the good life, largely regardless of their actions or behaviour.  

So the crime and family breakdown and that make the poor the story so often the story of the nightly news is really just a reflection of being unable to hide their malaise. The middle/upper classes of society suffer just as greatly if not worse; however, in their collapse of moral respectability. Since their economic needs are essentially met at a basic level, the goal then becomes rather simple, which is social capital accumulation, when has no God to consider but themselves. They act essentially the same as the lower classes, but look better doing it, without suffering from poverty issues in the same way such as poor health and education and can hid the drug addicted kids and abusive or uninterested  parents with cars and good schools and BBQs and therapists and the like. The unwanted pregnancies are aborted, the career parents hires nannies and buy video games for the kids, the lying and cheating and stealing are just children being “unique” individuals that should be set free or adults doing their jobs well. Are any willing seriously to argue that the sexualisation of our youth or the dissolving of marriages has no negative effects? That economic growth can hide sad lonely children desperate for love and sad lonely adults searching for meaning in it all? For all those that say that I exaggerate or am being an alarmist, I say our entitled society has yet paid our dues for its sins and the real crisis lay ahead.

In any case, the indivisible unit of modern society has become the individual, not the family or society. In the Christian tradition, the individual is really just one organ of the body of Christ, in theory not greater or less than another person, and the goals of people were not meant to be solely focused on ourselves but the other and most importantly to God. The Christian tradition is one that values helping others as greater than helping the individual, and that searching for the meaning of life without God leads to staring in a hopeless empty and lonely void, devoid of meaning or purpose. The Christian tradition is restrictive in the sense that you cannot always do what you feel like doing, but has doing everything you feel like doing made us any happier or content as a society, or only increased our guilt and sense of loss? For whatever brief hedonistic pleasure one loses in propelling oneself towards God and the spiritual life, he or she will find a lifetime and beyond of simple, glorious grace and beauty that will fill one’s heart and soul, giving them something they could never buy or find at the store.