Easily Consumed

In our Quaker quest for economic justice, perhaps we should give some thought to the pernicious use of advertising. It strikes me that our society is controlled by people who want us to do no more than shop, regardless of whether we get into debt or not. Governments do not take a moral stand to prevent this happening but, by failing to do so they encourage it. Advertising mostly persuades us to buy things we don’t need and pay day loans and credit cards encourage people to spend money they do not have. This at a time of cut-backs and austerity. This lack or action by all political parties means that the poorest are easily turned into thoughtless consumers and debtors. This addiction is enhanced by the illusion of fame and reality shows like the fatuous ‘The Only Way is Essex’, ‘X Factor’ and ‘Big Brother’. There is another way…….let’s try to rebuild a sense of community so that the only way is where we live. If we made daily life more neighbourly and co-operative, we could start to end the cancer of Consumerism that is eating us all up.