http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/minimalist
You know, the more news I read online from people who “know” what needs to happen in this country, one word keeps coming to mind; minimalist.
When did living in America mean you had to have the latest, greatest, biggest and most expensive thing? When did this society reach that point, when the collective majority of us thought just like that? SUVs, Mansions, Jewelry, Cars, Clothes, TVs, Big Macs and Whoppers. To name a few examples.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/20/lkl.michael.moore/index.html?eref=rss_topstories and http://www.jaffejuice.com/2008/11/what-we-have-here-is-a-failure-to-communicate.html?referer=sphere_related_content are great reads that bring up a LOT of valid points. Things this country should be looking at.
For years consumers have been asking for better MPG, environmentalists have been asking for hybrid cars and people have been talking about the dependence on foreign oil and the need for a long term solution to that oil. What have American car companies done? Nothing to very little on their own. Sure the government has “forced” them to design vehicles that get better MPH, but it has been on their own timetable! The three major CEO’s of American car companies and a few high up lawmakers prolly sat around a table playing cards and drinking and laughed about how much money they were making. Big oil prolly had a few seats around the table too, they certainly don’t want oil to be phased out.
How about fast food. They make very unhealthy food. How long does it take for them to listen to advocates and health officials to make the food “healthier?” Even though people know it is unhealthy, how often do they eat it? Heck, I just finished eating McDonald’s, why? It’s EASY. FAST. No mess. It isn’t the companies fault we eat it up, they are providing an item and it is our decision to purchase it. Not like smoking which is an addiction, which is another topic. And who gets blamed for all the obese children in America? Fast food companies, because you know..they bust into your house in the morning, drive you through their drive-thru with a gun pointed to your head to order something, they then pay for your meal before returning you to your home. And they do the same thing for lunch and dinner. Everyday. All month. For EVERYONE. When was the last time you had Dunkin Donuts? Can you go a week without going there just once?
Smoking, cigarette’s. I hate smokers, I hope they all die. Here are companies, that are legally allowed to sell an addicting drug that has a very high probability of killing their consumers. Why? Really, why? Think about it for a moment. Why would a body of government accept that? Why would the public accept it? Why would any one who knows better be OK with that? I’m not. But it at least, isn’t their fault they smoke. Sure, they made an initial bad decision to try it, and got addicted. Or they have the unfortunate luck of being around people who smoke a lot, but THAT is their decision too. There is a wealth of information telling everyone how bad the products are, it is on the side of the fracking packaging!!!! Yet people try them anyway, hence it is their decision. Why isn’t the government doing something about these companies that sell a product that is addicting and kills. Just how much money are they shelling out? Why aren’t lawmakers standing up against these products? Yes, I meant what I said. I hope all smokers die. And oh yeah, I lost my grandmother to lung cancer induced from….you got it! Smoking.
Ok, I am starting to stray a bit from the minimalist topic, so back on track, but everything has a place I have talked about. You have companies doing everything they can to stay in business, just to make a profit. They don’t care if that product kills people, or doesn’t work. How does this happen? Because management of these companies care about power, wealth and stock options. They have been disconnected from the consumer, from the people who want to buy products, remember them? That is the management’s mistake, how about the consumers?
Buying the biggest, latest, best thing on the market. Do they need it? No. But everyone else is getting it, so why shouldn’t they? It is about status, power, wealth. Not on the scale that the CEOs are on, but the thinking behind the decisions are the same. The battleground is different, but the base strategy is just copied. I want to know where the original came from. Who started us down this path of needing MORE from everything. Why can’t we get away with the bare minimum? I have said it before and I will say it again:
I liken the Star Trek universe as the direction this country needs to be taking, with the idea of the Federation and Star Fleet in mind. People worked for the state. People were provided for by the state. People wanted and got enough to survive, maybe a bit more. People worked to better themselves and help those around them.
This country, and really the world, needs to head in a direction similar to that. It could work, if everyone from top to bottom did their part and greed was eliminated. Yet people cry Socialism as soon as you mention the state providing what you need. Ok, so? That’s what Socialism is! What’s the problem? Oh, right. The problem is when the people in charge do what is best for THEM and not the community. Of course the current government is never going to bring about these changes, nor would they even be able to sustain them. To much greed and self-serving interests within the hearts and minds of those in power. But it COULD happen. If there was a system in place to ensure the people in charge of such a society had no reason to deviate from doing the right thing, it could work.
It could work, but human beings as a people need to change their fundamental values and beliefs for such a thing to ever be. I wish I was alive when that day came, to see how this race has evolved. What values mattered. Assuming we survive that long and don’t blow each other up first. Fun, eh?