I was sent a link to this video called The Story of Stuff. As much as I liked this video and want lots of people to watch it, if only to make them think for a moment, I, the eternal skeptic, was bothered by one thing...
A post WWII retail analyst (Victor Lebeau?) was quoted as saying (briefly) that we needed to "make consumption our way of life" and "seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption..."
Scary, gross words.
The only problem is that I began to wonder what context the quote was pulled from. I wanted to know who this Victor L. guy was and how it was that he was so instrumental in shaping our economy and habits. Wikipedia came up empty-handed, and the only internet sites that mention him were from the blogs of people that were pulling that same quote from the same video. Hmmm.
Don't get me wrong, I agree with the general idea that our society is far too wasteful. It is too easy to be lazy and use disposable, plastic plates so that I don't have to wash some dishes, and I wish I could point to the statistic given in the video that only 1% of what we buy is in use 6 months later... But I don't have any idea how true that statistic is.
Regardless, if you don't mind being challenged in your thinking, watch it anyway, and you might just find yourself thinking twice the next time you go shopping.
1 comment:
Hey Wendy, I totally agree. I liked the video too, but I'm disappointed that Victor LeBeau seems a phantom and that I actually passed on that quote from story of stuff. someone called me on it, which is why I thought to look him up!
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