Soul sale

- everything must go

Nothing was delivered
and I tell this truth to you
not out of spite nor anger
but simply because it´s true

Now I hope you won´t object to giving
giving back all of what you owe
the fewer words you have to waste on this
the sooner you can go
“Nothing was delivered”, B Dylan

Modern advertising is all about flattering the consumer, rather than the product. For we both know that it´s the stuff we don´t need, that are in need of advertising. Modern advertising is the friend you don´t need and barely stand, but who flatters your vanity.

What´s the problem? If we ignore the obvious economic and ecological disaster? That we become dependant upon lies, that we base our selfesteem on illusions. I shop, therefore I am; I am a consumer, advertising produces me. A sports car makes me a racing driver, an aeroplane ticket a vagabond. Applauses from government and das Kapital.

All this is easily said, yet how do I live it or not live it? I have dreams of how my apartment becomes The Apartment, and that will require cash and perhaps even a small investment of my soul into the whole project. I travel, is that to meet friends and “broaden my mind”, or simply a status symbol and topic of conversation at work and parties? Consuming is not in itself suspect, not any more so than producing. The early economists had a tendency to consider production the moral part of economy, consumption the immoral, but this is clearly absurd. The only measure I can think of is that of Jesus, if it was your beloved friend who bought the couch or took a trip to Rio, would you be happy for him or feel envy? Or be afraid he´d gone materialistic?

Heard of zeitgeist? That means “spirit of the times”, and there´s no need to feel embarrased if you´re unfamiliar with the concept, it was thrown on the garbage heap of philosophy a long time ago, along with the German system builders who conceived it. But let´s salvage it just for this occasion, and while we´re probing around in the trash let´s pick up some evil as well. I mean, evil as a real and present menace to human existence. Let´s ask, what is the evil at work in our time? I´ll wager on consumerism. Not the empowerment of the consumer, if any, but the simultaneous seduction of the consumer and producer. Meaning, advertising manipulates the buyer, focus groups and consumer polls the maker. Through this, one could destroy the natural environment and waste precious resources on bogus needs. One could destroy the cultural fabric of human societies by making them sellable and marketable rather than livable (can be seen in the tourist resort of your choice). One could pervert the church into falling into the spiritual marketplace, selling ideas and rituals designed for maximum demand, rather than simply handing onwards what it has been given by grace. One could kill a soul by turning it into a commodity, given a price by external valuation (switch on your telly and most likely it´s being done on Big Brother).

If I was one of the lesser demons, and a bit lazy, that´s certainly the way I´d go about killing, destroying and maiming God´s creation in one neat blow. Blatant manipulation and deception under the guise of freedom...

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:...
That in the ages to come [God] might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:2,7