there’s nothing that can be done to change that. i mean the existence of consumerism and its effects. even in a socialist market the same materialism (lifestyle, not the philosophy of) would exist and the desire would need to be met by a competitive market to produce commodities and services. you wouldn’t get something like communist russia where only a few essentials were allowed by the state to be produced. the only noticable difference in the market would be the fact that companies were run and controlled by many people rather than a single owner. so a consumerist culture would still be there, and all the character defects that come with it it would be there too. 'fraid shortsightedness and narrow self-interests is inherent to human nature, and that it will always be fostered by the market - any kind of market - any kind of exchange of commodities and services.
the question should be; how can we organize six billion simpletons so that their shortsightedness and narrow self-interests doesn’t interfere with the shortsightedness and narrow self-interests of the other simpletons. in other words, how do we create a peaceful coexistence between simpletons. well, for one you can eliminate one of the main forces responsible for making them hostile shortsighted and narrow minded self-interested simpletons; economic exploitation at the hands of the capitalist market.
forget about that nonsense of the ‘engineering a new, better man’ utopian myth that surrounds marxism. that was a bit of over-optimistic philanthropy on marx’s part. not all of us can be ‘the better man’. but you can, still, create a society in which simpletons create less problems while there’s still enough freedom and incentive for exceptional individuals to develop and be properly rewarded for their talents.
see formerly elitist philosophers thought simpletons existed to be exploited, so that’s what they did. but in doing so, two disasters resulted. one, the elitists had nothing to show for justifying that exploitation and instead became super-charged simpletons with a shit load of money they did simpleton shit with. second, they created an incredible burden on the already stressed out simpletons and turned them into walking problem-makers.
now we look at society and ask ‘why was it done this way, when we coulda gotten the same results had we dunnit the socialist way and prevented all that extra bullshit from happening’. in other words, we woulda gotten the same net result - simpletons doing simpleton shit with their money - but minus all the unecessary social problems created by the divided classes in violent conflict with one another.
if you have any questions, don’t ax a conservative or a liberal because they’re gonna put a ‘spin’ on the answers. conservative’ll tell you ‘yada yada yada greatness wouldn’t be possible in a socialist society’, while the liberal’ll tell you ‘yada yada yada omg i am not a simpleton! that’s insensitive and politically incorrect!’
the troof is, the conservative is not great and the liberal is a simpleton. ergo; the right and left are simpletons. look i’m trying to be realistic here… even if it means shattering your dreams about man. fact is, there will always be simpletons… and the only thing you can do is arrange a society in which everybody is simple together. no more capitalists parading around like they’re the greatest thing since cheese whiz, and no more liberals bitching and complaining because they can’t afford health care or tuition or a mortgage because the capitalist shitstick they work for is keeping all their money.
you want the troof, ax an anarchist. we have a bird’s eye view on the whole circus and can tell you timeless troofs about it. all this nonsense started all the way back in b.c. same shit then, more complex now. better, more persuasive lies. philosophy and language are to blame for this, btw.