Consumption: a new disease

I am fed up – are you? -- at constantly being referred to as a CONSUMER. It’s as if that’s all we are. As if we live in a reductive world where our only value is what, how often and how much we consume. Feed me!

Referring to my copy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary (which, oh dear, I find was published in 1964, so there may be a revised definition) to consume is ‘to make away with; use up; eat, drink, up; spend, waste.’ And, a consumer is the ‘user of an article, opp. to producer; consumers’ goods, things which directly satisfy human wants and desires, e.g. food and clothing.’

Quite. Romantic, idealistic, spiritually uplifting it’s not. No longer citizens, people, voters, the public or the population. We are one thing only: consumers. But the New Poor are a spanner in the works. Our consumption of goods is decreasing and changing. And, besides, human desires go beyond owning things, eating things, etc.

And, on another but related tack. Have you noticed how sexy the New Poor are becoming? Several books have been written to extol the virtues of not spending. Virtuous it may be, but for many of us it has become a necessity.