The materialist

Whatever the problem, spiritual, emotional, physical or social, the answer has been to buy more stuff e.g. style change, new drug for newly uncovered “disease”. Scale, scale and scale. From supply side, the faster the machine, the more profit. On demand side, people do not want to be reminded that we are in a post-materialist phase, albeit life is still short even with longer longevity. It insults their intelligence if you keep mentioning the Happiness Curve, or the Law of Diminishing Return e.g. 1 steak, 2nd steak, 3rd steak…as quantity peaks, quality and satisfaction decreases every time.

Traveling gives us a break and a fresh perspective. With new horizon to expand our vision and new curve to jump (like a kid tossing a quarter over the surface of the water to see it glides); our conundrum gets new perspective from a different angle (space tour anyone?).

Growth and decline are facts of life. Yet out of immaturity or in denial (we’re an exception to the rules): Rome, the Empire. America, the Persian, India and China Empire beg to differ: “No it’s us who possess the ancient text and formula” Mummifying?).

The US and Western Allies: we knocked down the Atlantic Wall 80 years ago.

Justice in the American (West) way (6 bullets) and some – hid in boots only to be drawn out at last resort “shot fired!”. The spoil of war well-earned. Multiplication is better. Supersize and Superman, the best. “Supersize Me” author has died at age 56. Hit me.

Batman and Bond franchise live on forever, thanks to Hollywood branding.

I am invincible. Tomorrow never dies.

Look, who is the most beautiful/handsome of all. Cinderella without a curfew. Materialist = Exceptionalist. Spiritualist? Philosopher? Artist? Losers! (stolen arts = forbidden fruits, taste better). Let them get dirty with paint and brushes, grammar and conjugation, aperture and white balance. We steal from the art thieves, Thief in Chief.

Everybody wants to be me, worships me and adores me. Mirror mirror, screen screen (Apple or Android) who is the fairest of all?

A materialistic solution is to apply to every problem, much like a cosmetic surgery or pharmaceutical dosage (a medicine cabinet and a mackintosh in every home).

It seems to work every time, albeit short-term. Until the next trip. Next call of the mall.

Consumption cannot keep up with over-supply (want free Prime?). Not when overseas labor gets multi-layer-outsourcing (to the Cambodian then their kids), while multi-level marketing cannot keep pace. Not when machine multiplies itself – AI designing AI (see Our Modern Times) and Amazon Everything Store AWS keeps scaling and ballooning.

We used to report UFO sightings. Now the table turns. Martians perhaps have been stalking us. To them, we must seem very weird: lots of outfits yet nothing to wear. Lots of phones, yet no one to talk to.

We keep doing the same thing i.e. applying materialistic solution to non-materialistic problems, in the hopes for a different result. A miracle without a prayer. Hitting the jackpot without a Quick Pick. At this rate, miracles might have already occurred, and we did not even know it.

Kids are lonely. Buy him/her a second phone (I phone, I pad and Mac book, screen protectors, visors, headset, microphones, keyboard, audio panel, blue tooth, sweet tooth and Costco-size pizza. If you got good grades, then we’ll talk: thousand-dollars gaming CPUs – pre=paid per tariffs. HDMI, USB, USBC etc…first it’s wireless, then we need the connector to connect etc….

Back to School? It’s barely summer recess. Yet, school supplies are at the ready. Easter? All the Easter eggs you can find (this time, unlike the model T’s, you can have any color you want). Again, the Law of Diminishing Return. There was a cartoonish character, filled with benevolence:” Here, take some more. They are all stale”. TAKE It!

Long ago, it’s not a factory strike that rattled management. It’s boycott.

Then things resume, like an un-Pause, movies extras start getting busy: chatting and walking for ambient noise, the huddle mass. Buy more, consume faster, sniff quicker. No one tastes foods. Just consume. Just slurp. Just move about in space as in time (the hunger of the past is no more. It’s the age of abundance, but polarizing abundance). Even Facebook will have to slow down as it reaches its peak.

Our Nighthawk guy (no one ever saw his face, just his back – over the diner’s counter) meanwhile, just sits. Letting life go by. Nursing a stale cup of coffee. Then a top up. By the third refill, he would realize the Law of Diminishing Return does apply (unless the coffee shop owner himself is lonely on night shift).

Keep pushing for more engineering solution, bio-chemical solution and logistic solution (service fee and tax). It’s the credit card and interest rates. It’s other’s People Money, Time, Vehicle, housing, Energy and buying habits (permission and permissive marketing predicts perception/definition of happiness – behavior-modified as time goes on by Madison Avenue and Hollywood). The way we never were. Even if it’s selective past, dementia will do us in (like pre-diabetes, pre-clinical Alzheimer self-generated a need for pre-treat drug assuming your children and grandchildren cherish your “once upon a time” bed-time stories.

Occasionally someone reports an UFO sighting. It makes for interesting “out of space” conversation. Or else, life would be so boring, doing the same (consuming) without obtaining a different (tasty) result. 1st steak, 2nd steak, 3rd steak…How about a pie-eating contest? How about more ribs, more wings, more fries and more soda (up the ladder, same totem pole).

Super-size me. Scarcity is no more. What matters is the tangible. The materialistic solution to everyday non-materialistic problem (BMI is showing me pre-obese). Non-stop. Just going, going, going. Except when the grid is down for repair, due to Climate change, or energy over-Consumption. Most time, it’s the supply side that wins (with more tax incentives for re-shoring).

Long game, short attention-span. Money can buy a lot. As in the Cat on the hot tin roof:” keep buying things in the hope that one of these might bring you eternal life”. Scrap shoot. What happens on Earth stays on Earth. Unless you can afford space travel. Foreign trips won’t cut it.

A lot of problems can be solved by the Materialist. Especially so when it’s time and it’s spousal urge to respond to the call of the mall.

A closet full, nothing to wear.