Consumerisism Musings

Anyone that knows me knows how much I detest shopping and rampant consumerism but the girls needed new pyjamas and in the absence of them having an earth mother who could sew them some out of some recycled jeycloths or similar, then we had to hit the shops and part with money.
Luckily it was all over quickly and this was a shot on the way back to the car. Shopping is now all bright lights, franchises and "You Must Have it Now But It Will Be Broken In Three Weeks "culture, this is why I have a certain antipathy towards it nowadays. We have a disconnect with shopping and where the products came from, exchanges at the till often consist of the consumer updating their Facebook profile on their smart phone whilst paying rather than interacting with the shop assistant . All this is satisfactory though as the world is safe in the knowledge that Kelly "has some really outrageous shoes lol "(We'll hold off the LOL rant for another day).
It didn't use to be so. Bradford centre has changed, when I moved here it was all indie shops that sold tassled skirts with mirrors in their hems (very essential obviously) and candles in the shape of Doc Martens (takes essential to a whole new level); the pubs sold cloudy heady cider that made your head hurt for three weeks and we had a proper old fashioned department store with bouncers on the door called "Brown Muffs "(the store not the bouncers). We didn't have to worry about parking spaces as we would walk into town and browse and buy chips , incense sticks and records that we has saved for.
Whilst I love what Bradford has to offer in terms of the water pool, (I Iove that, I really do and I always feel very connected and peaceful there, the water is magical and a great social leveller) I don't ever feel comfortable shopping there. In fairness this is not a Bradford prejudice, I feel just as uncomfortable in Leeds, if not worse. I simply do not understand why people the masses think that "things" equate to happiness.

I watched a fascinating film this week called the No Impact Man about a man and his family who went carbon neutral for a year, shopped locally from locally sourced food, only bought absolute essentials. They turned their lives off from the state of sugar addiction style 21st century consumerism. Blow me down they ended up feeling more connected with each other, with society, with the community, with the planet.

We wonder why the global economy is fucked and why there is a break down in society. Could it be that the "You're worth it culture" has been more damaging than the throwaway line suggests.