Modern American Lifestyle

Thanks to an e-mail from Stephanie, I discovered a blog that does a nice job of critiquing the constantly on-the- go American lifestyle. I would encourage you to read Thomas Paine's Corner, especially the post on What McDonalds resurgence tell us about US capitalism.

This post points out the devastating effect the focus on capitalism is having on our personal lives. There are many who see a crisis of values in this country. The blame has been placed on everything from ending prayer in school, gay marriage, to drugs, but burgeoning unregulated capitalism is rarely brought up as a causal factor.

One indication of the elevation of capitalism is President Bush's tribute to Julie Aigner-Clark, founder of the Baby Einstein Co in his State of the Union Address. Slate gives a good critic of this enterprise that markets videos to infants. What was Julie Aigner-Clark's great contribution to humanity?
"Julie represents the great enterprising spirit of America." (G.W. Bush)

I'm not against making money or encouraging people to be enterprising by awarding them a goodly share of the profits for their hard work and ingenuity, but I am opposed to valuing the ability to obtain luxuries over meeting human needs.

I'm not for limiting free speech, but shouldn't there be some restraint in marketing to children and teens? Shouldn't we create films and television shows that encourage the highest form of human behavior instead of catering to our baser instincts? I don't think laws are the answer, though some regulation might help when it comes to advertising to children and youth. When my children would complain that I did not give them enough freedom, I told them that freedom equaled responsibility. To be truly free one must take responsibility for making good choices. Americans need to exercise their freedom through responsible consumption and revolt against the values that are being preached to us daily through advertising. We need to ask hard questions about our American life-style. Instead of passively accepting our place on the treadmill, we need to explore alternatives.

Some interesting facts about TV and Family Life Critically watching TV and all the commercials gives a very interesting commentary on the American lifestyle and our value system. I thought the commercials during the Superbowl hit a new low.