Are You a Citizen? Or a Consumer?
Of course, one can easily answer both. I’m more interested in how we in the United States view ourselves, as opposed to the ease with which we slide from one label to another as we go about our everyday duties. This is an important question to ask, as it very much has to do with a prevalant attitude that maintains we can ’shop our way to environmental good stewardship’ as opposed to rallying for powerful legislation. I say “as opposed to” instead of “in conjunction with” because to date I’ve seen very little willingness by the eco-community to stand up against the political establishment and make real demands. There seems to be a mysterious pathogen that has infected many eco-intellectuals, rendering their faith in the Democrats unassailable, however untenable and illogical (if one posits that faith in a political party is the result, in part, of past proactive legislation). Again, I have zero faith in either party to make great strides in this arena until such a time that the citizens of the United States stage unparalleled demonstrations in favor of a stridently pro-environment agenda. If push comes to shove, we are duty-bound by our Founding Fathers to shove and create by force or by will a government that represents what is good for the health and well-being of the citizenry.
In reading cultural critic P. David Marshall’s essay “The Embodiment of Affect in Political Culture,” I came across these words, which are very apropos:
“The linchpin of legitimacy in consumer capitalism is the consumer. The centerpiece of contemporary political culture is the citizen. In contemporary culture, there is a convergence in subjectivity toward the identification and construction of the citizen as consumer. This convergence entails a reinforcement of the dual system of rationality in politics. The citizen becomes reconfigured in political campaigns as a political consumer who, like any consumer, must make purchase choices among several different commodities.”
Again, which is it? Are we forced into this dual identification? Have we been so thoroughly commodified, as individuals, that the labels of consumer/shopper/republican/homeowner/renter/voter/democrat accurately describe the contents of the individual “package” than anything else? If we accept these identifications, and allow them to dilute our base identity, can we really expect to retain the power inherent in citizenship? Can we really expect to speak truth to power, as our great leaders did in the past (see below) and expect power to listen? In this battle we wage to save our planet for future generations of all living creatures, we must look more closely at our current position. I fear that we collectively press forward with an overwhelmingly naive sense of optimism, due primarily to the fact that we don’t even realize the enormity of the identity crisis that paralyzes us from within and without.
Thoughts?
Tags: commerce, Politics, Ruminations