Against, For , and Neutral towards consumerism

Consumerism is the protection or promotion of the interest of consumers.  There are some people that don't support consumerism and some that do. I've found a couple of articles that are against, for, and neutral when it comes to the subject. I will also be adding some thoughts that people have on the subject and I will be letting you know how I feel abut the whole thing as my final thoughts. The first article that I will write about is an article from a small social media site that isn't really for consumerism.  "Western society is one of consumerism – we consume unnecessary resources for our own pleasure, and this is often at the expense of the environment and other community values. Consumerism is real, but as a means to happiness is a fallacy."  This is a small website that doesn't really like consumerism and its speaks about how  we buy things that we don't need and how most things we buy are really hazardous to the environment.  Most of the things that we buy are a casualties that we decide to have and don't really need and they are not needed to be happy.  A mass media site that I have found and want to tie into what I'm talking about is http://www.cnn.com/ .  I want to say that this website really supports my idea of how mass media sites support consumerism because everywhere you go on the page you see all these different advertisements and commercials. This just really shows how they support consumerism because they want to advertise everything so that people could see all these different products and want to buy them.  Since I spoke about how people are against and for consumerism I think its just fair to speak about how somebody could feel neutral about the whole idea." Ever since mass media became mass media, companies have naturally used this means of communications to let a large number of people know about their products. There is nothing wrong with that, as it allows innovative ideas and concepts to be shared with others. However, as the years have progressed, the sophistication of advertising methods and techniques has advanced, enticing and shaping and even creating consumerism and needs where there has been none before, or turning luxuries into necessities.".SO I think that they are neutral on the subject because they say how using it in a specific way isn't bad but when they start using it for the wrong reasons it is. Here is a quote from Chuck Palahniuk  about how they feel abut consumerism "Are these things really better than the things I already have? Or am I just trained to be dissatisfied with what I have now?”. "Here's another quote from somebody else that seems to be very concerned also and his name is Noam Chomsky "All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.”. So you've read what other people think about consumerism so here are my thoughts on the topic. I think that consumerism is bad because there are all these different companies and mass media sights that want to sell you on products that are not the best thing for anybody or necessary to somebodies way of living. Most of the things they try to sell you are not even worth your time. If you would like any further information feel free to click on any of the links underneath.
http://www.achieve-goal-setting-success.com/consumerism.html
   http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/consumerism
http://www.globalissues.org/article/160/media-and-advertising

                                                   

over worked and underpaid!!!!!!!!!!

 

A lot of people all over the world are being over worked, yet underpaid. I've recently read an article that talks about Chinese workers being over worked and paid very little. These workers work hard to feed their families and they don't get paid a lot of money even when Chinese incomes  rise, the average wage of Chinese mainland workers is still less than half of the of the world's average when measured by global purchasing power. In the worlds average Chinese workers make about $660 a month while most countries make about $1,500 a month. Here is a quote from the article which i will explain further "Chinese mainland individuals need to earn 6,000 yuan, or $952 a month, to have purchasing power equal to the world’s average.". This quote to me tells us how these poor workers are being "robbed" from what they really deserve to earn a month and it shows us some numbers of how much is being kept from them. Most people don't care about how people from other countries are being under paid,but will they start caring if they hear some examples from their own country?   I have found an article that speaks about how people are being over worked and cheated out of their right full payment.  Here's a quote from the article  “Our wages are already at rock bottom,” this was said by a McDonald’s worker in Detroit named Sharnell Grandberry.  This article is telling us how these workers are being over worked and how on top of that they are being cheated out of the number of hours they worked.  So the quote ties in to all of this because these workers get overworked and paid so little yet they are still erasing hours even when they are already at rock bottom.  I have found one more article that to me relates to everything that I'm talking about.  I will now show you a quote that shows more about this problem going on. "Pay and working conditions for pilots have been an ongoing concern, especially in the last few years as airlines have eliminated benefits and lowered pay in order to remain competitive.". It is just unfair that they are cutting their pay just because it would benefit them.  This really is another example about the unfairness in most working environments. If you would like any further information on any of these articles feel free to click on any of the links below.   http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/04/04/u-n-shocker-chinese-workers-underpaid/    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/business/mcdonalds-workers-in-three-states-file-suits-claiming-underpayment.html?_r=0    http://www.airsafenews.com/2010/01/los-angeles-times-story-of-overworked.html