Indeed, (p. 45) consumption as a way of life and road to happiness (latest car, clothes, house) in the west contrasts sharply with the traditional life I experienced when I lived in West Africa for a year, where relationships defined the person. Materialism was simply the urgency of rebuilding one's hut for the rainy season for real shelter, not the latest look. When Bokasa of RCA ordered his people to paint their huts like the civilization of France, the village folk did everything they could to scrape together the means to white-wash their huts, but this was not to keep up with the neighbors. They were not interested other than to escape the wrath of the emperor. A great night out in that venue was not Hollywood or Broadway but around the campfire sharing songs, stories and dance. No money or profit were involved. The new dawn came the next day when the sun came up, not according to a shopping trip schedule and purchasing new things.
The never-ending task of (p. 60) consumers is a daunting, uphill task, a never-ending path of earn, spend/consume, discard. The consumer becomes the consumed in this treadmill of work and consumption. The consumer is consumed by the process; the consumer is the product to be owned and controlled by the institutional entities that are at the forefront of this machine (government, business, religion - from the writings of Rick Warren himself: The Purpose Drive Life).
More importantly, however, is that this process leaves roadkill and that is as the consumer becomes the consumed, their health, relationships, inner soul, are destroyed. They are simply a cog in the grand machine. (p. 124). They become the failed consumers when they are no longer able to earn, purchase, and discard as expected. They are the throw-aways of society. Except they are not really thrown away. The discards are no longer considered people, true, but that makes them vulnerable to be used for even more evil purposes such as human traffiking, which is on the rise.
The case of the Lawrence King empire of Omaha which involved business, government, and the press, is a good example. King used a credit union as a cover, went into what was Boys/Girls Town to secure orphans (throw-aways) and made them available to higher ups in business and government for use in whatever manner. Thus the throw-aways become "useful" to the controlling machine in a less than human manner.
As an educator, the bigger picture of the failure of leadership to treat humanity humanely is an opportunity to provide a different type of opportunity for learners, wherever possible. Apathy, (p. 148) or not being responsive to the evils of the greater culture, is missing the opportunity to deal with the social realities of our society with the opportunities afforded in a classroom. A classroom need not be simply a breeding ground for the consumer society. Rather, each individual can be afforded opportunity for self-realization, self-management, and cooperative group engagement in learning.
Bauman mentions the Holocaust. Within the Holocaust, were the leaders who stood up to the Nazi machine and worked with others to save lives.
If, indeed, modern liquidity is a modern holocaust, than those who see what is happening must stand up against the machine to save lives.
(p. 149) Democracy must be brought back to its original meaning. People must go from being consumers to citizens. Students must be recognized as life-long learners rather than as test scores (No Child Left Behind).
I can't wait to read the next Bauman book.
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