In ancient years, people devoted themselves to gods. They went to worship what they believe in, attended mass, made sacrificial offerings and tried to please their God to achieve enlightenment.

Nowadays, as the influence of religion is decreasing all over the world, we created new gods to find a meaning of life. It seems to me that one of the most powerful gods is capitalism. It is all about “fun” and to achieve this enlightening status, we visit department stores, which do not only sell products but a certain life spirit. We sacrifice hours after hours in part time jobs to be able to pay the price of branded clothes, buy the stylish Starbucks Coffee and other luxurious goods. But the flip side of the coin is that in order to maintain this lifestyle, our products must be produced cheap and workers only receive low wages. While we live in abundance, others suffer. And of course, most of us are aware of this, which is why capitalism needed to recreate its image in order to appear more “human”.

The so-called cultural capitalism tells us that while we are consuming, we can do something for the environment, for the future of poor children in South America or help to buy new furniture for the coffee shop. It gives us the opportunity to continue our lifestyle and feel good at the same time. However, all this will not change the fact that we are still consumers. Maybe the South American children will receive food today, but their parents must work in a factory all day long anyhow. The system in which we live in does not support long-term help for the poor coffee plucker simply because it does not have to. Letting us think that we are already doing something good is enough to stop us from questioning it. As long as our ethnical duties seem to be fulfilled, our social self is satisfied. We do not want be the cause of others’ misfortune. However, if we think we changed something, we will keep quiet and continue consuming obediently.

Furthermore, as people have the impression that no matter what they do, the situation will not change, they experience some kind of helplessness. As a result, they gladly accept the hand of capitalistic companies and numb themselves through buying frenzies. It is easier to close one’s eyes to injustice, which is the reason little people question why Starbucks of all cafés is the one standing for fulfillment of ethnic duties.

I have the impression that a part of my generation including myself is apathetic about a lot of these problems. Not because we do not care, but because we either do not want to change or because we do not know how. But this is exactly one of the reasons why things will not change: apathy. I am not sure what is worse, doing something which has no effect or not doing anything at all. I am sure, however, that we must start thinking and consuming critically and stop being fooled by the happily-ever-after-image which is displayed by those who want us to stay numbed.

by Julia Semineth