“Give the public the 'image' of what it thinks it ought to be, or what television commercials or glossy magazine ads have convinced us we ought to be, and we will buy more of the product, become closer to the image, and further from reality.” ThinkingGivingRealityTelevisionProductsOughtConvincedMagazinesAdsConsumerismOverconsumptionTelevision Commercials Book:A Circle of Quiet Source: A Circle of Quiet
“So many sins against the poor cry out to high heaven! One of the most deadly sins is to deprive the laborer of his hire. There is another: to instill in him paltry desires so compulsive that he is willing to sell his liberty and his honor to satisfy them. We are all guilty of concupiscence, but newspapers, radios, television, and battalions of advertising men (woe to that generation!) deliberately stimulate our desires, the satisfaction of which so often means the degradation of the family.” MenMeanDesireHeavenSinPoorLibertyGenerationsCryTelevisionWillingHonorSellsRadioSatisfactionNewspapersAdvertisingGuiltyConsumerismWoeDegradationOverconsumptionInstillLaborersDeadly Sins Author:Dorothy Day
“That happiness is to be attained through limitless material acquisition is denied by every religion and philosophy known to mankind, but is preached incessantly by every American television set.” PhilosophyKnownMankindTelevisionMaterialsDeniedConsumerismLimitlessAcquisitionOverconsumptionIncessantlyAmerican Television Book:The broken covenant: American civil religion in time of trial Source: The broken covenant: American civil religion in time of trial
“The gospel preached during every television show is 'You only go around once in life, so get all the gusto you can.' It is a statement about theology; it is a statement about beer. It's lousy beer and even worse theology.” ShowsTelevisionTheologyStatementsBeerConsumerismTelevision ShowsOverconsumptionGusto Author:John Silber
“TV is a language all its own, a land of one dimensional stereotypes that destroys culture, not adds to it. TV is anti-art, a reflection of consumerism that serves the power structure. TV is about demographics.” ArtCultureLanguageLandTelevisionTvsReflectionStructureAddConsumerismStereotypeDemographics Author:Roseanne Barr
“One of the problems with industrialism is that it's based on the premise of more and more. It has to keep expanding to keep going. More and more television sets. More and more cars. More and more steel, and more and more pollution. We don't question whether we need any more or what we'll do with them. We just have to keep on making more and more if we are to keep going. Sooner or later it's going to collapse. ... Look what we have done already with the principle of more and more when it comes to nuclear weapons.” IfsNeedsLooksDoneProblemPrinciplesCarTelevisionWeaponsNuclearKeep GoingCollapsePollutionNuclear WeaponsSooner Or LaterConsumerismSteelExpandingPremises Author:Dora Russell
“If we were built, what were we built for? ... Why do we have this amazing collection of sinews, senses, and sensibilities? Were we really designed in order to recline on the couch, extending our wrists perpendicular to the floor so we can flick through the television's offerings? Were we really designed in order to shop some more so the economy can grow some more? Or were we designed to experience the great epiphanies that come from contact with each other and with the natural world?” IfsWorldOrderGrowsNaturalEconomyTelevisionBuiltSensesContactCollectionsShopsOfferingSensibilityConsumerismNatural WorldCouchesWristsEpiphanyOverconsumptionExtending Author:Bill McKibben
“The modern child may early in his or her existence have natural inclinations toward spirituality. The child may have imagination, originality, a simple and individual response to reality, and even a tendency to moments of thoughtful silence and absorption. All these tendencies, however, are soon destroyed by the dominant culture. The child becomes a yelling, brash, false little monster, brandishing a toy gun or dressed up like some character he has seen on television.” MayChildrenLittlesMomentsCharacterRealityCultureSpiritualityIndividualImaginationNaturalSimpleExistenceSilenceModernTelevisionGunResponseMonstersTendenciesDestroyedThoughtfulOriginalityToysConsumerismDominantInclinationYellingOverconsumptionDressed UpAbsorptionBrashDominant CultureToy Guns Author:Thomas Merton