Dilemma Number Twenty-Two: Plastic Fantastic?

Ever read any Adorno and Horkheimer?

When i was at uni, i was obsessed with a text called 'The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception' from their book 'Dialectic of enlightenment'(And there's you thinking i was an airhead... i am actually very well-read thankyouverymuch). It still remains to be the only peice of writing i have read that's had a profound effect on me....to the point where i used to lie awake at night thinking about society and the terrible unconscious state we were in.

In a nutshell, Adorno and Horkheimer argued that the media and popular culture was like a factory, churning out standardised goods and products, through mediums like film, tv, radio, material-based goods like technology and fashion etc. These products were meant to unconsciously 'push' masses into a hypnotic state of capitivity and passivity... products produced by the media has the power of being able to pigeon-hole people into a range of character categories... the worker, the professional, the fashionista- you get the point.

By keeping masses in a state of passivity, the media is able to keep people quiet, gntly satisfying them with material gratification and stopping them from causing a fuss. Genuine needs, like love and happiness, and justice, are swapped for easy-to-handle needs created by the media. You 'need' an Iphone. You 'need' to go see Twilight. You 'need' to buy something/everything/anything from the Manolo Blanik collection at H&M. That feeling of inadequacy if you don't have the 'right' trainers, 'right' mobile or 'right' knowledge of music... you didn't create that...the media did- so you would comply and buy buy buy. Capitalism- don't you love it?

Think of The Culture Industry like 'The Matrix'... millions are kept unconscious, caged within an invisible prison and used for their buying power and ability to work... thus fueling the capitalist machine. We're too busy worrying about clothes and why we're single and the lastest action movie to see whats going on.

What makes me angry about myself is that i still fall for the same tricks, with full knowledge of what is going on. And boy, The Culture Industry feeds me my vice like a personal brand of heroin...

I had a day off today... and met with a friend for lunch and costume shopping (we're going out on friday) and somehow managed to spend £75 in TWO HOURS with my debit card (thank GOD this dilemma doesn't involve a credit card)... on crap. I'm not talking about currently looking at a £75 pair of pretty shoes.. i mean i spent it on a dress.. a bit of make-up, a meal with my mate, nibbles for work, a cocktail or two, a new purse, a diary for next year... CRAP. Mindless gratifying crap. And the Culture Industry won... i skipped around town with my shopping bags feeling happy and full of life.

And i got home. And worked out how much i spent. And on what? Crap. Crap that i thought i needed.. crap that i thought might look good...

And i felt ashamed. Knowing that i'd been taken for a fool AGAIN. And the sad thing, i'll never learn. None of us will.