“Consumed” by Benjamin R. Barber was clearly written to open the eyes of the reader. Our society has become consumed in everything materialistic. Barber wrote this book to expose what has become of our nation. Large companies are growing and our society is becoming more and more childish. Adult ways are an evanescent characteristic.
“ Hence the new consumer penchant for age without dignity, dress without formality, sex without reproduction, work without discipline, play without spontaneity, acquisition without purpose, certainty without doubt, life without responsibility, and narcissism into old age and unto death without a hint of wisdom or humility.”( Barber, p.7).
“Consumed” revels how the companies and advertisement have targeted this new attribute and have caused it to become increasingly worse. The ultimate goal, of the book, is not only to open the readers eyes about these materialistic truths, but also be able to slowly start changing this trend for the better of our world. Though it is hard to achieve this goal with one book, Barbers words are enough to change the ways of some. Barbers book is powerful and has strong points, the problem is people who read “Consumed” already are opened minded and trying to change their dependency on consumer produces, making his initial purpose hard to truly achieve.
Barber’s book has three different sections, all of which explain out childish ways and how we are naive to being targets of advertisement. Part one is The Birth of Consumers. This sections explains how people are tempted with desire of never having to go up, creating a consumer monster. Part two is The Eclipse of Citizens. This section explains how chicanery is used to convince the consumers they are not targets, that is if they even notice they are targets of corporations. Last but not least is The Fate of Citizens. This section explains what will become of out consumer nation if we do not change our ways. This set up is effective because it keeps the readers attention and is anything but jejune.
Benjamin R. Barber clearly spent a large sum of time researching this subject and has appeared to dedicate his time and writing to matters that need to be addressed for the better of our nation, and more importantly world. Barber has produced other works such as Jihad Vs. Mc World. He appears to be an expert on these kind of matters, making his work creditable. Though Barbers work is creditable it is also bias, showing how consumerism is hurtful, but not ways it is helpful.
“Consumed” makes points that we are becoming more childish, we are naive to being targets and what we need to do to change this enervating qualities. Mainly each point is summed up in our childish ways. Barber uses a business man as an example. Instead of coming by train, car or simply walking the man comes on a scooter and a stylish bag on his way to an important meeting, keeping himself young spiritually. The author also uses how young adults continue living with their parents to avoid paying rent or being a boring adult life. “as many as four million not-so-young adults between twenty-five and thirty-four still live with their parents in the United States, many of them middle-class.”(Barber, p.8) Point being our consumer problem comes for our feckless ways.
The book is not written for an outsiders point of view, yet the author is anything but an outside, merely and informed observer on right in the middle of the consumer situation. Barber gives facts and figures, showing what really goes on with the black whole of consumerism. He uses strong but common words to reach his readers. Barber’s sentences were either short and to the point of long and amplified to make sure the reader truly understands the severity of consumerism.
After reading this book I feel a deeper meaning of my topic. Corporations, do break human rights violations and care more about many then people, but really the problem is the dependency we have on these corporations. Not because they provide with what we need but because of out feckless, childish ways. “Consumed” helped me finally decide on how I truly feel towards Wal-Mart and I do believe that it is a deleterious company. One of the books attributes I enjoyed the most was that is was not only accusing corporations of harming people, but peoples unnecessary needs harming other people. We are to blame as much as the companies for being naïve. Though we have been brain washed to be consumers, we still need to educate ourselves on subjects such as consumerism. Though this is true and I would recommend this book to young adults mainly, I did not like how this book made me feel about myself. “Consumed” made me feel churlish towards myself. I am very much a childish naïve person, and “never want to go up” and the book pointed out that this is the main problem with our situation. Barber’s words and statistics made me feel 100% responsible for having young kids working in factories for my silly toys. However, I believe the blunt information is key to changing what needs to be changed. Having said that I do believe that anyone will to educate themselves should be educated on subjects like consumerism, not just Math, English and Science. I would recommend it to high school seniors with ambitions to change the world, like we all think we and we alone can. I would recommend “Consumed” to college kids who have finally stepped out into the real world and are suppose have responsibilities. I would recommend it to parents with young children so they can help stop the viscous consumer cycle. Also I would recommend it to older citizens to remind them that their lives where not always revolving around what they bought that day. Anyone and everyone could take something important away from Benjamin R. Barber’s book “Consumed”. All they need is an open mind and ability to read. I enjoyed this book and it concluded my research on corporations, such as Wal-Mart, perfectly.
