Blog 1

Materialism. What do you think of when you hear this word? Do you consider yourself to be materialistic? These are questions that every American should be able to answer quite easily. I would answer by saying that materialism is when someone thinks that they need to have the newest and best things anywhere from the latest iPhone to a luxury sports car. As for the latter question, I would say that to some degree I am materialistic, as I believe everyone is to some extent. At the same time, however, all of the material things that I do own, I have worked hard for and saved up to get them. As we learned in class last week, Tocqueville believed that materialism was a real issue in the U.S. When he came to America he basically blamed our problem with materialism on the fact that we were (and still are) a democratic society. I’m not sure if I agree that materialism is only a problem in democratic societies, however, I do think that it is a huge problem in the United States. An example of this would be the shopper’s favorite day of the year: Black Friday. Although I do participate in Black Friday every year, I think some of the things that people go through to get some deals are ridiculous. Our country has become so wrapped up in the need for “stuff” that stores have played into that and they have great deals for only a couple of hours in the middle of the night. Sadly, many people actually wait outside in line for hours to try and get their hands on the newest laptop or designer hand bag. This video (link is provided below) that I stumbled upon while on YouTube describes perfectly how crazy our society has gotten in the last couple of years over simply buying material things that aren’t necessarily needed. The worst part about all of this is that many people think that these material things can make you happy, but I think that that is something that cannot come from a material good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW4d8_LLYp8