Global corporate consumerism destroys real culture. The destruction may be slow or rapid. The U.S. is the case study for this. Our nation is often criticized for having no authentic culture of its own but this is not true. What is true is that any glimmer of actual culture is quickly commodified and turned into a marketed moneymaker by the forces of global corporatocracy.

Examples:

• • • hippies and youth counterculture turned into fashion merchandise
    • hip-hop and rap co-opted to uphold consumerism
    • Rock and Roll as background to TV commercials
    • marketing of yoga and mysticism as New-Age products for consumption
    • marketing of educational textbook/tech packages to a public-school captive audience
    • Easter, Halloween, Christmas

But some aspects of US culture are less easy to commodify: Bluegrass music, Thanksgiving, church, classic American literature and poetry. These are the sources of my inspiration. The market-driven forces of commodification try but fail to erase every trace of historical, cultural and spiritual significance from these art-forms and holidays. It is fun to go back to the origins and learn about these things.

I think the ultimate vision of the technocrats and data-driven corporate handlers is to reduce us all to half-witted plebes devoid of historical culture, with just enough disposable income to consume at the mall and keep the service-sector afloat while cheap goods from overseas are unloaded on us.

Or something worse, like The Great Reset: