Where I'm From

The Distortion of Values

Our Beliefs and Values are shaped by culture. While there is a genetic basis to certain human attributes and behaviors, the knowledge we have and the way we think about and act upon that knowledge is fundamentally an environmental phenomenon.

With that in mind, the monetary system requires a form of communication to inform the public of what a company has made available for sale. This form of communication is termed ‘advertising’. The characteristic of advertising is ‘ promotion’ and promotion is a manner of communication, which, generally speaking, creates a bias in favor of the product in question. In other words, advertising’s job is to entice…or in more direct terms – manipulate the consumer into purchasing a product. This manipulation takes many forms, but one of the most effective is the manipulation and/or exploitation of the viewing audience’s “values” - what he or she finds important.

Now, one of the most powerful forms of ‘value manipulation’ comes from re-associating a person’s identity to a particular ideal. Patriotism and Religion are classical examples of this, for through indoctrination at an early age, a person is often conditioned to feel a close personal connection to a country or religion, hence conditioning that person to want to support the doctrines, unconditionally.

Another example of this is the concept of “fashion”. Fashion takes many forms, from the clothes people wear to even the ideologies they perpetuate. To illustrate how successful the commercial industry has become in manipulating the values of human beings for their own gain, many people today can be seen walking around wearing certain commercial articles, merely for the purpose of expressing a company’s brand, contriving some kind of apparent social status or “stylistic expression” from them. Signature “Tommy Hilfiger” shirts, trade marked “ Prada Bags” and flashy Rolex watches are examples of products where the utility or function of an item has lost total relevance, with importance now derived by what the item “represents”.

Sadly, what these people often do not realize is that they are nothing more than walking advertisements for the respective company, plain and simple.

The “status” or “expression” really exists entirely in the conditioned ‘value projections’ of that person, and if enough people become manipulated in the same way, a “trend” emerges, which further reinforces the delusion by way of collective identification. These trends can become so powerful, that those who do not adhere to the fad, might be deemed “outcasts” and be ostracized.

Now, ‘Vanity’ aside, we must also examine the distorted values created in the form of mentalities and worldviews. This constant need of self-interest often spreads like a cancer into other psychological areas, creating and reinforcing such neurosis as “Greed”, “Jealousy” and “Ego”.

Greed is likely the driving force of the monetary system’s perpetuation, beyond just survival. Due to the inherent stratification of goods and services (and hence standards of living) available to those with more and more purchasing power, the human being is groomed to perpetually want “more” material wealth, for the “more” seems to go to infinity. The result is a culture which doesn’t have a concept of balance, or a sense of what is actually important, or “enough”. Advertising compounds this by its constant depictions of “the possibilities”, often making people question their own self
worth because they do not “have the best things in life”, etc.

Jealousy appears to begin cultivation at a very early age, perhaps when the school teacher would praise the student who would make high marks, and scold the student who didn’t, making that student feel envious of the person who made the high grade. Regardless of its origin, a classic tactic of advertising is to exploit this neurosis by using the media to depict a person with something that you do not have, making you feel as though you need to have it in order to be “equal”. This is very similar to greed, with the exception being that people grow to despise others for what they have, creating social tension and often conflict.

Ego is often defined as ‘a feeling of superiority to others’. This distortion takes essentially two forms:
1) General superiority based on wealth class / or position in the social hierarchy
2) Arrogance regarding one’s creative contribution, demanding prestige, acknowledgement or other “rewards”.

The latter, for many, almost seems “natural”, for people today love to “take credit” for their ideas and inventions. This has a strong reinforcement in the monetary system, for when it comes to making a “ profit”, one is literally being “rewarded” and “acknowledged” for their personal inventions and actions. This further compounds the propensity for a person to demand credit for what they do, even if it has nothing to do with money. It should be pointed out that no human really “invents” or creates anything on his or her own. Every idea and creation that has emerged has been done so based on the contributions of prior generations’ work, environmental influences and/or peer feedback. As Isaac Newton once said: “If I have seen further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of Giants”11. His point was that he built his research, and hence discoveries, upon the work of many other great scientists who lived before him. His credit therefore is not only his, it goes to the whole body of scientific discovery that he had learned and worked with.

This form of Ego has no position when a person understands that ALL inventions and creations are actually collaborations developed serially, one way or another.

Now, as for the former distinction of Ego noted above (“General superiority based…” this is a class oriented disposition which, on one level, is a psychological means to make one feel better for having more than another human. A wealthy person walking down the street finds it much easier to dismiss a homeless person, by saying “he is just a lazy bum”, as opposed to recognizing him as a victim of culture. On another level, blind elitism, in the form of a kind of ‘class based racism’ leads people to dismiss those with less purchasing power as simply being “inferior” or “undeserving”, for the social stature, education and lifestyle afforded by this elite, is vastly out of reach for those without similar purchasing power, therefore creating gross differences in culture.

In the end, our values are based on what works and helps us create easier, better lives. If we live in a system that rewards competition, unenlightened self-interest, corruption, vanity and arrogance, then these are the values that will constantly be perpetuated in society. While many people give lip service to ‘honesty, caring for others and humility’, it is easy to see why these qualities do not prevail, for the system of survival in society today does not support or reinforce them.

Shit