From the perspective of an unreasonable life

From reading Ferenc mate's A reasonable life I got the impression that our modern way of living has given us a false sense of progress. This idea is backed by the evidence of environmental damage brought on by or contemporary lifestyle. In the reading mate suggests that a change in thinking from big cities to small towns and the family will lead us to a more wholesome relationship with each-other and the earth itself. I feel that while this is correct, it is much less likely to occur than simply, the perpetuation of the status quo. In order for people to shift from living in big cities to closer knit communities a total paradigm shift is necessary. today peoples lives and the economy are kept going by the perpetuation of the cycle of consumption as put forward in "the story of stuff". This lifestyle and the propaganda that has lead us here has successfully incorporated itself into American culture and therefore is passed down from parent to child. No longer is it possible to expect a change in thinking by simply changing the propaganda. In order to make an effective break from our present course, our entire culture must be altered. For an example, our Christian american culture celebrates a holiday known as Christmas. This holiday was created by the early church to compete with pagan winter solstice festivals an to convert heretics. This is why we bring life into the home as the Christmas tree and other assorted traditions. The present day American tradition of Christmas has been hijacked by our consumer culture to be the day that keeps people buying things they don't want in order to keep businesses in the black (black Friday). The idea of peace on earth or within a family is attained only when all the little brats of this country are satisfied with there parents purchases. Good will is spread by maxing out credit cards in order to get everyone you know something they are unlikely to want and will probably return for another thing they barely want. This perversion of the original altruistic intent of such holidays has contributed to our modern American culture and in order to change our path toward destruction, we must all agree that this behavior is destructive. Now this is where I see it all falling apart, Try and take this away from people and see how they react. They probably understand why there actions are damaging, but it would be un-American to do things any other way.