I’m having a mind meld moment with Douglas Rushkoff…

as I read his Life Inc  post at Boing Boing.  He sums up modern life for those of us who are not wealthy or narcotized enough to avoid its current truth:  everything and everyone is a  commodity.

So it’s not just a case of hip, hypergentrified Brooklynites succumb- ing to market psychology, but people of all social classes making choices that go against their better judgment because they believe it’s really the only sensible way to act under the circumstances. It’s as if the world itself were tilted, pushing us toward self- interested, short- term decisions, made more in the manner of corporate share- holders than members of a society. The more decisions we make in this way, the more we contribute to the very conditions leading to this awfully sloped landscape. In a dehumanizing and self-denying cycle, we make too many choices that–all things being equal–we’d prefer not to make. But all things are not equal. These choices are not even occur- ring in the real world. They are the false choices of an artificial landscape–one in which our decision-making is as coerced as that of a person getting mugged. Only we’ve forgotten that our choices are being made under painstakingly manufactured duress. We think this is just the way things are. The price of doing business. Since when is life determined by that axiom?

I won’t highlight anything else from this excellent and illuminating examination of the free floating malaise  that is  marketed as the desirable  status quo.  GO READ IT! Contemplate it.  Consider the ideas presented and how they may impact your life choices.  Then decide how you want to move forward.

Personally, I’m  torn.  I feel if I embrace the traditional path of a successful American,  it translates to a life of scrambling  financially and mentally scheming  to acquire as much status stuff that I can to go with my status neighborhood, education, spouse , vacation, children and LIFE.

How can I participate in the  ’dehumanizing and self-denying cycle’ yet maintain an emotional distance and  sanity?   Or better yet, how can I reap the benefits of  living and breathing the cycle without getting blood on my nice new Rag + Bone jeans?

Life Inc. [Boing Boing]