and we all secretly know it

Soo happy I don’t live in the US :P but lest we forget: Europe spawned it/them (the US)

They’re (we’re) not monsters, they (we) are kept in fear and made complicit/complacent of a dehumanizing system.

I feel like it should be both. Purely top down decisions eventually lead to distortions and resentment (e.g. USSR). There needs to also be the grinding and mostly thankless work of shifting the cultural hegemony (this is Gramsci, and I tend to believe him).

I think it has to happen from both ends - cultural and political change. I don’t get much willpower to do anything by believing humans are lazy and self-interested alone.

I mean we could also just… not shop at all, or way way less? It’s a weird hobby if you think of it. Food is hard to avoid because supermarkets are assholes, but I have my local free shop for clothes, and our countrywide 2nd hand market app for other things i might occasionally need like appliances or tech. But I also see, in the same country, the creeping in of US style urbanism where there are small towns which are basically just becoming large shopping outlets with parkings and fast food. Makes me wonder.

Yeah that latter part is dystopian AF, but do you mean food shopping here? That’s tough to dodge I guess, and not everyone can afford the hipster microbrands, but I’m talking about other commodities.

Yes absolutely but also you can tell your neighbors to stop buying unnecessary shit? Like trying to pull the rug out from under them type of thing. I’m all for banning advertisement, truly, but i also think people can do better once they see what they’re contributing to.