The last tomato I bought was not just a tomato. It was an heirloom tomato, purchased at a high price at the co-op, of all places. It may or may not have been locally grown (which is relative to say, Minnesota, the US, or the globe). What I do know, is that I never, ever would have imagined that a grocery staple, like a tomato, would be priced at what I would consider, a luxury item price. I did not buy it because it was pricey, or heirloom. I bought it because it looked like the freshest produce.
My bag of coffee is not just a bag for coffee anymore, it’s not just a ‘container.’ It is a place for marketing. It tells me, “Light or Dark, it’s all green.” And I’m thinking, yeah, right. Green. Unless there is something less than savory going on in food production, why would I need to be assured that my coffee is green? In the wisdom of Shakespeare, I think, “Thou dost protest too much.” I want to pick my coffee on taste, not politics. Especially not corporate politics. I worked at a major chain coffee shop, and I saw just how green it was. For the corporate folks, of course. They may have no guilt, for they have spread it all around to the rest of us, subtly, of course, by assuring us that we should have no guilt, in buying their products.
I don’t know for how long it’s been going on, but marketing attempts to manipulate our emotions are rampant. Maybe you know that, maybe you don’t. I think about it when I see green, as in; our products, store, manufacturing, etc. are green. I know enough about manufacturing and the world in general to know how very little control we have about each step that goes into harvesting, making, and shipping goods. This doesn’t mean that some companies might not take more care, be more in control, and offer products that might be more sustainable than others, but I would ask, what does exactly green mean? Are there standards attached to this new color word for political and social beliefs?
And in the case of something like say, new construction, might re-using an older building actually be the most green? But we often don’t like to do our homework, to look into what green actually means in advertising, in the industry and in this organization, precisely. We take people at their word, and if green means sustainable, we buy, even if it means that rain forests are destroyed, and the trucks moving the product are using up petrol and emitting pollution. After all, they’ve covered the bases for us, haven’t they? Isn’t that what their brochures say? (While actually, all this paper, printing, and advertising, are too, using up more resources.)
Green isn’t the only place that we are manipulated by advertising; how about the strange concept that you are saving money when you are actually, (yes, really) spending your money? How can you both save and spend, at the same time. And I will admit, I get ‘tricked’ into this, because, sometimes, I forget, that money is nothing unless I spend it. Sometimes I still believe that I can (and will) only make a set amount of money, and so I better be careful, instead of believing that I do have enough and can keep making more.
So, what does this have to do with me (or us) in general? Well, sometimes I just wonder if all this marketing aimed at manipulating our emotions has made us wary of having emotions? If it is so easy for someone else to take advantage of me because I have emotions, why do I have them? Maybe I should hide them away, behind defense mechanisms, maybe? And if everywhere I go on the street, I get conflicting emotions and people might just try to see me as vulnerable, how do I navigate?
First, I think we have to remember that our lives, including our emotions, including our cold hard cash, are our own. We don’t have to live our lives, or feel our feelings, or spend (or save) our money for anything except ourselves. I’ll say it again, our feelings are our own, for us. Our emotions are fantastical ways that we figure out what we like, and what we don’t like, they help us become who we are. There are no bad and good feelings in terms of ethics or morals, just feelings. What we do with our feelings may have consequences, how we manage how we feel may have lesser or greater social (and personal) consequences, but that is separate from how we feel.
I’m watching an older British TV show lately, Reggie Perrin, (with Martin Clunes, who is adorable) and on the show, when Reggie’s mom makes him crazy, he ‘hallucinates’ as he calls it, that a wrecking ball mows her down. (This might actually be more representative of how Reggie feels inside, that his mom is oblivious to him and doesn’t see it.) We all laugh, though, because we know that we have not evolved to the place where Reggie can articulate his feelings and act on them in a way to protect himself; and so he imagines a horrible way to get rid of his mother, and most likely, the wrecked feeling inside of himself.
Maybe we don’t want to see the many ways in which we are manipulated, are not exactly who we want to be, and our helplessness at times, in living in such a complicated world. Maybe. But also, just maybe, we can learn to accept our feelings, and integrate them into our lives, and so then, we can address our shadow selves, personally and communally, knowing that we share responsibility for letting ourselves be manipulated, by marketing, by politics, by ourselves, and each other. So that when you buy that cup of coffee, you know, that many coffee growing communities don’t enjoy the same quality of life that you do, when you buy green, huge corporations are still stripping forests, and when you spend money, that’s simply what you are doing.
But, it is also maybe OK that people in another part of the world live differently, what you have in that car you are driving (convenience, esteem, mobility), they may have in higher levels of endorphins, because they live with family members (happiness, community, acceptance). And maybe, corporations that are motivated by greed, won’t succeed in the long run, maybe they will, and this shows us that we still accept colonialism and makes us think, What do we need to do about this? And spending your money, you could save it, yes, you get to do what you want with your money. Really, you get to do with your money what you will, and you know what? You get to do with your life what you will also. Your emotions will kick in in regards to your internalized belief system, but just remember, you will most likely be always wanting to feel accepted, and also to have some autonomy.
And maybe, when we learn to understand our own emotions better, and give ourselves a vocabulary around them, we will no longer need to resort to defense mechanisms to protect ourselves or our self-concept. We won’t have to hallucinate graphically our inner world. Instead, we could become more solid in who we are, how things are, and be accepting of it all.
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