http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/
opinion/15friedman.html?em
Self Awareness is important to be able to be a caring useful and motivated person. However, this is not taught in our now totally consumer based world. If you only watch TV, you are only a $ sign to those who advertise. Since those who advertise on TV pay for content, to a great degree they manipulate content toward their advertising and products. In such a consumer based reality, the individuals ONLY value is as a consumer, no other.
However, this is NOT what America has always been about. Consumerism is relatively new. It did not really exist until after World War II. It's subtle growth slowly grew until it permeated everything.
The philosophy of consumerism goes something like this starting as a child. "Everything is for my pleasure. That is the only thing that is important". Unfortunately this philosphy moves on into adulthood uninterrupted.
No. America was always about rugged individualism and being responsible for oneself. Of having infinite opportunities but those opportunities also included that if one failed one might be maimed or die in the process. Consumerism as it is now didn't exist at all. America was always about the opportunity to succeed but the also equal opportunity to fail or die. The likelihood of either made people careful and wise.
"How" became ultimately important as the first settlers died from starvation and freezing to death or with an arrow in their backs. Reality has a way of sobering people up.
Now, the many who will now commit suicide who are mostly over 35 or 40 and see no way to remake their lives if they lose their homes are the real cost of those who made those subprime loans. "How" is very important. "How" is literally "Life or Death" now.
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