The Audio Stylings of Chris Levens
"I'm a Gangster"

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I want you to do me a favor: when I say, "a black dog tried to bite me" I want you to describe what the scene looks like in your head. Describe the dog, the back ground, the action, me, etc.
 9:15 AM   •  5 satisfied customers!!  

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In a consumer culture, like ours, refraining from consuming is an action.

For some reason I have a sense of guilt about not consuming or producing. In a consumption culture, consuming is a form of production --economic stimulus and the production of profitts for the infinite layers or middle men between me and those who labored to make the product. And so the act of consuming feels like being productive. We can't produce non-stop, of course. When not being productive, I feel that I am only permitted to partake in consumption of one sort or another (food, entertainment, shopping, information). If I'm not producing or consuming, I feel like I am being idle.

Maybe an example will help.

I decide to walk to the store rather than drive. I did this just because I wanted to -- it sounded like fun. For some reason while walking I feel like I am mis-using my time. My twisted concience tells me things like, "Driving would take less time. I should be driving because I have a lot to do." My concience can be very convincing.

As a response to this twisted sense of guilt, I've had to try and explain to myself that the act of not-consuming while simultaneously not prodcing is very much needed in our culture. And now to the millions and millions who daily read my blog, I offer this counter argument against the iron cycle of producing and consuming. Maybe this will give you a fighting chance against the culture to be perpetually producing or consuming.


 8:33 PM   •  6 satisfied customers!!