Lo shopping non ci salverà - il consumismo al tempo della crisi

Suzanne Moore, sul Guardian, riflette in chiave critica sul destino e sul morale degli abitanti della contemporanea società dei consumi al tempo della crisi ("Shopping is not a hobby and it's not a patriotic duty, either"). Crisi che accentua, prima di tutto la frustrazione della shopping victim: se la felicità è veramente proporzionale alla quantità ed alla qualità di merce acquistata ed accumulata, che ne è del nostro umore in un'epoca in cui il reddito disponibile pare destinato (causa la stessa crisi della società dei consumi) ad essere stabile se non in costante contrazione?

What I deeply resent is the idea that shopping – especially for women – is some kind of leisure activity. Shopping to feed and clothe a family is often a chore, not a bleedin' hobby. As for window shopping? Looking at stuff you can't afford? Culturally legitimated masochism. [...] No one talks about materialism any more, for fear of sounding like a Marxist. Away with that downtrodden nonsense! Anti-consumption arguments are seen to come from the joyless greens, "ethical" do-gooders or people with dogs on strings. Don't they know when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping? But the going has got tough. As disposable income falls, it's tough and we can't afford it. [...] Strangely, all indices of happiness show that reducing rather than expanding consumer choice brings down anxiety. Our identities must be forged out of something other than what we buy. [...] We could value each other for something other than what we buy. We could say less is more. We could let shops shut. We could break up the monopolies. Only a deeply troubled society would think retail therapy could cure it. Shopping will not save our souls. We have been consuming that illusion for way too long.