![\"\"](\"http:\/\/geraldguild.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/proud-as-a-peacock-mark-melnick1.jpg\" "\\"proud-as-a-peacock-mark-melnick\\"")
<\/a>In my mind, a Hummer is analogous to the Peacock’s tail. I am certain that most Hummer owners don’t consciously use their vehicle to overtly attract mates. \u00a0 They would likely deny this, instead citing need, safety, or entitlement. Regardless, it is a perfect example of conspicuous consumption, and frivolous spending is sexy – isn’t it?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Conspicuous consumption as defined by Merriam-Webster<\/a> is “lavish or wasteful spending thought to enhance social prestige<\/em>.” Freedictionary.com<\/a> defines it as “the acquisition and display of expensive items to attract attention to one’s wealth or to suggest<\/strong> that one is wealthy.<\/em>” Obviously, driving a Hummer is not the only example of conspicuous consumption. There are a multitude of ways that people signal their success. We are neck deep in a society that has taken advantage of our inherent drive to signal our genetic prowess.\u00a0 And we do it, for the most part through material acquisition.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Who doesn’t enjoy a new car that garners people’s attention and admiration?\u00a0 Who doesn’t enjoy buying new shoes or a new outfit that draws compliments?\u00a0 Who isn’t flattered by gazes dripping with admiration from an attractive person or a nemesis?\u00a0 Most of us love new stuff and the attention, joy, and satisfaction it brings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The key, I think, is to look at non-essential consumption for what it is.\u00a0 At a deep level, we have to be willing to acknowledge that perhaps our drive to buy new stuff is driven by this signaling instinct.\u00a0 This deep seated and fundamental drive is as basic as the Peacock’s pre-copulatory strut.\u00a0 Think about it!\u00a0 Much of what we do as we navigate our way through the day, links back to this signaling instinct. The clothes we wear, the way we style our hair, the jewelry we adorn ourselves with, the brands we buy, the size of our homes we enslave ourselves within, the gardens we grow, the magnitude of the lawn we mow, the cars we drive, the caliber of the neighborhood we live in, etc. etc., – they all signal the viability of one’s genetic material – or so we suppose.\u00a0 Such consumption signals your success, your capabilities, competence, and wealth.\u00a0 Your purchasing power serves as a proxy for your genetic rigor.\u00a0 Sure, some consumption is purely for the enjoyment of the experience or the item; but, I submit that this signaling drive plays a deeper role than we are willing to accept.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We could debate whether this is ingrained via nature or nurture – but it’s likely compelled by both.\u00a0 Regardless, it drives our ravenous appetite for novelty and as a result, our economy.\u00a0 This reality and society’s deified profit imperative<\/em> result in a zero-sum-game of consumption, inequitable wealth distribution, and environmental degradation.\u00a0 We merrily cycle on through life engaging in materialistic social climbing – laughing it off as “Keeping up with the Jones.”\u00a0 All the while we push the true costs off onto the plate of future generations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have to look critically at my own contempt for this however, for I am not immune to this compulsion.\u00a0 We are primed and continuously programmed by society via modeling and marketing to achieve better living through consumption.\u00a0 As I write this, I tap away on my laptop in front of my aesthetically beautiful wood burning fireplace.\u00a0 I warm my feet by a fire and periodically gaze upward at a stone chimney that climbs upward to the 16 foot peak of my vaulted living room ceiling.\u00a0 I cannot help but taste a bitter bite of hypocrisy.\u00a0 I enjoy the comforts of my home that sits five miles from the nearest store and 35 miles from my place of employment.\u00a0 These vices constitute just some of my conspicuous consumptive behaviors.\u00a0 I quell my dissonance by paying $0.20 a kilowatt hour for electricity (including delivery charges) generated exclusively through renewable sources.\u00a0 I also borrow some comfort from the 24 photo-voltaic panels I have installed on my roof as well as by my drive to diminish my electricity bill to a credit in my favor.\u00a0 But, I can’t help but realize that the judgement and contempt I feel for those who strut about in their Hummers, is really on some level, contempt for my own consumption.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This has to be the starting point.\u00a0 Real economic and political changes must start at this level of personal awareness.\u00a0 Our personal dissonance when amplified by the awareness of how important our consumption is to those who accumulate wealth, will ultimately serve as the tipping point.\u00a0 Otherwise, we are unlikely to change our ways.\u00a0 Every dollar you spend makes you poorer and someone else richer.\u00a0 Choose carefully who you give your wealth to.\u00a0 And fight the urge to build your social value through consumption.\u00a0 Our legacy will be written by those whose world we are destroying.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Peacock does not choose his display – but he does understand that it is the key to his future.\u00a0 Eventually he himself will pay a substantial price for his outrageous display.\u00a0 Regardless, the offspring of his species will reap the benefits of his genetic fitness.\u00a0 On the other hand, the human practitioner of conspicuous consumption pays only the current market price for his excesses.\u00a0 Rarely will he ever pay the true ultimate costs.\u00a0 His children will!\u00a0\u00a0 This is the incredible irony here.\u00a0 Who is the intelligent one?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Peacock Image: Proud as a Peacock<\/strong><\/em> by Mark Melnik available at http:\/\/fineartamerica.com\/featured\/proud-as-a-peacock-mark-melnick.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I despise filling my gas tank. Yes, gasoline is expensive, but the pain I experience hits me harder than the cost hits my wallet. I struggle with the downstream political and environmental costs associated with my fossil fuel habit. Each gallon I pump will ultimately cost society much more than the $3.57 I pay at … <\/p>\n