America is too Materialistic for Their Own Good
How many times do people go out to buy products just to own them? How many of these products are thrown away and get replaced by newer, better models? This happens so much throughout the modern American culture; too much. A teenager gets a new phone when their current one is completely fine because they want to be more popular and they think the new iPhone X will do so; a college student gets a new laptop just because it’s smaller than their old one even though their old one works better than the new one. The American people throw away and replace perfectly working things too often. America is overly materialistic in their ways; they care more about what they can grasp rather than how they make …show more content…
Americans throw away perfectly good possessions. Eighner himself is one of these people. In “On Dumpster Diving,” he says “the necessities of daily life I began to extract from Dumpsters.” If someone can live off of things people consider trash, does that not prove the point that Americans are too materialistic? Eigner also states that students throw out a “number of good books and magazines.” This is a waste. If these were textbooks that were no longer needed, it is possible that they could have sold them to other students who needed them, or something of the sort. They could have been reused, but they were thrown away. This proves that America is too materialistic. If college students think it is a good idea to throw away perfectly good books, then they must not have the intellect to understand the books could be useful to someone less fortunate as they …show more content…
They may state that the gaining of new materials is therapeutic, like Phyllis Rose does in her article “Shopping and Other Spiritual Adventures in America Today.” In her article, Rose says that “we shop to remind ourselves how much is to be striven for” and “shopping’s function as a form of therapy is widely appreciated.” Rose believes that the gaining of new materials is a good thing; she believes it can help people. It may help some, but it is more likely to hurt the planet rather than helping people. Virginia Postrel, author of “In Praise of Chain Stores,” has the same mindset as Rose. “Established stores allow retail variety to expand” (Postrel). Although this may be true, it will also lead to the throwing away of working possessions, just to get newer models. Therefore, the thought that America is not too materialistic is
How many times do people go out to buy products just to own them? How many of these products are thrown away and get replaced by newer, better models? This happens so much throughout the modern American culture; too much. A teenager gets a new phone when their current one is completely fine because they want to be more popular and they think the new iPhone X will do so; a college student gets a new laptop just because it’s smaller than their old one even though their old one works better than the new one. The American people throw away and replace perfectly working things too often. America is overly materialistic in their ways; they care more about what they can grasp rather than how they make …show more content…
Americans throw away perfectly good possessions. Eighner himself is one of these people. In “On Dumpster Diving,” he says “the necessities of daily life I began to extract from Dumpsters.” If someone can live off of things people consider trash, does that not prove the point that Americans are too materialistic? Eigner also states that students throw out a “number of good books and magazines.” This is a waste. If these were textbooks that were no longer needed, it is possible that they could have sold them to other students who needed them, or something of the sort. They could have been reused, but they were thrown away. This proves that America is too materialistic. If college students think it is a good idea to throw away perfectly good books, then they must not have the intellect to understand the books could be useful to someone less fortunate as they …show more content…
They may state that the gaining of new materials is therapeutic, like Phyllis Rose does in her article “Shopping and Other Spiritual Adventures in America Today.” In her article, Rose says that “we shop to remind ourselves how much is to be striven for” and “shopping’s function as a form of therapy is widely appreciated.” Rose believes that the gaining of new materials is a good thing; she believes it can help people. It may help some, but it is more likely to hurt the planet rather than helping people. Virginia Postrel, author of “In Praise of Chain Stores,” has the same mindset as Rose. “Established stores allow retail variety to expand” (Postrel). Although this may be true, it will also lead to the throwing away of working possessions, just to get newer models. Therefore, the thought that America is not too materialistic is