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The Super Bowl of Conspicuous Consumption

Posted by tom | Feb 6, 2006

Before getting into the car to drive over to one awesome Super Bowl Party, sponsored by our grad fellowship and hosted by some of the Pitt faculty connected with our fellowship, I took a moment to consider whether I should be part of supporting the triumph of consumer culture over older social patterns. Hard to believe this piece ran in 'da Burgh!

As Pittsburgh slowly woke up this morning, after a 2 hour busing delay for school and a light dusting of snow, I confess that I have fallen for this form of conspicuous consumption. We did critique the commercials, share memories/stats of various games, fellowship over chicken and ribs, introduce internationals to American football, and raise our terrible towels in triumph.

But as a counter-culture informed by the Biblical story, our kids joyfully spun around the house, we failed to drink ourselves into a frightful oblivion, we left the mattresses and trash unlit, relationships between men and women remained pure, everyone left around 10pm, conversations occurred around the margins and in the midst of the game, and our identities were founded upon being in Christ instead of being a Steeler fan (or an NFL fan).

So we refused to worship the gods of the gridiron and the gods of the consumer products. We took advantage of the ability to make choices as individuals and as a community to live another way. We had the opportunity to rejoice in our Father who created us with the gift of creation, the skills to develop/play a complex game such as American football, the ability to congregate across families/cultures/ethnicities as a people in a particular place at a particular time. The Super Bowl of Conspicuous Consumption became one more memorable part of our family and our community as we seek to live another way. Today, by the grace of the Father modeled by the Son and enabled by the power of His Spirit may we continue to live in a Kingdom manner, even in the Steel City. Intoxicated by the Spirit of God instead of one for the thumb despite how impressive it is.

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3 Comments & 0 Trackbacks of "The Super Bowl of Conspicuous Consumption"

    Glad I was able to join in for the second half!

    Posted by Jenny, Feb 6 2006, 19:25

    Sounds like a most excellent time was had by all. Very similar to what we had here in Mercer; Pastor was over to watch, much talking and actually commenting on what the commercials are really saying about our world and the world-view held by the majority.

    Posted by Paul Oyler, Feb 14 2006, 00:52

    Tom,

    Your post about the Super Bowl of Conspicuous Consumption made me think about our culture of consumerism, and its relationship to the spiritual life. The Super Bowl, as an unofficial holiday, reflects who we are as a society, as well as individuals. It reveals our insatiable craving for consumption itself, and not just the craving for the objects of consumption. We may not desire a single product advertised in the four-hour long show, but we’re comforted in knowing that indeed there are choices. Choices are essential to our pursuit of happiness.
    Mark Dyreson and Peter Hopsicker, in their article “Super Bowl Sunday – the Real National Holiday,” comment on the importance of consumption in our culture:

    “Among the self-evident truths Americans hold as an unalienable verity at the beginning of the 21st century is that the right to consume should not be denied to any person. The Super Bowl's cornucopia of TV advertisements has become the visual embodiment of American notions of the ‘pursuit of happiness.’ Conspicuous consumption reigns supreme.”

    Why does choice, and thus consumption, make us so happy (temporarily)? Because choice is control. If we can choose something, we think we are in control. And we feel good when we feel in control. It’s not just the material thing that we enjoy, but the choosing that we really savor. In the pursuit of happiness, we don’t just pursue the happiness, but we pursue the pursuit, because choice is a delicious means by which we exercise control over our world. And we like having that power. We like being in control. We are naturally drawn to being the master of our own destiny.

    We can go along our merry way for awhile – a lifetime for some – believing the lie that we are in control. Eventually, most of us run into a hard thing in life, and we wake up to the truth that our power is limited. David L. Goetz, in his book “Death by Suburb,” says:

    “I can’t control that my son didn’t get asked to the birthday party of the summer, and I can’t control the outcome of my daughter’s MRI for a possible brain tumor. Or that of my son’s two weeks later. A year later, when he needs yet another MRI, I still have no say-so in the matter. Ultimately, there’s not much in my control. I am not Lord of the Suburb.”

    The consumer culture makes it easy to swallow up the “I am in control” lie. Consumption is simple and easy. Consumption is a powerful tool in helping us to control our image, to control to some extent how people perceive us. For example, clothes aren’t just for wearing; they’re for attracting the opposite sex, for landing a desired job, for getting promoted once we’ve attained that job, etc. We can manipulate our world, on a material level, and we subconsciously think we can do the same on a greater level in our lives.

    How do we free ourselves of this burden of lifestyle? Do we burn our Pottery Barn catalogs and shred our Better Homes and Gardens Magazines? Do we vow never again to shop at the mall (good luck!)? Do we feign blindness when we encounter an advertisement, commercial, billboard, or pop-up?

    Goetz says we don’t need to flee the suburbs; rather, we need to find Jesus where we are. In his book, he gives eight spiritual disciplines, one of which he calls “the prayer of silence.” In “Death by Suburb,” Goetz explains this solitude:

    “The life practice of solitude, then, is the opposite of my expectations of escape and rest or an immediate ushering into what I think is God’s presence. It is more a discipline of struggle than it is of serenity. It’s no formula for controlling my outer world or how I feel. It’s the ongoing guerrilla war to loosen my choke hold on creating and gathering to myself the life I think I need.”

    It’s the discipline of making space in your life for God, letting go of the clutter and the distractions that entice you away from your Maker. It’s not the outward, material distractions that we need to clear away; it’s the inner, spiritual ones. Usually, of all the spiritual things that are distractions, I am the biggest one. Goetz further describes solitude: “Inside space is the prayer of stillness. It may be the only kind of prayer that can unseat my reign as Lord of my Suburb. . . Inside space, finally, invites me into the goodness and mysteries of God.”

    Of course, choice itself is not a bad thing. In fact, choice, like all good things, is a gift from God. Like you said, we have “the ability to make choices as individuals and as a community to live another way.” Choice is one of many things that can be used for good or for bad. It’s how we choose that matters - whether we make choices believing we’re in control of ourselves or believing God’s in control of us. And when we choose under the illusion that we are in control, i.e., “I am lord”, we know we have perverted yet another of God’s gifts and blasphemed the true Lord.

    Conspicuous consumption reigns supreme because we want to reign supreme. The antidote to this illness lies not in controlling our outward environment or even our outward habits. Rather, the answer is in letting go of control, in the struggle of prayerful solitude, where we make way for the real Lord to be in control of us.

    Regards,

    Holly Ryan

    PS – Please do not take the quote from Goetz, which contained a reference to his children’s MRIs, as a lesson directed at you and Theresa. That the author has children with such a medical need is a coincidence. You and Theresa have been shining examples of lives lived to the glory of God, lessons for us all.

    PPS – As you can see, I’m quite intrigued by David L. Goetz’s book, “Death by Suburb.” His blogsite, www.deathbysuburb.net, is a taste of what his book is like. The book, however, offers a richer slice of the discussion of spirituality in the context of suburban lifestyle. His book is more about spiritual disciplines than about suburbia.

    Posted by Holly Ryan, Feb 16 2006, 18:42
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