consume, be silent, die...
It all started with the editorial in Wednesday Nov 16th Sydney Morning Herald. Blame them. In a blurt about Telstra, they used the phrase "...a magical new world of digital connectedness for consumers..." And that's where I lost it...
Consumers? Consumers? CONSUMERS?
We're not people anymore, we're consumers. We are to consume. Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to consume or die!
And I was ranting to my poor, much-pitied, much-suffering partner, who mentioned the phrase "consume, be silent, die" and duely sent me off to Google to find the author.
Well, I failed.
But I did find the following:
A photo of Benny Zable, Australian environment and peace activist. The first word which is partly obscured is "GreeDozer" (as in GreeDozer The Company).
And then there's the punk band "Man Will Destroy Himself". They have an album out titled "Consume...Be Silent...Die..."
And there's a neat and apropos poem by Bruce Dawe in some notes which dissect it for HSC students. The poem doesn't mention "consume, be silent, die" as such but the dissecter uses it in a fashion which seems to be saying "everyone knows this phrase so I won't display my anality by actually mentioning who its author is."
And there were lots of other references to "consume, be silent, die" but none which gave me a clue to the phrase's author.
So, me little lovlies, who is the author?
.
Consumers? Consumers? CONSUMERS?
We're not people anymore, we're consumers. We are to consume. Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to consume or die!
And I was ranting to my poor, much-pitied, much-suffering partner, who mentioned the phrase "consume, be silent, die" and duely sent me off to Google to find the author.
Well, I failed.
But I did find the following:
A photo of Benny Zable, Australian environment and peace activist. The first word which is partly obscured is "GreeDozer" (as in GreeDozer The Company).
And then there's the punk band "Man Will Destroy Himself". They have an album out titled "Consume...Be Silent...Die..."
And there's a neat and apropos poem by Bruce Dawe in some notes which dissect it for HSC students. The poem doesn't mention "consume, be silent, die" as such but the dissecter uses it in a fashion which seems to be saying "everyone knows this phrase so I won't display my anality by actually mentioning who its author is."
And there were lots of other references to "consume, be silent, die" but none which gave me a clue to the phrase's author.
So, me little lovlies, who is the author?
.
posted by The Editor at
10:09 PM
8 Comments:
We yanks have been consumers for decades.
The permanent nature of this shift is now, lingusiticly engraved in our government agency names: Consumer Product Safety Commission etc.
It all got started innocently enough by Ralph Nader, whose work has been institutionalized in the Consumer Reports organization and its publications. But what started as a crusade against the greed and disregard for product liabilty on the part of large coroporations has lulled us into loosing the distinction between "consumer" and "citizen". The latter is a role most of us, if you consider the shit our politicians get away with, have abandoned.
The only term which makes me madder than the word "consumer" does is "the economy". Like, we're expected to sanction mass murder (and to die) in the name of this thing called "the economy".
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
Yes, Fox, Ron, that's my point. We've been consumerised... Literally...
But can none of you guys (including Greensmile, and all the sandbaggers too) tell me who the author of the expression "consume, be silent, die" is?
Fortuntely for us consumers we hold the keys of power as we can decide to stop consuming. Indeed its the only power we actually have. The power of the consumer in a consumer driven society should not be underestimated.
Big biz rully fealise this and is sared skitless and so voila we now face the prospect all sorts of draconian constraints being delivered up to us to interfere with our thinking and keep us in check about possibly protesting this ship of fools. Throw in a hefty dose of fear and loathing and we's all will become compliant, terrified, little submariner consumers.
Soncumers of the world unite, throw out your tamsa seen telees and coybot Coollies and Wolls. We can win the war on the world!
(as you can see this subject so hear to my dart makes me incoherant with rage)
Ron, thanks heaps. But does it really mean there is no acknowledged author for this wonderful piece of wit? I was SO hoping some brilliant writer ahd thought it up.
Link, sell waid!!
I spray painted "Consume, be silent, die" on the entrance to a train tunnel near Homebush in mid-1974. I don't remember where it came from; probably from too much weed.
I did a little research and started a
Wikipedia page based on it. Please add there anything you find! (Early dated photos of GreeDozer would be great.)
Thanks for the update, Anon. Well done!
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