Blog Entry 21

Planned Obsolescence

According to the Stuff video, as we can see Annie Leonard shoes us how the economy really works by extraction, to production, to distribution, to consumption, to disposal.Truth is always awful doesn’t matter how it looks. However, I think all this wouldn't happened if it weren't for the destruction by people. By the belief of Leonard it is also mentioned that President Eisenhower's Council of Economic Advisor Chairman said that "The American economy's ultimate purpose is to produce more consumers’ goods." Also , Leonard says that the idea of consumption works by two plans which are "planned obsolesce" and "perceive obsolesce" .those can makes people think that they have to buy valueless stuff gradually and put their rights away such as healthcare, education and justice. This world is run by money. Question is why people want money? People  want money because they worry about food of everyday. Moreover, they are worry about fashion and to have luxuries that only money can gives, so people will feel happy.

First of all, consumption is not only about our needs, but also about fashion and luxurious life. Such as people not only want a pair of shoes, a jacket, a bag or a cell phone but also they want all these items from brands by thinking that they can be look better with them on it.Thats the way it works all for us. However we buy stuff just as a hobby but still have old stuff brought from last year even though it is new. I know some people whom change cell phone every time when  new  Phone comes out in the market and they don’t know what to do with their old ones. People buy a lot of stuff all the time without thinking how much expensive it is. The only matter is who can afford it, and who cannot.Moreover, we are not aware about where all these stuff comes from or where will go to.

Second of all, in the video Annie Leonard states that the rate of happiness went down since the 1950’s at the same time that the “planned obsolescence” started to be on. On the other hand some German philosophers argued that people confuse happiness with pleasure. Therefore, people are happy when they buying new stuff. However, in Christmas holidays everyone thinks about gift to share and buy People are so happy that they need to buy and get stuff in order to have nice memories with family. But when in reality what it makes them happy is to share time without conditions of money.

                In conclusion, I think we should concious about not only how to get stuff but the danger before and after. But we must make sure that what we get, it can be make us happy and unhappy to others.all those problem created by people. So we are the one who can change the world by creating something new.