Produce: Take back our thoughts, be free

“You are not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.”

— Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

Personal Identity at Risk

Are we becoming the brands we choose? In a world where consumption knows no limits, there is a real risk of us attaching our personal identity to what we consume and own. In short, it might no longer be “I think, therefore I am,” but rather “I buy, therefore I am" or sometimes "I scroll, therefore I am".

An article written by Solomon, M. in the early 1980s, titled The Role of Products as Social Stimuli: A Symbolic Interactionism Perspective, explores how products function as social stimuli, suggesting that they play a symbolic role in social structures and self-definition, beyond their mere functional utility. In advertising, the term "laddering" refers to this process—a deliberate strategy by which marketers assign higher "emotional values" to product attributes to appeal to the target audience's feelings and mindset. It's important to note that consumption encompasses not just physical products but also any form of media, cultural texts and stimuli.

Is Producing Our Path to Freedom?

What does it mean to be a producer? To create, to cultivate, to supply something—to take back the driver's seat. Production is active. Throughout millennia, humans have strived to procure and secure means of production, whether for essentials like food, clothing, and shelter, or for higher pleasures such as community, art, and culture.

On the other hand, consumption is passive. Overt consumption of anything leads to addiction. With Silicon Valley overlords guiding us through a dopamine loop like a game, we are gradually transforming into zombies, hooked on morsels of dopamine (e.g., notifications from our apps), our brains atrophying.

So how do we break the shackles of our voluntary zombification and choose a life well-lived?

1. Observe: Take stock of how many platforms and media you consume, how many hours you spend on them, and how much of your thoughts are shaped by others' "thoughts."
2. Practice Independent Thinking: This is not about acquiring knowledge (i.e., it's not a book-reading competition) or echoing thoughts populated by the media or your social circle. Practice imagining holding a mirror to your thoughts, one by one, and be brave enough to challenge, laugh at, or entertain them.
3. Stay as Close as Possible to a Means of Production: This might require an upfront investment—in terms of money, knowledge, and time. No one builds a self-sustaining farm or garden overnight. Observe your patterns and slowly take time to reduce, reorganize, or set up something that works for you.
4. Produce Something: Farm, grow, cook, birth, create, sculpt, make ceramics, dance, write, play music—whatever you choose, make something real.

Beware the “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” buttons. ;)

References:

Solomon, M. R. (1983). The Role of Products as Social Stimuli: A Symbolic Interactionism Perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 10(3), 319–329. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2488804

Gioia, T. (2024). The State of the Culture, 2024. The Honest Broker. https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-state-of-the-culture-2024

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