Advertising is Destroying Our Humanity and there's Nobody to Blame
Holistic Deconstruction of Self Worth Series
This is part three of the series where we break down as many systemic factors to this feeling of endemic low self worth in our society. (read part one and part two). FYI this is a standalone and will still make sense without the other parts.
As a result of advertising we’re being broken spiritually, human connection is being digitized and then exploited. Said another way, the techno-capitalist edifice undermines everything that makes us human; our imagination, creativity, attention spans, intellectual capacities, meaning, human connection, and more.
And after our humanity has been undermined by these mega-corporations we've become vulnerable to exploitation.
And when we spend long enough in systems governed by a fundamental lack of security we end up traumatized. The side effect of a system that tells us we need to compete in order to survive is that we feel like we're not good enough to pursue meaning, to rest in being, to enjoy existence. And this implants the illusion that it's impossible to survive in a chaotic world from a place of enoughness.
The thing is, we're being sold more than just the product. We're being sold the very core connection to life that has been ripped away from us by the systems that we're a part of.
But here's the kicker. Those perpetuating the degradation of our humanity through advertising are themselves just like you and I. They have been influenced by the same toxic society that is causing our suffering and are acting from the same motivations as us — to feel whole, connected and loved.
There's no one to blame.
Change only occurs when we reassess our unique relationship to the culture in all of it's materializations.
Or maybe it doesn't.
This analysis of advertising is inherently incomplete. But it's a first iteration. And one iteration is always better than no iterations. I sense that there are threads that hit an even deeper generative driver of these toxic systems.
Much Love,
Ethan Nelson
P.S. To go deeper, read Planetary Regeneration through the Story of Interbeing and consider joining the Stages of Consciousness Course