lifeasmission

Genocide and Consumerism

May 23, 2008

Caught this over on the blog of Pete Rollins, author of How (not) To Speak of God. It’s an “image created by Nadia Pleasner as part of her Simple Living Campaign, a campaign designed to raise awareness of the Genocide in Darfur.” Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the last 5 years alone, millions more displaced. I wouldn’t presume to state for sure what Nadia had in mind with this image. To be sure, there are a vast number of dimensions of gloibalization that could be explored, but this image got me thinking of something simple – the way in which our capitalistic society keeps us fixated on consumption – so fixated that not only are we often quite unaware of these sort of global atrocities, but even worse, we’re paralyzed in terms of knowing what to think, feel, and do about them.

God, for the sake of your name and your love for this world, heal us from the blindness and paralysis brought on by the ways in which we have allowed ourselves to be co-opted by the world around us.

PS – All those links above are very much worth your time.

Posted in: consumerism, genocide