Consumer culture promises us that we can buy our way out of pain—that the reason we’re sad and angry is not that being human hurts; it’s because we don’t have those countertops, her thighs, these jeans. This is a clever way to run an economy, but it is no way to run a life. Consuming keeps us distracted, busy, and numb. Numbness keeps us from

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if we can get people to believe that the goal of life is to feel good all the time, we can capitalize on the enduring reality that people will always have times of sadness, anxiety, jealousy, and dissatisfaction as long as they are alive. If we position that as a problem, we can sell endless products that promise to solve it. It’s easy to sell

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