John Locke seemed to think so. He wanted us to be very, very skeptical of our religious beliefs (for example) so that we would be less likely to kill other people about them. And while skepticism is not the same thing as apathy, it is certainly more hospitable to apathy than it is to fervent belief.
And I wonder about it too. Countercultures are dangerous. In Israel, the dominant culture (for the moment) is secular and materialistic. It is about cellphones and top-40 music, materialism and stuff. The largest counterculture is religious; it is about God, Torah, and the Land. The secular Israelis, until last year, didn’t care so much about the Land, and so they were ready to lose a large piece of it in exchange for peace. The religious Israelis, by and large, never wanted to part with any of the land, because they cared for it so much. Israel, for them, had religious value. It wasn’t just the site for a new office park. And likewise, with some differences, on the Palestinian side: the materialists don’t care about politics, they want to get to the business of making money. The zealots want war. Are these non-capitalist ideologies really helping the world?
Still, I feel one has to really give up on a lot of humanity in order to prescribe consumerism for them. I still believe that a life whose parameters is set by television is an impoverished life. So to wish this on many people is fairly anti-humanistic. Although I could guise this surrender in the clothes of anti-elitism -- hey, they want it anyway, who am I to judge -- what I am really doing is saying "Your life may be one of quiet desperation, but I’d prefer that to a life of burning desire to kill me."
Are we safer with a billion fans of Friends than a billion believers in the literal truth of the Bible or Koran? I think we are. I think our preference for 'real' beliefs and cultures is nostalgia. Until compassion and awareness can really replace dogma and ethnocentrism, I say, let them eat Big Macs. Let’s open 7-11s everywhere; give out free TVs; marginalize any need or principle that is not easily addressed by the market. Anything to get people to stop caring about politics and religion and start caring about floor wax and minivans. Yes, it will mean more vulgarity, more stupidity, more ‘phoniness’ to use Holden’s word. It will mean more selfishness, greed, ecological devastation, and more culture of kitsch. But would it also mean less suffering?
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