There's a really disturbing article on the Boston.com web site now about America's out of control materialistic consumption. "[C]lass warfare seems to have ended, and the rich won," posits Don Aucoin, the story's author.
The piece seems to follow in line with what we find all around us in America. For example, I've seen a few minutes -- and it only takes that amount of time for anyone with a conscience to become visibly shaken -- of an MTV show called "My Super Sweet Sixteen," which documents the excesses parents will go to in order to please their spoiled, amoral children.
There are a number of tangled reasons why we have reached this point, which is roughly equivalent to the Roman Empire circa 475 A.D. Capitalism and its emphasis on money and material above all other things is certainly a central factor. People are defining themselves by the stuff that they have, rather than the stuff inside them. This conspicuous consumerism comes at a time of record debt among individuals and the government. Excuse me, but I think I hear the barbarians knocking on the gate.
Class warfare isn't over. When the bread runs out and the circuses end, the huge divisions will still be there and people will take notice.
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