(2005-02-27) Sirius Heath

R U Sirius converses with Joseph Heath, author of Nation Of Rebels: Why Counter-Culture Became Consumer Culture. The story we tell in the book is not one about how the system has systematically co-opted countercultures, but rather about how counterculturalists have systematically deluded themselves into thinking they were challenging the system....That having been said, I should note that we think the evils of Consumerism are extremely serious. The problem is not that countercultural thinking goes too far in criticizing it, but rather that counterculturalists misdiagnose the problem - attributing it to manufactured desires, rather than competitive consumption - and therefore recommend solutions - individualistic nonconformity, DIY - that have, over the years, manifestly exacerbated the problem.