What most people call religions are just hobbies compared to the real worship.
Is that Good?
A long time ago, a friend and I were driving, listening to tunes when the news sounded on the car radio. The narrator spit the usual freestyle scat song jargon of a financial report. “The whatever index is up . The futures are down over whatever and blah bippity bop gurgle gurgle ha-cha.”
After the report ended and the radio ads began, my friend asked, “Is that good?”
“Huh?” I said. “What are you talking about?”
“The market report. All those numbers and terms and stuff. Something is up, whatever index is down. I don’t know what any of that means. Is that good? Is it bad news? What does all that crap mean?”
I didn’t know either and so I made a promise to myself. I would defeat my ignorance.
I resolved to learn the language of money. Money was how the dickheads who control our planet exercise power. Money is essential to survival, like it or not. I’d best learn the language of this omnipresent force, this lingo used so by oppressors.
The Only Reason To Buy a Stock
So began our hero’s journey (I’m telling this tale so I’m the hero, okay?) I headed out to learn the ways of money. As usual when I am confused, I hit the library first. I read many books. All kinds of books discussing all kinds of economics. How to manage money, how it flowed through our society. Stocks, debt, and more. I’ll never say I’m an expert, but I’m definitely wiser than I once was.
During my quest, I asked a financial-based friend about the stock market and how it worked. This wise chap summarized: “When you buy a stock, you do so because you believe you can sell it to someone else for more than you paid. That’s it.” Let’s highlight that quote.
“When you buy a stock, you do so because you believe you can sell it to someone else for more than you paid. That’s it.”
My friend’s answer was oversimplified (you might buy and hold a stock for the dividends) but the core truth was solid. He exposed the financial world as far less cold, numerical facts, and more faith and belief-based.
My friend’s simplification helped me understand the emergence of bizarre activities like “investing” in NFTs and gold and a lot more. People buy things not to have the thing itself, but because they are convinced at some point, someone will buy it for more. They stoke a belief, a faith that others will want it for more later. (Which is sus because if you’re telling me it’s going to rise in value, why are you selling it?)
The earlier you buy it pre-upswing (buy low) the better. The sooner you buy a thing before the belief that it will be valuable takes hold, the more you make out. The thing itself doesn’t have to be useful at all. In the case of NFTs, it doesn’t even have to exist.
The Religion of Marketism
If I was an alien unlucky enough to be stuck studying Earth (which I sometimes feel I am) I would classify what we call religions as weekend hobbies. What silly humans actually devote their lives to is a religion I call Marketism.
Compare the infrequent devotions of the common religions to the one true religion: Marketism. The market’s every twitch, the fractions of countless metrics draws attention and is referred to multiple times per day through many channels. The closest competitor I can think of is the Islamic rite of Salah (one must pray five times a day.) That’s still well short of Marketism’s infinite always-on check-ins of devotion.
Marketism is the universal tradition spoken by all humans. It is the one thing looked at more than any god or philosophy or whacky stone-age campfire sci-fi story about supernatural people overcoming death.
Marketism. That’s what I’d call it as I submitted my alien report to my commanders. It is the engine of human civilization. It doesn’t necessarily have to be. We could have a society that provided enough for all and then stopped there. But the true zealots of Marketism pressure us all into a treadmill of “serve the market or die.”
This Is Your God
Like all 80s kids, I loved the movie “They Live.” By using special dorktastic sunglasses, the protagonists could see past the lies of our world. There is a scene in the film where the character looks at a dollar bill while wearing the glasses. The bill is not the usual USD dead prez paper, but instead in bold letters reads, “This is Your God.”
It’s not saying, this is your god if you want it to be. This is your god, period. This is the omnipotent force that rules you. It’s not a dude in a robe in the sky, it’s a collective force beyond our comprehension and we must serve it. That’s Marketism.
Getting back to my friend’s question, is it good? Well, it’s not great. There’s no easy or obvious option out of the negative parts of it’s influence. There’s a constant pressure and it’s difficult to establish a life built on, okay, that’s enough. But it is what we have so we must make the best of it. Like the idea of a real god, it’s real whether we believe it or not. Like a true religion, it’s a way of life you must follow.
A Glimmer of Hope
So that’s a little bleak, but then I think there are ways to resist the mostly-negative influence of Marketism. Hopefully you’re thinking of some ideas now. But like any formulaic hero’s journey, we should return to the start. Where it began: a library. Libraries are wonderful little pockets that do their best to be isolated from Marketism. I’m sure there are others, but libraries? They’re my favorite.
Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash
