[David,]

Most definitely! I think you've struck the nexus of the modern paradox of monetary riches amid societal/spiritual/intellectual poverty.

In olden days (I speak from 'experience' having worked at a living history museum) people worked in the fields with their arms covered and broad rimmed hats to avoid looking tanned (i.e. a banker in a faraway town wouldn't offer a loan to a weatherbeaten farmer since he looks like he works with his back and thus doesn't have a lot of collateral). Today, people who never even leave their office during daylight hours have bronze tans ... the grass is always greener, eh? At least back then stress was actually helpful -- it sped up your work so you could accomplish more when needed (i.e. bringing in hay from a field during a rainstorm before it all was ruined).

Consumer culture's goal is to ridicule the proven virtue of pragmatism, to make us always want the newest, the latest, the most trendy items, be they cars, clothes, homes, names, diets, etc ... the modern opiates of the People are (1) computers and (2) sports. It's also ironic to see sports fans outside of an arena -- many couldn't run a mile if the salvation of the universe depended upon it. In our secondary schools, we promote the athletes but ridicule the intellectuals as "propellorheads." What are we to make of that?

[Steve R.]