ALFRED KORZYBSKI AND COMMERCIALISM

“It is not fully realized that in a symbolic class of life, symbolism of any sort plays an environmental role and creates semantic reactions which may be distinctly morbid.” (S&S, p. 296, italics added)

In human experience, there is not only internal contexts that influence our thinking and responding, there are multiple external contexts. These contexts influence us inasmuch as they create not only the external and physical environment, they also create the external semantic environment. What is that? It is the result of how mental ideas within the minds of individuals (you and me) can be, and are, externalized and become a part of a larger and mostly invisible environment.

This means that what you conceptualize in the private reserves of your mind can be shared with others and when you and they then act on these ideas—you create an external semantic environment. You do that by cultivating your mind and emotion (and those of others) so that together we translate them into a cultivated way of speaking and acting. This is how we create an external “culture.” “Culture” here represents an external semantic environment.

Culture, like so many other nominalizations, sounds like a thing. It therefore sounds like a real external object. Yet it is not. Culture refers to the externalization of internal understandings and values regarding “how we do things around here.” That makes it a “logical level” of the mind. And that’s why you take it everywhere you go— it is how your mind and internal world of understandings has been cultivated are what it expects.

Because of this, culture is not an absolute thing— it is a relative process. It is a human process that is a highly fallible process. That’s why no culture is perfect or beyond criticism. In fact, all cultures are highly contaminated by low-level understandings, values, beliefs, precedents, etc. That’s why all cultures need to be challenged and upgraded. That explains why I do not limit these posts to only psychology and communication subjects, but also to politics, values, economics, etc.

Now one facet of culture is commercialism, which like any other aspect of culture can be healthy or unhealthy. Korzybski spoke to this in Science and Sanity: “The morbid semantic influence of commercialism has not been investigated, but it does not take much imagination to see that commercial psycho-logics, as exemplified by the theories of commercial evaluation, ‘wisdom,’ appeal to selfishness, animal cunning, concealing of true facts, appeal to ‘sense’ gratification, etc. produce a verbal and semantic environment and slogans for the children which, if preserved in the grown-ups, must produce some pathological results.” (S&S, p. 295).

What are these morbid semantic influences that would make commercialism unhealthy? Korzybski began describing them in his section on infantilism. What he found was that unhealthy commercialism tends to be infantile in thinking and valuing.

Sameness, conformity, dis-valuing being different. “Originality and individuality are tabooed among children. Because of semantic undevelopment, differences become a disturbing factor to them; they want everything standardized.” (p. 517) Over-legislation: “not wanting to ‘think,’ or bother about differences, they fancy they can regulate life by legislation.” Impulsive, given to impulses. “They cannot differentiate the essential from the unimportant. The immediate ‘sense’ perception or ‘emotion’ unduly influences their actions. Impulses to copy others dominate them. This results in weak judgment, over-suggestiveness...” They tend to focus on animal comforts which fail to lead to greater happiness or higher culture. (271). Trickery: putting something over on others via commercial tactics. Infantile characteristics of advertisements. Lack moderation: extremes things are ‘wonderful’ or ‘terrible.’ Chasing after national crazes. “The infantile semantic reaction to buy what they do not need.” Marked credulity: “They like fairy tales and fantastic stories.” Acquisitiveness: Need for collecting objects, “owning” conveys a sense of personal value. Gregariousness; “Afraid to be alone.” Appeal to popularity. Easily distracted: “Children seldom stick to anything for longer.” Constantly hunting for new excitements, impatient, restless. Power maneuvers: “Children like to domineer over younger brothers and sisters.” Infantile power is power over others, not power with others. Symbolic evaluations: “An adult evaluates a man by what he has in his head or character, but the infantile type largely judges hm by the symbols (money) which he has, or the kind of hat or clothes he wears.” “Since commercialism cannot sell brains, but can sell trousers or a dress, it establishes semantic standards by which a man is evaluated by his clothes and hats.” (S&S, p. 519) Infantile love: “Such ‘love’ is often based on purely egoistic grounds. They ‘love’ what they represent to themselves, what they once represented, what they would like to represent.” Un-responsible: “Infantile adults have little regard for, or endurance of, life responsibilities. They tire quickly, are easily discouraged and frightened. They are irresponsible, unreliable...” Exhibitionism: An impulse for showing off. “Infantile men and women are primarily in love with themselves and care only how pretty they are. They spend large portions of their income on dresses and grooming ... they live in an infantile world and are socially useless...”

That was Korzybski’s take on morbid commercialism in his day— back in the 1930s. I wonder what he would say about commercialism today?