This is major frightening . . . but true.

Consuming is what humans have been taught and bred to do, maybe it has something to do with our internal programming, I'm not sure, but our culture teaches us that consumption is what makes us real, what defines our identity, how we know we have made it to this fictional realm of "success."

This is what human cultures have wrought, with all of our intelligence and cleverness and creativity, we have just put it to work on designing more and more insidious ways to get people to spend all their money on junk and experiences because we have been taught this is what it means to be a human being.

And, I don't really blame "people" in general because we are all assaulted daily with a constant barrage of ads and images that show us what we are missing, the things we need in order to be "happy," and this mantra of happiness is jack-hammered into our heads, like a religion: you must be happy, and then we are told, by all these Mad Men, exactly what will make us happy.

It could be a peanut buster parfait or a new electric car, the latest fast fashion or the most up-to-date smart phone. The list is endless and always growing and like good little lemmings we jump on this treadmill and keep running, from the moment we establish our own financial independence until the day we die.

You must consume.

And there are ads everywhere, personalized now, to tell us exactly what we must desire next, the next little trinket that will give us a little endorphin boost in our brain.

There seems no opting out of this system, this whole conspiracy, because it is ubiquitous. It is everywhere. You cannot escape the ads and these Mad Men constantly whispering in our ears.

"Buy this." "This will make you happy." "This will make you . . . you!"

It's a sick and twisted system of social control.

That's the point.

Keep the masses all dumb and wanting.

Always wanting.