The Crazy Apes: A Satire of Human Society

The Human Treadmill

The more we have the more we want. I've heard those words with nauseating frequency, yet nothing changes. We work all our lives to buy things that we don't really need nor want, but we buy them anyways because others do and we don't want to fall behind.

The following dialogue is between two chimpanzees named Abu and Mabu: I use A and M to distinguish the speaker.

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M: Come, Abu, I have something interesting to tell you.

A: Is it another story from your period in captivity?

M: You know me very well, Abu. I just have to tell you about the father of that family. He stood on a machine, and when he started walking, no matter how hard he tried, he always stood at the same spot.

A: That's really crazy. Why didn't you tell me about this walking machine before?

M: I was afraid that you wouldn't believe me. You might have thought that their craziness had rubbed off on me!

A: Didn't he have anything better to do? As crazy as it sounds, though, it's the perfect image of humans.

M: What do you mean?

A: Well, we chimps move around in search of food, we eat what we need, rest, hang out and have fun. Humans are not like that at all. To have fun, they need gadgets and machines of all shapes and sizes. For them food and shelter are no longer enough. The more they have, the more they want. But more things don't make them any happier! It's exactly like walking faster and standing still!

M: That's very clever, Abu! I'm impressed!

A: You would think that if a mere chimp can see it they could see it too.

M: I'm sure some of them must have figured it out long ago. They know that there's more to life than material goods, and that happiness doesn't come from having more of them. 

A: Why haven't they stopped this craziness?

M: Knowing it and doing something about it are two very different things. Consumption is an addiction. Addicts know that their behaviour is bad; they just can't stop it!

A: I suppose you're going to tell me that, just like the invisible hand of the tobacco companies guiding and encouraging humans to smoke, there are other invisible hands pushing them to consume? 

M: You can read my mind! It's all the fault of the owners of all those smoke-belching factories. They produce all manner of things that humans really don't need, so they have to push them to buy. 

A: Sadly, while tobacco pushers affect primarily the health of smokers, those that push all the other products affect the entire habitat with their filthy emissions, some of which are deadly. 

M: There's no end to what those factory owners will do to enrich themselves!

A: I don't know who's crazier: the factory owners, the workers, or those who buy their products, for they're all responsible for polluting the biosphere. What's worse is that they do it knowing that it causes harm to themselves and to everyone else, including us. 

M: You and I know  that the more they produce and consume, the more injury they cause, but humans obviously don't! 

A: Don't they care about the health of their children and grandchildren? Don't they want to leave them a better world?

M: We'll never be able to understand modern humans. There was a time when they were just like us, but they progressed too far and too fast for their own good, and ours too. They boast about all the things they possess, shame us about our primitive lifestyle, pride themselves of living in freedom, but as we roam around free, they live in the servitude of the ruling class, working in filthy, smoking factories, polluting our biosphere and running ever faster just to keep still.

A: They've sold their soul to the demons of consumerism and now we all pay the price.

M: What can I say; they're the intelligent apes!

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Is consumerism really an addiction?

Are we the victims of large advertising corporations that have figured out how to control our desires for consumer products?

Is our free will a victim of corporate greed?

Is it time to stop, or at least slowdown, the human treadmill?

Per capita GDP, our measure of consumption, has grown steadily, but are we any happier now than before?

Nobody wants to destroy Mother Earth, but  we're each doing our best to contribute to its demise daily. Each time we buy non-essential things we're feeding the dragon that's eating up our sustaining mother. Does cruelty know no bounds?