Introduction In 2018 I asked a provocative question: Are Americans brainwashed?  At the time, what I meant by “brainwashing” was a kind of conditioned conformity — an unconscious habituation to consumerism.  We buy, accumulate, and consume not because we need to, but because something deep within our society tells us that our worth, security, and … Continue reading Are Americans Brainwashed?  Revisiting Consumer Culture Through the Lens of “The Society of the Spectacle”  — By John Persico (with Metis)