Cascadian National University, Lecture Hall, January 2518

Hey folks, can somebody grab the boxes at the back and bring them up? Much as this old professor would like to handle the heavy lifting, there are certain things that youth is better suited for.

Thanks. I'll wait a second to get back to your seats before I open this sucker up. I know everybody loves a good unboxing, but this one's pretty run of the mill. Mostly Earthblood products, which the Americans referred to as "Consumer Goods".

Here we go. First off, the Concept of the Consumer Good was to get somebody to pay money for nothing. This was a major part of the cult's worship, and nearly every sacrament involved the purchase of one of these. Even Daily cleansing was considered to be under the purview of the cults, and the offering you paid was indicative of your intelligence. The lower the price you paid for a consumer good, the wiser you were considered to be. Those that paid nothing for their consumer goods were often encouraged to tell others how wonderful the product was, thus cementing the idea of the wisest being paid for nothing, and therefore being smarter than the rest of the rubes who had to work for a living.

Take this. (The Professor pulls out an angled piece of plastic with a couple of rusty pieces of metal embedded into the end.) Now, I know you don't think that this is much to look at, but this is a Razor.

(General Laugh from the Class.)

I know, this thing wouldn't cut paper, much less remove hair, but that's what it was for. In large factories, these blades at the end were stamped out in less than seconds by a machine, which relied on earth's blood to power it. In turn, these blades were embedded in a sheath, made of nothing more than concentrated Earth's blood, stamped into form by another machine that used Earth's blood, placed into a vehicle that burned Earth's Blood for transportation, then shipped individually to the "Consumer" at a moment's notice to to a rickety supply chain that depended on constant input or the whole thing ground to a halt.

Not to mention it also puts the locals out of business. The Machine was usually in another country. What was a skill practiced by nearly every person became atrophied, and people relied upon instant deliveries of an inferior product to satisfy a basic need which could have been solved far simpler and easier by simply taking the time to practice not cutting yourself with a blade. We all remember those embarrassing teenage years walking to school with nicked chin or leg. Well, American's didn't have that. For the most part, family didn't teach how to shave. Many males actually learned for the first time in the Military, and they taught the most efficient way which depended on the end user knowing nothing.

I point all this out, because it's a prime example of Americans not seeing the Forest For the trees. All of that Earth's blood burned was written off on the cost. All the average person saw was a razor, that lasted once, and cost far less than the cost of a good blade made at the local forge.

Now, I know what you're wondering, why didn't the American's see that they were burning the forest to devalue the leaf? Huh? Old idiom from an old British Story. Means to completely miss the point and keep doing things the way they always have, despite clear evidence that it's idiotic.

Americans were propagandized to think of these things as Good. You have to realize that even the name itself was Consumer "GOOD". Every single good represented treasure, that ideally you would not have to pay for. This mentality became rife in the later years of the American empire as citizens began ripping apart houses, buildings, cars, and digging through their neighbors trash just to find pieces of treasure that could be claimed. The wealth of the society was so grand that the underclass often made their living simply by scavenging the garbage of the rich.

Next one... here we go. Imaginary World Generator. This Earth's blood box, with the proper maintenance of Electricity, is capable of creating a virtual world. It's pretty amazing really, with the ability to completely immerse yourself in a virtual environment, interact, love, kill, fight, and generally be a hero. I know down at Saito's downtown they have a whole bank of these that they keep running the best they can. Getting the parts for it usually involves a trip across the ocean of course, so the cost isn't cheap to play on one of these. However, Americans would spend years engrossed in these fantasy realms, convinced that it was a better world than the current one. I've played a few times, I mean, who hasn't? They're pretty amazing I must admit, and I know that some Universities still teach the process of creating the worlds.

This one's broken. Been broken for a long time. If you try to turn it on, the machine flashes with three red lights, and turns itself off. This was common among consumer Goods of the time. They were designed to break after a certain point of time, and it was considered illegal and immoral to attempt to repair them. The only people who were authorized to repair these things were authorized corporate priests, and they kept their processes behind a veil of secrecy and banality.

Seriously. Didn't want to use a safety razor? You were suffering from "Toxic Masculinity" and wanted to put hard working people out of business. Didn't want to go into the virtual worlds? You were a "Luddite" who believed in destroying the very fabric of the society. Didn't want to go to the cults? Well, it was YOUR fault that things were the way they were. Every single thing Americans could do to fight against the incessant drumbeat to consume, consume, consume was held down as much as possible by regulation, slander, and downright cruelty.

Because Consumption, conspicuous consumption, was what Americans were told they had to aspire to. Taking a well built, expensive machine, and throwing it away was considered the height of coolness and impressive behavior. These offerings to the nebulous god of progress, who was never defined but usually associated with Jesus, continued to expand in scope and attendance. It got to the point where nearly every American would be held in rapture by a Rare and valuable vehicle being catapulted beyond the atmosphere, never to be seen again. Many believed that this was an indication of their own final destination, among the stars.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUtQD-oxRs0]