@le_inferno Let me address your points in turn
Firstly, I was saying this, as in almost everyone has an insignificant existence, and we cope with it in different ways. As a general group, the Americans are considered to cope with it by striving towards this idealised image of American perfection, which just so happens to further the interests of corporate giants. This is why it is perceived as being more shallow and sick than, say, a society in which people strive towards building a better community for their family and friends, or spiritual fulfilment, or personal achievements, in ways that are not contrived by the establishment for their own benefit.
Secondly, I didn’t say that living in America makes you a slave to corporations. I clearly outlined the behaviour which, in my eyes, makes you a slave to corporations. At no point did I suggest that this behaviour is exclusive to North America (but there, it began), or that all North Americans exhibit it. I am saying that it is disgustingly prevalent in North America, and noticeably growing in other capitalist democracies. You implied that I am stupid, by suggesting that I believe all Americans behave like this. I am not stupid. I was talking about the pop culture. OBVIOUSLY I wouldn’t tar 300,000,000 people with the same brush. Please do not do this again.
Next, it isn’t about materialism. It is about celebrity worship and idealised, contrived ideas about what ordinary people should do, have and be (which just so happens to be exactly what big-business wants to teach you/sell you/make you into).
Also, I am not saying that the problem is with the American people, but with what the American media and corporations have done to the American people, and are trying to do to the rest of the world. It is succeeding because of US supremacy and the genius of marketing techniques. Any thinking man realises this, and holds American culture – and this associated behaviour – in contempt, for its manufactured and contrived nature, and, furthermore, they hate it for infiltrating and undermining their own “real” traditions and culture.
American cultural exports are mostly popular with children, and these self-obsessive behaviours are generally limited to the prime-targets, young women and teenage girls. This is what makes the thinking man hate it so much, because he sees it for the contrived, commercial nonsense that it is, but at the same time, his teenage daughter is obsessed with studio bands and this Made in Hollywood idealisation of lifestyle and appearance.