China
Namaste
Perhaps you aren't familiar with the many special dynamics at work in western society so you'd miss the point that the conditioning of our children has been riotously successful and we live in an age where the consumerist lives and the human being doesn't.
We teach our children that all is fair in love and war....Conrad Black isn't a thief and a liar, he's the product of the idea that whomever dies with the most toys wins....
We teach our children that we can discriminate against blacks against native Canadians against women and against the poor the elderly and the sick.
Despite the fact that America had its great "Civil War", racism is alive and well in America and Canada where we have a little more difficulty with our racism because those damn indians aren't as obviously part of the "correct" group we can marginalize and denigrate with impunity. We've gotten better at defining the targets of our hatred though...
We've taught children that a smiling cartoon clown at the "golden arches" is a viable and in fact better parent than our human parents. We've taught our children that eating beef and swilling soda pop is the hallmark of freedom and democracy ...so then we can alienate and ostracize the obese and the diseased after they've followed our encouragement.
We've learned that if we characterize the "wants" of our children as "needs"....if Johnny or Sally are to be fully "accepted" in their social circle and at school it's our "duty" to make sure they have a GameBoy or a Nintendo or five hundred channel television at home....
We've taught our children that "disposable" is the way to go.
We invite them to purchase a clock or a fan or a TV or anything else they really "ought" to own at the discounted price made available by off-shore sweatshops and conditioned them not to expect that whatever they will buy will last but fall apart break or be replaced by something newly manufactured to honor the principles of planned obsolescence....
We've conditioned our children that a woman has to be skinny so if that means sticking your fingers down your throat...that's the price you'll have to pay for popularity and "beauty"....
We've conditioned our children to believe that "success" comes not from an internal personal triumph of the spirit but through the objects you own and the wealth you can demonstrate.
We've taught our children that the earth and everything in it is a disposable commodity so they need not be concerned and can waste and consume without conscience.
We've taught our children that the wealthy and the powerful are more derserving of our respect and awe than anyone else, and we teach them to accept whatever the wealthy and powerful say as the absolute truth.
