I spent a summer in Indonesia before my senior year of college for my internship. A big part of my trip was a cultural research paper. Many people were discussing how individual ethnic groups were losing their group identity due to the national emphasis on identifying one's self as an "Indonesian" person rather than a Malay person or a Minang person, etc.

I found that the real battle is much more between Islam (Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country) and Western commercialism. Both forces are seeking to change the value system of young people in Indonesia.

It got me thinking about how the main marketing method is to tell the customer what "need" is unfulfilled in their lives, then immediately produce the product or service to fill the need. The top two that irk me are,

"You deserve it." (ie., you're getting gyped and you're a victim and the world owes you.)

"It's not your fault." (ie., you're a victim and someone else ought to solve the problems of your credit card debt.)

It's no wonder people want the government, the church, their neighbors to give to them and not have to give anything for others. Every day we are pummeled with value messages warring for our hearts. What am I doing to counter this, or have I already embraced these values which are utterly contradictory to what Jesus taught?

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