파울러를 다시 언급하지 않더라도, 주체인 '나'가 객체나 피험체로 전락하는 것에는 책임의 소재를 다른 데 돌리려고 하는 의도가 있습니다. 즉, 소비의 주체가 내가 아니라 나는 오히려 '소비'하도록 몰리는 존재인 거죠. 거부할 수 없는 힘, 지름신이 책임 소재를 갖게 되며, 뽐뿌를 한 그 주체가 책임 소재를 갖게 됩니다. 이 말에는 내가 '내 경제적 환경을 제대로 고려치 않음으로 해서 생길 수 있는 잠재적 문제에 대한 불안'을 다른 주체에 전가하려고 하는 의도가 숨어있습니다. 결국 내가 욕망을 조절하는 게 아니라, 욕망이 나를 조절한다는 의미입니다.
...
소비하는 인간, Homo Consumens는 실상 이제 주체가 아닙니다. 다시 소비사회라는 종교의 세계의 신민으로 돌아가게 된 것입니다. 맛집 기사, 제품 리뷰, 사용기, 관람기. 이 모든 게 다 이 세계의 성전을 이루고 있는 거죠. 그리고 그를 생산하고 찬양하고 실천함으로써 우리가 받을 수 있는 축복은, '르시클라주 (Recyclage - 재생, 재교육)을 통한' 사회에의 편입일테고요.
The things you own, end up owing you.
TYLER
You know man, could be worse. A woman could cut off your penis while you're sleeping and toss it out the window of a moving car.
JACK
There's always that. I don't know, it's just...when you buy furniture, you tell yourself: that's it, that's the last sofa I'm gonna need. No matter what else happens, I've got that sofa problem handled. I had it all. I had a stereo that was very decent, a wardrobe that was getting very respectable. I was so close to being complete.
TYLER
Shit, man, now it's all gone.
JACK
All gone.
TYLER
Do you know what a duvet it?
JACK
Comforter.
TYLER
It's a blanket, just a blanket. Now why guys like you and I know what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival? In the hunter-gathered sense of the word? No. What are we then?
JACK
You know, consumers.
TYLER
Right. We're consumers. We're by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty -- these things don't concern me. What concerns me is celebrity magazines, television with five hundred channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.
JACK
Martha Stewart.
TYLER
Fuck Martha Stewart. Martha's polishes on the brass of the Titanic. It's all going down, man! So fuck off, with your sofa units and your green stripe patterns. I say never be complete. I say stop being perfect. I say let's evolve and let the chips fall where they may. But that's me, I could be wrong, maybe it's a terrible tragedy.
JACK
No, it's just stuff.
TYLER
Well, you did lose a lot of versatile solutions for a modern life.
JACK
Fuck, you're right.
Tyler offers Jack a cigarette.
JACK
No, I don't smoke. My insurance will probably cover it, so...
Tyler stares at him
JACK
What?
TYLER
The things you own, end up owing you. But do what you like, man.
....
Jeffrey Goines:
There's the television. It's all right there - all right there. Look, listen, kneel, pray. Commercials! We're not productive anymore. We don't make things anymore. It's all automated. What are we *for* then? We're consumers, Jim. Yeah. Okay, okay. Buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, if you don't, what are you then, I ask you? What? Mentally *ill*. Fact, Jim, fact - if you don't buy things - toilet paper, new cars, computerized yo-yos, electrically-operated sexual devices, servo systems with brain-implanted headphones, screwdrivers with miniature built-in radar devices, voice-activated computers...