>>14352750It's not really the material goods, but the works of art being produced. The goods are just tie-in merchandise. The pictures are posted because they make for easy representation of the underlying problem. We point and laugh not because "He spent so much money on this stuff" but rather because of what that stuff is -- what it represents. The question then, should be, why does excess consumption of rotten works of art degenerate a culture -- and to that the answer is obvious.
Now, of course, a degenerate culture will produce rotten works of art, so it's not entirely obvious what came first -- the proverbial chicken or egg. However, we investigate and hope to understand and possibly reverse the degeneracy by studying the types of art it produces. A culture reveals much of itself through its art. This can be used not only to reveal what is noble and admirable in a culture, but also what is wrong and harmful. Things become much clearer when viewed through this lens.
The oft-critiqued "basedence fans" are a remnant of a tradition of the Scientific Method in the West, and perhaps even the famed "Renaissance Man". Black Panther was made during a time of racial unrest and upheaval in the US, at the same time a lot more focus (as continues today) is put on black authors, artists, scientists, etc. (Sidenote: Notice that "Black" in articles is always capitalized, "white" is not. Once you see it is is difficult to unsee. This trend was started around the same time.)
Of course, the more obvious examples would be movies being made about LGBT people, or people with diseases such as cancer, etc. as these are issues that are now in the limelight of the West. Of course art will focus on it. But the very same rules apply to all the rest of it, and if you're careful enough you can peel back the layers to reveal the roots of the culture that created the art, and the disease growing on those roots.
