Internalized value systems are largely expanded and strengthened through communication. The influence of the media has been to direct such value systems towards reducing human sociability and increasing economic progress. This isolates the person of already limited knowledge by further restricting his access to global ethics. Profit-oriented selection of programming appeals to escapism and the acquiring of material possessions. Economic values are emphasized to the point that they overshadow any social or cultural consideration.
Questions of equity and fairness have nearly everywhere been thrown aside in the search for economic efficiency and price stability led by free markets and individual choice.
Progress, as defined by economists is destroying the very natural systems upon which we all ultimately depend for health and prosperity... that we persist in calling this progress is the grossest fiction – and the greatest danger of our time (Sandra Postel – Worldwatch Institute).