> How did we get to the point where simply buying something is a bad thing

Nothing new here. Consumerism has been questioned by most religions and philosophies. (for good reasons.)

> And meeting people in your community while getting healthy is also frowned upon

I remembered when I moved to the US from Europe, I was surprised to see how fitness was such a huge industry. In my country, we tended to practice sport in some types of non-profit associations. (even though US-style gyms are on the rise.)

I liked this much better than going to the hassle of dealing with membership fees and an agressive commercial structure. In particular, it was also much more friendly than your regular gym. Students stayed on average much longer than in a gym, and they were involved in running the structure.

It's trendy to be against the most basic things nowadays. People ran out of important subjects to rumble about, and realized that change is hard. Instead of actually making the tough decision to involve themself to improve things, they go on on criticizing, changing topics, going more and more inane as the list of real problems dries.

Commerce tends to foster conflicts of interest and other ethical problems

Also, gym memberships generally cost less than 10%[0] of your earnings.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe