The most powerful influence
Think deep down and tell me. What is the most powerful influence today? Here are a few popular quotes to help you get the deal:
“God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need” – Fight Club
“Happiness is a myth. It was invented to make us buy things” – Shantaram
There is always so much stuff in my closet that I can get away with. Squandering, to me, has become habitual. Yet, the power of advertisements and the idea of living an extravagant life gets the better of me. Inflation or no inflation, I spend! Bad market? It did not make a difference to my spending habits. You see, that is the power of advertisements and the likes. Spending habits are ruled by these ads. They teach you everything. A lifetime seems to go down in attaining these elated heights by means of shopping.
The “cool” factor! Boy oh boy, this rules us. What makes us cooler? Labels? Gadgets? Takes us right back to shopping. A less than a minute gig makes us spend all that we earn. All I know is earn and spend. So when I think about why I work, it brings me back an answer amounting to “How else will I buy all that I need(read all that is advertised and makes me cooler)?”
Are we missing something? Quite a bit. A part of us that wants to experience the world in its innocence and unpretentious colors is totally lost. Advertisements, labels, spending habits rule us all and leave behind indelible impressions and paint them in colors of pretence. We are slaves to the consumer markets that popularise and sell us things we can do without!
When will I get this point?!
I don’t get it.
Just ‘coz some people enjoy shopping (and God knows I’m one of them) why does it mean that they don’t enjoy other non-materialiatic less consumerism driven pleasures of life? Or that that they’re not living life to the fullest? Whatever the motivation behind earning/spending money shouldn’t the bigger motivation of life be to live it as you please? And if shopping is the what gives you a little joy, why not?
Go easy on yourself.. as long as you’re not being stupid and getting into a debt trap and of crs you’re not harming anyone .. spend all you like .. there’s nothing wrong with it! And just coz u like to spend doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the sunset or whatever else you may describe as to “experience the world in its innocence and unpretentious colors” .. go ahead.. do both!
I am not really saying that our spending habits are any hurdle to the other things that we want to do. My spending habits and the consumerism that I have got into leave me very little choice to splurge in other “to-dos”. I must confess, though, that these habits have changed a little bit now.
Yeah, splurging is fun. But as Wordsworth (I think) said, we need the time to stand and stare. I think I have becoming less cynical after the birth of my son, viewing the world through his eyes. Traveling I feel, helps in regaining some of the ‘lost innocence’ you describe too.
Well, I got it!
neways..I need to get a coffee at ccd, and yeah buy my Ck jeans and FCUK tee…
he he
Very true. But somehow this viewpoint is embedded in my mind long back..so I was never a compulsive shopper.