Buying beautiful clothes, shoes, bags, furniture, jewellery, car and so on doesn't make sense if I can't make the next person fumingly jealous and deep green envious! I mean the point of acquiring stuff, which I can't possibly begin to use in this lifetime, is completely lost if I cant parade it, display it, show-it-off, spin yarns about it, savour the covetous glances of people around me?? After all, isn't the idea of buying, and being able to buy more and more over-priced and under used stuff is to make others unhappy.
Do I sound callous? sorry to nudge your comfort zone, but hey I don't believe in mincing words.
Today's world and our place in it is increasingly being defined by our ability to procure the means to live a life of ease,pomp and comparative leisure Success equates larger houses, bigger cars, fancier clothes, extravagant travels and glaring entertainment. The idea of bigger the better has never been more obvious in our demeanour, we strive to spend more than our families, our friends and our colleagues - perhaps the rashness of spending money without the worrying effects of its disappearance is what makes us feel more significant than others (The classic Gatsby syndrome.) A society that places colossal significance in "monetary value " of possessions of its members, than on their intrinsic worth, exerts a huge pressure to spend more than they need to or can afford to. Hence, born is the age of retail Therapy, keeping up with the Joneses, emotional shopping and gadeteering, pack rats, hoarders, and economic anxiety.
What is the difference between collecting for pleasure such as for art's sake, as a hobby or one's fascination, and mere acquisition for the sake of acquisition? where things we buy lose their basic worth to us once they are bought and displayed, it gives birth to a infinite cycle of more and more and more, where every new purchase becomes marginal losing its utility to its owner.
Have we become shallow? do we want trappings of expensive brands (designer phones, clothes, schools, etc) to ground us because our weightlessness makes us suseptible to fly away into oblivion? Lofty thoughts, noble ideas, creative imagination makes a person different from others and raises his status vis a vis less accomplished people. But such intangible assets require sheer hard-work and persistent determination over long periods of time. Therefore in our quest for instant gratification, delayed goals become synonymous with failure. For rapid ascent to the next level in the social strata, for immediate entrance to the most glamorous clubs, for quick leap to higher echelons of society all we need are the right visuals. When we stride in our uber expensive designer jeans, carrying insanely high-prized bags filled with even more pricier stuff, we are giving a message to whoever comes in contact. And that message is "I have arrived" (loud and clear.)
Conspicuous spending is the trademark of the affluent and now also the non-affluent (courtesy of credit cards.) Our possessions now possess us. We rely on them to define who we are and how we want to be seen. The more energy we spend on acquiring the right paraphernalia the more we get stuck in that rat race to nowhere.
But, what the hell, spewing venomous feelings and shouting protestations....always put me in a mood for the next designer shopping binge! Eat your heart out people ;0
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