It is an obvious fact that we are living in a rapidly evolving modern world. There are plenty of things provided by capitalism in order to satisfy the needs of this modern world. Eventhough human race got more opportunities , Satisfying our feelings and needs become extremely diffucult. Today I want to talk about the modern eras one of the most important problem called Consumerism
Desire of Owning
Desire of owning things and consumerism is the biggest void in the modern people's hearth. We are getting wired to adapt fast , forgot fast and trying to live away from our own feelings. The world is filled with people who thinks they are going to be more happy with living more individual and they also degree their happiness with the things they own. Obviously this materialist approach brings only misery for the people of modern era.
Well companies are most essential tool in capitalist system. However even the biggest companies are filled with marketing tricks they hides behind the media and media creates a false conception to the consumers. If you analyze advertisements you are going to see one main message If you buy this product You are going to be Something , by something you can put any adjective instead of that something.
I can get it running a business in a competitive market can be though but I don't get the fact that why people started to act like companies ?
"There are no real pleasures without real deprivations." Voltaire
You can't have real pleasures without real needs. Appareantly if we don't have real needs we are not going to get pleasure . All the things obtained from false needs are for consuming and it won't give any pleasure to the individual. However Voltaire also has a quote saying that There is a pleasure in not being pleased but I don't think people are having a lot of fun in this eternal chase.
As Shopenhauer noticed capitalism shortened the life of the new and encouraged people to consume . As an instance we got credit cards now for fast shopping and also you can buy any product you don't need with pay installments. Well there is a new trend rising in Asia . People are trying to live minimalistic and recently I'm trying that too.
Consumer Society - Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard's masterpiece, "Consumer Society", describes the relationship between hedonism and consumption, and argues that the distinction between real needs and the fictitious needs guided by our desires. People beleive that purchasing consumer goods and exhibite them is going to distinguish them from common society. In the perspective of the modern men buying action is something prestigious. However buying action is going to become an obligation for the individual and they will be no different then other people at that point. Human interactions is going to fade and material interactions are going to take over instead of that. Only acceptable moral is going to be consuming action itself. Therefore we can't seperate hedonism and consumerism in the moden era they are like conjointed twins.
and this problem can be defined as the greatest problem or void of the modern people.
Sources :
"We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like." -Fight club
Well I completely forgot about that quote !
I couldn't agree more. To say nothing of the hoops people will jump through and the levels of crap they will put up with in their jobs so they can make that sweet cash so they can buy back a moment of happiness. Replace the 40-80 hours per week of misery with a few seconds of that high that "purchasing power" will give you.
Very good point!
Wonderful......//////
I live a life of minimalism too... It's much much easier to maintain my place and take care of my stuff when I've kept everything to a bare minimum.
editing steam
great one ...
thanks for sharing..
You are right man, we can't have real pleasures without real needs.
well said..