"So hopes for a vigorous rebound rest on spendthrift consumers being as materialistic as ever."
taken from an article i found via yahoo talking about the four things that could cause a potential re-collapse of our economy.
i have to ask: isn't materialism what got us into this mess in the first place? people buying what they can't afford for little more than showing off? (not the term i want to use, but it's 3:17 in the morning and my brain is sliiiightly shot...)
my mom and i had a great conversation today, and during said discussion arose the topic of higher depression rates among teens and young adults. after my "duh" moment, i found quite a bit of truth to the article i read, which correlated the higher percentages with the materialistic views of our society. "getting rich" is one of the top reasons kids strive toward higher education (obviously, they haven't thought about the thousands of dollars that they'll have to pay back in loans that will suck them dry [i'm not bitter]), and dammit, doesn't spencer 'the brat' pratt (i totally just made that up!) make being rich look sooooo appealing?
i never wanted to be rich, per se. i want to be marketable. but i want to raise my future children to live within their means and not be spoiled brats who got everything they ever wanted. there are people who've worked hard for what they have, but there are more who have lied, cheated and stolen to get where they are now. they've milked some insane event (jon and kate, i'm looking at you) for every fifteen minutes of fame they could get, and then some. some of them are downright undeserving of it because they don't know how to handle it.
as pat summit, the incredibly sage-like coach for the UT Vols women's team, asked after lane kiffin ran for the hills (beverly, that is), "how much money do you need to live?" granted, ms. summit isn't exactly begging for change, but she has a point. what does it take?
where has loyalty gone? where have legitimate hard work and sacrifice gone? why can people like the pratts, jon and kate, and countless others be picked out of the obscurity the rest of us live in and be counted as elite, whether you like them or not? WHY?!
and why do we want to be like them?
because of the materialism that, sadly, sustains our economy.
we have no values anymore...
2 comments:
Deep thinking! I fear you are right about consumerism and materialism being driving forces in society today.
This kind of deep thinking reminded me a little of the "Who is your hero?" lesson I had to cosh my ten-year-olds with this week all the while knowing I was going to "like, admire, respect, and hero" them to within a inch of their lives!
I'm glad so many I wasn't alone with the synopsis as the hardest part of the writing process. It isn't just the multitude of things you could say about the book, it's trying to say THE things that will appeal to the agent you are sending it to.
thanks for the comment, elaine.
i'm scared to death to have kids in this culture because i don't want them to admire people like speidi, or mark mcgwire, or the fifteen minutes of fame gang. i don't want them to think that getting rich is the only way to happiness. that scares me beyond reason.
and i hate the synopsis. loathe it. i've talked to a lot of other writers, and they tell me the same thing. if you haven't checked out lisa and laura's blog yet, you definitely should. they're gonna have some synopsis advice on monday, i believe.
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