Materialism In A Modern Society © Niall Fleming 2003
We live in a materialistic world, whether we like it or not, people judge themselves to be successful based on the number of possessions they have, e.g. sports cars, millionaire mansions etc. and I for one would like this to change.
Instead base your own judgement of yourself, on how many good friends you have and the way you interact with them. Do you often help them out selflessly, and feel safe knowing that if you're ever in trouble they'll be there for you. I try to, I know it's not easy, but once you get into the routine you'll feel a lot better about yourself. Now, can you really justify spending £4000 on two things from Prada or Harvey Nichols?
Why not stop supporting the brand name companies who employ slaves in foreign countries to manufacture their goods for mere pennies when all they're going to do is sell them onto you people foolish enough to fall for their advertising scams for outrageous prices. I'm not saying all companies are like that, Logitech for example, they market quality products and they are generally more innovative and better manufactured than other cheaper replicas, especially the newer cordless mice. They don't actively advertise their products because they know that they don't need to, people buy their gear because it lasts for years, word of mouth is much more powerful than some advertising campaign.
Then
we find companies like Rockport, who are expecting you to pay upwards
of £80 for a simple pair of shoes, you could probably find a
similar pair for around £20, which are of comparable if not better
quality. Rockport's have also become synonymous with the townies in
the Keighley and Bradford area, same with Thomas Burberry (including
the fake stuff) - it's a disgusting beige tartan style fabric, I can't
believe that anyone would buy it because they liked it. It's simply
people foolish enough to follow the fashion crowd like sheep in a flock.
Look at this Burberry cap on the right here, eurgh! That's not roight!
Pringle, what can I say here! There's this one person in the sixth form at our school whom I cannot name for legal reasons, who literally told us "I don't even like it, I only wear it cos it's Pringle" referring to a yellow and blue argyle patterned sweater. Which I just find so utterly amusing, it's ridiculous, what is going on in the mindset of such a person. Surely they'd have more of an opinion on what they wear, but apparently not, it's just whatever happens to be currently in fashion, maybe he's doing it to attract girls, I don't know, in my opinion the only kind of person that is attracted to that kind of behaviour would be another townie and that's not really the sort of person you want to attract as they don't really "do" long term relationships, just a quick snog and a shag down a dark alleyway.
It would be better for society and ultimately for everyone, if we dropped our materialistic ways, and followed our own fashions, picking what clothes we want because we like them, as with music, not just listening to something because it's in the charts. Take your own route; find out what fits your style not someone else's. Buy a product because of its merits not its price tag or brand name.
Be your own person, not a puppet for Nike...