Greed has many faces. The way I see it here, it pushes the modern society in all its corners towards a future that has no shape yet, a dangerous future maybe, created by the ever changing present, bursting into future as a chemical compound still reacting would reverberate in new shapes.
Source: an ordinary TV show, like many others" Mary, Queen of Shops. Youtube, I tube, we all tube and can easily get an idea about what this type of shows is about. It's about forming the opinions of the masses, shaping a way of thinking, ultimately shaping a form of human being. a mean one.
The "trend" arguments are revolving in a vicious circle: someone claims that he/she knows what is "up", "trendy", "in fashion", "popular" and states whatever stupidity with such a fanatic conviction that in fact it actually creates what he/she claims already exists. It is just another borrowed term from the real people to the manipulative system. Whether for rating, money or other more obscure reasons, the main stakes nowadays, the core of the power in social terms is the skill of manipulating.
So this basically older and not so beautiful lady, expert in shaping and branding fashion stores, comes "to the rescue" of small business, and deploys a real flood of management terms, interpersonal psychology and loss of old style common sense. Her motto "what I don't know isn't worth knowing" - she uses this arrogant expression for some of her experts, too... How does she transform the small boutiques? By bowing to the masses of young shoppers, to the celebrities and their looks (which in fact are carefully chosen - they are paid to wear various items, or they get free stuff if they subtly or not so subtly promote them), to the wacky fashion shows collections... and by raising the prices of the sold items in almost every case. Changing names, shops decorum, prices... throwing away loads of clothes that are not in fashion and do not sell well at the moment.
OK, how about the production of the new "praised" items? Are they made in Bangladesh of China by some third world slaves? Eh, why bother...
What about the materials - cotton or other natural fibers, or just the old pain in the ass unhealthy plastic? How do the clothes feel? What are the clothes we associate with memories, that we care for? Meh, who cares...
Not a word about how clothes should be infused with our unique personality, about buying wisely, about the existence of more that one category of shoppers. For this woman and this show, only the carefree youngsters with lots of money on their hands or their older corespondents matter... The fashion is given by anonymous sources, yet pinned upon this crowd of potential buyers ...
How about giving us a break with the ultra skinny figures and the unisex aspect of the people promoted nowadays in this forced culture? We are not aliens. Yet.
Normal people should come in various shapes - not pathologically obese (probably the effect of altered metabolisms, altered by pollution in water, air and food), and have differentiated faces and looks. Nobody should look like a clone of other users of the same cosmetic shop, for example...
And, to come back to the title - the greed! To pray on the peoples' weaknesses, preferences and dreams in order to get the money out of their pockets. To consider them stupid animals which deserve to be cheated and pushed around into actually wanting to pay more than less on an item, because cheap is dubious after being brainwashed that only expensive means quality. To get them to pay for the brand, for the magic keyword that some publicity shithead produces to mesmerize the crowd... To eliminate the more human competitors and keep the big money only with those who apply the same policy...
In society terms, it is almost impossible to go back to less once one has induced more. Progress is addictive. only ad hoc situations or those who shake the people from its hypnosis can stop the movement forward.
So, what the heck are we moving forward too with all this greed? Weirdly enough, playing it low and saving this and that seems to be a weird attitude. Money attracts money, abundance is the same. Living in a minimalist style - when it is not fake - when the loads of people are going the other way makes a person feel weird and lonely. Like it or not, the movement is too big and rapid in a direction that comprises greed, unhealthy materials, using more and more natural resources...
The only compass - probably covered with dust, figuratively speaking- for most of us is an intrinsic common sense. Why change this while still good? Why have 2 or 3 cars when one is enough? Why adopt the ideas of others, be them on TV, in the newspapers or on the city walls?
If these are not motivated from the inside, we are just caught in the dance of greed, mainstream, consumerism, boredom...
Yes, we are bored. The main products ruling this world are now "geek products", reality-compensating products As cruel as it was for them, geeks (although the term is somehow limited) didn't have much of a social life in recent history - hence staying inside, dreaming alternate realities, creating them later through movies, computing, books... OK so far, but from here to dragging the entire world into staring at some screens relentlessly, because the outside world is becoming more and more polluted, ugly, deserted and "not cool"... that is not OK.
The race for the modern industrialization and for progress almost always reaches a point where it goes wrong, where a useful invention is simply topped with some useless features in order to "sell" and "keep it going"... and in the process the earth is drained of its beauty and resources. The once normal people feel alienated in this weird universe where most of us don't even understand what we are doing, using machines through an users' interface as much as we are allowed to, without really understanding how these machines work. the bigger this gap, the more not normal and insane it is... Practically many have become stupid moving among notions and machines completely strange to them.
For the humans is horrible - we need to understand, to interact with the others and with the nature and planet. We need to feel in control and happy because our thinking structure - typical, classical, call it however you want - is being engaged in useful actions and thoughts. Why not be needed and appreciated for a clever everyday idea, for a kind heart, for a sense of humor? Why be useful only in terms of skills, money, trends and progress?
Why no greed equals no good life? Even the self help tones of books, the spiritual healing teachings (at least the ones who fill all the libraries' shelves) teach people to be greedy and selfish: find YOUR way, spoil YOURself, change YOUR life, be the kindest, say the most prayers, save YOURself when the world would end... Why, may I ask? Again with the competition and the race, with the improvement and the progress...
I will not enter into maybe another topic, but something is fishy here, considering how much the mainstream ideas share in their core with the supposedly their opponent philosophies. The same "hook" techniques, the same "sell-buy-convince" vibe...
Stop with the greed, or at least assume it for what it is, and stop pretending that other things are motivating various actions, when its slithering shape can be easily guessed underneath the so called reasons
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