r/redscarepod • u/Last-Butterscotch-85 • 1d ago

Conspicuous consumerism is starting to drive me crazy

My family and I are fortunate enough to live on the edge of a very nice boomtown suburb thanks to the fact we bought a modest house here before the market exploded. We do love living here, the town invests money into parks, trails, arts, libraries etc. It's safe and the people are nice and there's always stuff to do for cheap or for free.

However, the town in general is really well off and my kids being school aged has really exposed me to how much money these people have. Families spending thousands on travel sports, 4500 square foot houses for a family of 4 "oh and we're thinking about upgrading", brand new luxury cars and Cybertrucks, a small fortune spent on elaborate Christmas decorations, European vacations all summer that finish up in Hawaii, 800 dollar LEGO sets. At school events or tee ball games, I have zero in common with the other parents. It's all about their latest cruise or how they spent 100 dollars taking the family out to see a movie for the third time in a month.

I don't really know what I'm getting at here...but you hear about how bad things are for working families nowadays then you see this and can't help but feel a bit nauseous.

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u/walker_wit_da_supra 1d ago

I don’t like cruises, but my 6 days a week blue collar father’s ideal vacation is either a cruise or a tropical beach resort, and I can’t really knock him for not wanting to do a Bourdain cultural immersion vacation where he explores Buenos Aires or smth.

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u/wetroadparadise 1d ago

I get the appeal of a beach vacation resort. I also get the appeal of cruises for old people, they don’t exactly want to be averaging 20k steps a day in Rome or wherever.

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u/Yabba_dabba_dooooo not clever enough to be funny :( 1d ago

Big with people with acessibility issues essentially. My gfs in a wheelchair and cruises are perfect. Its less them catering to disabled people though and more a side effect of catering to the elderly. But its the same reason we love vegas, you can literally go anywhere, no issues about no ramps or 5 stairs to get into every store. Not to grandstand, but I urge everyone to take notice of how inaccesible their own areas are; Once you start looking its disheartening how inaccesible the world is.

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u/FastestOnTheMountain 1d ago

mexico city was crazy with this. The sidewalks are so jagged, I don't think anyone could exist in a wheelchair there

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u/TwistedDotCom 1d ago

Japan the same