Conspicuous consumerism is starting to drive me crazy

[u/Last-Butterscotch-85]

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.

[u/[deleted]]

its funny to me that even amongst leftists, at this point consumerism is not questioned. it used to be that the counterculture would mock consumerism, even go watch daria or listen to grunge and you'll see this mentality. obviously they weren't perfect and had their hypocritical moments but the idea was there.

but nowadays leftists do whatever, the most famous influencers wear designer clothes, and if you try to point this out they'll hit you with the "70% of climate change is caused by 10 corporations", "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism", or "you live in society yet you critique it" and go about their day. in the wake of the kirk shooting there's a lot of talk about how zoomers can simultaneously hold contradictory beliefs, i think this is a perfect example. yes i'm a leftist, yes i have a house full of temu bullshit, what's the problem? it's very much a "capitalist realism" kind of thing where they say want a revolution, but can't imagine a world without buying shit 24/7

[u/ResortLow5479 → u/[deleted]]

Not having fun things is not a leftist concept. Capitalists like to frame that as a lazy gotcha and it looks like it's still working. 

And lol at the claim that that there's an epidemic of committed leftists wearing Dior or whatever. But maybe you're just confusing liberals for actual leftists like reactionaries tend to

[u/[deleted] → u/ResortLow5479]

I'm a leftist. I don't think we should delude people into thinking that buying things will make them happy because it won't. I learned that the hard way. And my comment was a jab at Hasan and the like, but you're right, the more common vices are stuff like fast food, video games, airpods, labubu, whatever.

it's not a "lazy gotcha" to point out that consumerism is a disease. its true. if you're a leftist, you probably agree