Provocative comment I heard today:

[Brigid]

I was watching "The Seven Deadly Sins" on the History Channel today. The were talking about the sin of envy. One of those who were interviewed said that our economy is founded on envy. "Two-thirds of our economy is made up of consumer spending. Try sustaining that if everyone is satisfied with what they have."

What do you think?

[MedleyMisty]

1. I think be satisfied with what you have

Stop buying their stupid shit. Withdraw your financial consent from fascism.

[RKP5637]

2. +1, n/t

[SDuderstadt]

6. "Withdraw your financial consent from fascism"

Oh, brother.

[yodermon]

15. Exactly. it's not fascism unless & until x millions of group z are rounded up

and slaughtered.

Fascism springs forth fully-formed from the head of Zeus. Any attempt to imply a continuum towards this state should be met with all appropriate derision and repeated assertions that, since we are not at fascism's horrific endpoint *right now*, we mustn't even look for its inchoate signs. Doing so makes us look paranoid and stupid.

[SDuderstadt]

16. Calling everything to the right of us...

"fascism" makes us look even more paranoid and stupid.

Your strawman argument isn't very convincing.

[villager]

8. It would certainly be revolutionary.

And I'm not sure our corporate fascist overlords would know how to fight it.

[socialist_n_TN]

12. And Misty strikes again!.......

Spot on, sister, spot on. :)

[leftstreet]

3. Which # of sin is it when you profit off the backs of the working class?

:grr:

Religion and economics don't belong on the same program

[Brigid]

10. That would be #2, of course.

Greed.

[socialist_n_TN]

13. Religion and CAPITALISM don't belong on the

same program. IMO, as case could be made for religion and economic democracy. I actually think that that Jesus guy made it pretty well.:)

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Greed is good.

I can't argue that envy helps fuel our economy. But the whole capitalist system seems to be based on greed.

Now, for me, sloth and gluttony are my favorites!

[seabeyond]

5. besides my books, (and now i have a kindle) i could fit all my "things" in a small box

things dont matter to me.

more important to hubby

i want a well running car and a home in a particular environment. small is fine, just a nice/good environment. that is the only stuff that is important to me.

again

hubby is different.

kids are more like me.

[notadmblnd]

7. I don't understand why so many people worry about what others think of them.

that's what I think it's really all about.

[Mnemosyne]

17. They base their self-worth on what they can acquire and need reinforcement

to survive such shallow existences.

I have a card I've kept for many years, outside it reads, "Don't worry about what others think -". Inside, "Chances are they don't".

[Lost-in-FL]

9. Slajov Zizek said the same thing in a documentary called...

"The Examined Life".

It made a lot of sense at the time, the way he explained it. I wish I remember what was his reasoning. I am going to have to rent it again!!!

[Ikonoklast]

11. In the end, it's just 'stuff'.

Happiest guy I know actually owns next to nothing, not that he can't afford to buy anything he wanted to, it's that he just doesn't see the need.

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. We buy a lot of stuff we don't REALLY need but corporations convince us that we need them

Ads play on envy but more on insecurities, i.e. If I don't have the latest car, I'll ahve less status.

[CTyankee]

18. People "can't live without a cell phone with all the latest apps."

I hate to be a curmudgeon, but my dinky little cell phone, which I rarely use, has next to nothing fancy on it. So why am I not unhappy? Why am I not miserable?

I would be sad without the Internet, but not miserable. I would still have a local library and plenty of regular books to read for free. I like having cable but I could live without it (and probably be happier).

If I didn't have these things, I'd probably volunteer more and maybe even teach part time.

Might not be a bad idea, come to think of it...