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you don't need consumerism or mass media to be happy
(slrpnk.net)
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this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024
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I don't disagree, just a quite reminder that not everyone can afford this. The meme doesn't say it but it gives "money doesn't buy happiness" vibes and while this isn't false, a certain amount of money is required for this.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the picture, but I thought that's why they were called luxuries - because not everyone gets to have them. Though they aren't what we usually associate with a luxurious lifestyle.
E: just to be clear, everyone should have them, but many are too occupied with the daily battle for survival.
Yes, I read it the same way, that's why I said that I don't disagree. Still there is this other reading I wanted to "debunk"
Re-reading your comment I see that I must have meant to reply to someone else. I apologise, my social media timer sometimes makes me hasty.
How much money does one need for a long walk and listening to birds?
Time is money. If you work 2 jobs to provide for your kids alone, good luck finding the time and headspace to not worry about anything.
Parks and forests aren't evenly distributed. Not everyone can afford living near one or going there.
In capitalism, one must first pay for basic necessities like food and shelter before anything else. For some people who make low wages this requires an amount of time and effort that interferes with their leisure time.
That said, there are also some people who think they are in this category when in reality their stress is due to self-imposed standards of living that are higher than necessary. Or anxiety and other psychological problems that could be addressed through non-material strategies.
also encouraged and exacerbated by capitalism (the former - to create the illusion of a "middle class" for people to aspire to and vote against their own actual material conditions, the latter - by commodifying health care and pathologizing anything that harms "productivity")
How much money does one need to not have to choose between spending their evenings on a long walk listening to birds vs delivering pizzas as a third job to avoid eviction?
Roughly $75,000+ a year to live comfortably as a single person in the US. Depending on location.
Do you answer all rhetorical questions? Is that your thing?
Yes.
Thanks for clarification! I wasn't sure
Yeah this is lowkey a boogie meme - the majority of people don't live in a work situation that allows for day naps!
How do we call something that the majority of people can't afford ?
A luxury
We call it expensive, which is a subtlety that the title of this meme poopooing on "consumerism" is missing out on.
Hence, a boogie meme. Those of us down here in the dirt don't have time for these luxuries; we consume imitations.