What is wrong with conspicuous consumption?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting my popcorn...

+1 LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s tacky! DCUM’s favorite pejorative.

No. "Low class"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another poster said it right. It exposes the conspicuous person to a lot of envy, it comes across as greedy, and it can make people less advantaged feel less than. See: Versailles. That is just one example, history is replete with them.

That being said, consumption in of itself is not a bad thing. You should spend reasonably for yourself, your friend and family, the poor. Hoarding wealth is sad - you can't bury yourself in gold. An obviously, its bad for society.

So true. I actually find it gross when people are so tight-fisted with their money. That's just my opinion, and from what I've seen on this board, that's a lot of ya'll.

PP here- I'm glad you agree. I once posted on this board about how much people give to charity, and the number of people screaming it was pointless was horrifying. Notably, they also didn't offer alternatives to charity that would be equivalent to helping their community. Quite a number kept screaming that their taxes were charity. These same people also didn't mention helping family or friends. I was pretty horrified. I don't advocate being wasteful, but c'mon people. Its just so sad. I got the impression that these people were terrified of dying in a poorhouse, and that they had million.

If you're wealthy, the less you give away your money over the years, the more twisted and deranged you can become. That was my takeaway from that post thread, and that is why when it comes to money, I take the advice of this particular board with a BIG grain of salt.

Another thought on the conspicuous consumption part - it is less terrible if you are very charitable. Then it feels like it evens things out a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Conspicuous consumption bothers me for two reasons. One, it displays values that places material possessions above people and relationships. Two, every material item takes a toll on the environment. The more things you have (that will eventually end up in a landfill), the faster we deplete our planet of valuable resources and natural beauty.

This exactly. I have a friend who buys things CONSTANTLY. She is always getting Amazon boxes, showing up with new stuff, buying cheap stuff from Marshall's. Her house is covered in "decor" and she is always bringing gifts to people and wearing the "latest" fashions. I've never seen her in the same thing twice. I wonder on one hand, how she feels about people who don't spend all this time/money on making their house and lives look perfectly staged - she clearly thinks this is very important as she spends a lot of time and money on it. But mostly I just think about all the waste.