Mr. Fish Toon

[SheilaT]

4. ". . . ever expanding consumer class . . ."

really sums it up.

When I gave up having a TV nearly eight years ago, I intended it as an experiment. Three earlier times in my life I'd been without a TV, each time for several years, and for various different reasons went back. Now I don't think I ever will.

For one thing, I can watch a lot of things via the internet. For another, there's actually a lot more stuff worth watching than the average person has time for.

But mostly I love not seeing the commercials. When I do get to see them (if I turn on the TV in a hotel room, for instance, or at a friend's house) I'm astonished by the push to buy buy buy. No wonder so many people are in debt, and even those who make decent money assure us solemnly that it's not possible to save any money. It's because most people are very overtly brainwashed to believe they must have a new car, go on fabulous vacations, purchase the latest household appliance, repaint and redecorate their homes frequently, and so on.

A large part of why I'm able to live frugally and not feel very deprived is that I don't see all those blandishments to purchase the latest and best in everything.

Oh, and I likewise am not subject to the ads designed to convince me I have some obscure disease that I now need an expensive medication for.

Look, I know that there are people who really only have just enough to get buy, and there are those with genuine medical needs. But what's pushed on us via the popular media is criminal.