What you see is not necessarily what you "get"

There is a problem with the people today. There is a distinct belief that life is nothing more than consumption. There is nothing that define us other than what we buy, what we do and how we spend our time.

I was walking to the mall for lunch today and beyond the festive embellishments to liven the Lunar New Year mood, people constantly seemed obsessed with flashing their wealth on a day where luck and freshly minted cash is the name of the game. People were withdrawing money on a day where 80% of shops are closed and two ATM machines in two separate locations- one which is open and the other in a secluded spot- get totally separate receptions.

Status and consumptions have gone beyond mere brands but have been labeled, branded to "demonstrate" qualities such as "wealth" on daily and everyday actions. This means that our daily actions "signifies" wealth rather than actually signaling "wealth".

The important difference is that the latter attempts to tell everyone that "I am willing to spend", and the former signals "I am rich." The question is "so what!!"

This is simply materialism brought onto the next level- where buying is not necessary consumption but rather labeling oneself is consumption- this means that I define myself as rich regardless of whether "I am rich."

The last decade is define by large monograms of Louis Vuitton bags and flashy mobile phones to define and demonstrate one's wealth. This require a certain level of "real" wealth. Now apparently even paupers can be rich. This is because I am rich because I don't care that I have brands, but rather I have money in the account but I have no wish to spend it hence therefore I am rich. In order to allow to identify likewise, I would simply demonstrate wealth by "doing something" for free to conspicuously demonstrate my wealth. [ like withdrawing money on a day where the smell of freshly minted cash is in the air]

Go to any ATM machine on any afternoon today, and suddenly the ATMs are all jam packed. [ By the way, your account details are actually secret]

We either think spending $2000 on a LV bag was just a waste of money or think that it is worth the money because it makes us feel good, but now a LV people is simply for poor, dumb and "flashy" people. We just make sure everyone sees us that "we have money"- that's good enough.

We have begin to question whether $2000 is actually $2000 in real terms.

Crazy nut cases.