Pretentious expenditures in modern society.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with looking nice, having expensive jewelry, having a new and expensive sports car, and/or having big houses with movie theaters surrounded by beautiful people. What is out of touch however is believing these things are needed and — in some extremely delusional cases — standard to “success”. Success is achieving a goal that is relevant to a person’s individual spectrum of capability and purpose. One’s purpose is an individual journey that no one else has the right to judge other than the person experiencing it. Somehow our global culture has convoluted the concept of success even more with the advent of the internet because of the drug that severely alters one’s behavior: attention. Attention is the leading cause of this plight affecting the modern world as everyone feels like they need to compete with strangers for the most luxurious life. If observed closely you can see it in music fans’ eyes that when admiration goes too far it turns into wanting what they are praising. This gets very complex over time because all of us are not meant to attain notoriety, but the human brain in this era tells itself that if someone can do it, so can they. This concept is not wrong by any means. Unfortunately, for most, this concept will stay conceptual as most aren’t willing to be dedicated enough to achieve what they dream about. Therein lies the complex nature of extreme admiration. Extreme admiration leads directly to pretentious expenditures that lead people to spend outside what they have the possibility of making. These unnecessary expenditures in the modern world are all fueled by envious thoughts and actions, and detachment from past historical events where we as people were simply fighting to survive not that long ago. The pretentious execution of the “good life” for everyone to see is far removed from the family 80 years ago that just wished for a roof over their head, healthy children, and a steady income to concede things to be very good. I personally think that abnormally unique individuals such as Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Paris Hilton, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Lionel Richie, and Jeff Bezos (to name a few) that forever changed the modern world’s definition of what was financially possible sent the world into a frenzy of envy. As a result, it is now common for the average consumer to want to live up to individuals that changed history in their field as well as financially. This common misstep by the consumer has led to steep personal financial crashes in average households — not because of lack of wages but because of a lack of uncommon sense. This lack of uncommon sense has led to the demise of what a “celebrity” is defined as. When the crowd decided that they are deserving of the same lifestyle as the outliers, society will enter into a phase of dysfunction that cannot be rectified with logic. As time goes by and people, in general, go further into debt to compete with a lifestyle that was never theirs, they will lose ownership of their life in the process as overspending one’s income without a purpose will always end with no purpose.