When meeting a person, our judgments become twisted and are no longer based on their personality or way of being. Instead we question if they have the latest gizmo or if they buy branded clothing. Our judgments are almost solely based on whether they can afford these items. Advertisers have cleverly introduced the latest trends as a way to set you apart from everyone else as higher society. By doing so, we as a society feel like we need what is advertised to us. We slave our lives working minimum wage jobs not just to survive, but to buy things as a form of being better than everyone in order to feel set apart from the rest of the nobodies.
Let’s face it. The truth is, you can’t buy happiness, you can’t buy love. You can’t buy the sun, the rain, or the moon. Everything we base our judgments on are a product of consumerist advertisers, convincing you to waste your money to get the illusion of happiness. Materialistic objects don’t define who we are. What we know, what we think, what we feel and the way we choose to live our lives: that says who we are. Ultimately, as Robert Louis Stevenson said, “But in our hands lies the power to choose – what we want most to be, we are.”
We as people no longer have control of our lives anymore. Smart phones, laptops, mp3 players, the latest outfits in fashion; there’s no getting away from this consumerist driven society anymore.
Originally from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, Jennifer Gonzalez ventured out of her hometown in high hopes of pursuing her passion of writing and storytelling. She is currently an undergraduate student majoring in journalism at San Jose State University.
The Bolt Magazine 