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You should. It's your duty, as a citizen of any country run by capitalism, to be afraid of something. It's your duty, as a citizen of a capitalist country, to let yourself drown in fear. Fear of aging, fear of bacteria, fear of dying in a car accident. Fear of being left out, fear of not being attractive, fear of loneliness. You have to be afraid of something for the system to work. Otherwise, how would you think corporations would be able to sell you so much stuff?
And not only you have to be afraid for the system to work, you must also voluntarily let companies scare you about something so they can sell you a solution to your newly found problem. Just ask yourself: "Why am I buying this moisturizing lotion?" Does my skin really need another goddamned artificial product costing $10.99? What will happen, really, if I'm not buying it? Will my skin peel off my body, all of a sudden? Will I turn into some kind of horrible monster that will scare the neighbors' child? Why am I really buying this, exactly?
Fear. We're buying all these things out of fear. It could be any fear. Take your pick, really. We're buying anti-aging lotions because we're scared of looking old. We're buying branded clothing because we're afraid of being labeled a poor schmuck by wearing non-branded stuff. We're buying healthy crap-tasting food because we're afraid of gaining 5 pounds. We're buying extended warranty plans because, well, we never know! And boy are we afraid of this! Never knowing what could happen. Probably the most feared thing on this planet, beside fear of God.
Aren't we tired of being afraid like that? This scary habit (pun intended) of being afraid of all sort of things is a literal goldmine of opportunities for companies who would like to empty your wallets (is there any other goal to a company?). There is literally a limit on how much stuff you really need in life, so companies, to stay afloat needs to do two things:
- Build cheaper goods of lesser quality (if every product was built like a tank, everyone would buy one and then companies would go bankrupt because no one will buy another one since their unit is working so well); and
- Create new, artificial needs, so they can sell you their own solution to fulfill this need.
The later part is where fear is everything. It's about what we don't need to have. It's about what we only want, but think we need. We're all confused about this because we've been told so many times that we NEED it. People are hired by companies to make you want their products. They're called "marketing specialists" and their goal is to make you give your money to their boss... By using fear...
By playing on different levels of fear, companies are making you buy their products. For example, by showing you scary images of some bugs, they can easily incite people to buy an anti-bacteria lotion or soap. Imagine if these ugly critters were about to ruin your perfect health! "Oh my God! Quick, I need some anti-bacteria stuff! I must sterilize everything!" Don't ever mention that we actually NEED bacteria to strengthen our immune system! That could make you think twice about buying a product and our society surely don't want that!
Fear. The system has to make us afraid of something to turn everyone of us into endless consumers. We all have to think that life is short, that we'll miss out on a life-changing experience if we don't buy this DVD or this fabulous, top-rated, one-of-a-kind videogame. We have to fear about missing out on something great if we don't buy that new PC graphic card. Fear, fear, fear.
You know what? I'm tired of being afraid. I'm tired of being considered as an simple-minded consumer, willing to buy anything if convinced strong enough by using a proper marketing plan. If we add together all marketing budgets of all american companies, we would see that every year, roughly $2,000 is spent per household, only in advertising. That's a lot of money to make you spend yours, isn't it? I'm tired of this. I'm tired of being considered an "investment". I'm tired of being considered a "target consumer". I'm tired of playing that fear game.
I'm stronger than this. And so should you. How about changing our mindset a bit? How about some sane, anti-commercial, "So what" attitude? I'm getting old? So what? Everyone does! It's normal! I haven't seen the last hot flick in the theaters? So what? Will I die because of this? I don't think so.
So please people, please, make this system collapse. Start becoming a pain in the ass of corporate suits everywhere, by saying to them that they're not reaching to you. Stop doubting, stop fearing, and start saying "So what?" a lot more to those lying corporate marketing hypocrites businessmen.
This article sucks? So what?
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