Feeling unprepped and inadequate

[Skean Dhude]

(9 September 2012, 12:12)HunterNurturer Wrote:

(8 September 2012, 18:24)Skean Dhude Wrote: Sorry. I think we may have to agree to disagree here. I have never been envious of others. Trying to better yourself is a capitalist trait. Envy is a very negative trait.

I'm happy to agree to disagree, but let me just throw something else out there

Everything you own, you bought because you have seen or heard of somebody else who owns it, and upon learning about what that other person has you decided you need or want it.
Is that not envy in disguise?
The "drive to better oneself" and "envy" go hand in hand. It's the old "keeping up with the Jones's", you may look at it as bettering yourself, but it's really just putting yourself in a position that you don't have to be envious.
After all, if you were born in Papa New Guinea you wouldn't have a mattress or TV or generator. What we want or feel we need is entirely influenced by the people around us, and the desire to have what they have (envy) goes hand in hand with the drive to better yourself.

If you've ever bought a lottery ticket, you've been envious. If you own a TV, you've been envious. If you own an ipod/iphone/blackberry you've been envious. If you've ever been sucked in by advertising that's designed to make you envious - you're normal. Because envy is normal, healthy and necessary for a capitalist society to grow.

In fact, I'd say that villifying envy is a socialist trait - to keep people in their place and stop them from wanting more.
In a capitalist society we should embrace envy, because it propells us forward and gives us incentive to work harder and achieve more.

I know what you are saying but when I buy something it is because I want it for something. I don't have an expensive car although I could afored one because I buy what I need. I have no interest in what anyone else has and in fact if someone has something I like I don't feel envy at all I just think lucky sod. To me Envy is a negative emotion.