Ever notice how nobody "supports" materialism?......

everyone says "it's bad to want to have items and possessions", but many people come out in support of non-materialism...yet these same people are usually the biggest proponents of materialism, in their daily life

Materialism is the breeding ground of liberalism.

Materialism is to liberal is Sin is to Christian.

They all repent in their own way.

All based on ego.

And in most cases, pathetically wrong.

But at least you feel like a good person......

I support my own materialism.

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liberals have a love/hate relationship with materialism...

they love it, yet must pretend to hate it......ah, the internal conflict.

just set yourself free.

I have at least 2 friends who DO support materialism and who am I to say they are wrong ? I could probably retire right now if I was to live in a cabin somewhere but I don't, I keep working everyday because I need to support a lifestyle that my great grandfather could not even imagine.

I don't consider myself a materialist, though, because it doesn't line up with my views of the world.

"a desire for wealth and material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual matters"

When my son was born, one of those materialists said "I bet you would sell him for a billions dollars if you could.". I said I wouldn't. He looked at me in a bewildered way. I had pitied him.

No.

http://www.myfootprint.org/

I fucking love stuff. If i ever get to a point where I have too much stuff, then id still get as much as i could so i can give it to someone else.

i love it also
it takes up a large amount of my thoughs and life but i also take alot of intrest in spiritual matters

as if 90% of the people on here arent materialistic, you are all ebay whores

The materialism I favour (and the actual meaning of the word) is non-theism.

Materialism is pretty much just a failure to really understand the mechanics of capitalism. Objects and possessions aren't meaningless, they inform and represent status and social standing within a capitalist societal structure. People who refer to this as "materialistic" fail to grasp why those things are important to people. It isn't the object, it's what they represent, just like buying a jar of Fair Trade coffee and thinking you're Mahatma fucking Gandhi.

That's my cod-Barthesian view of it, anyway. And I have never used eBay.

Indeed Ophi, this is why luft fails to understand how one can object to materialism whilst owning possesions. Although, strictly speaking, ownership of possesions (and the act of transfering ownership or being in a position to transfer) can give status in non-capitalistic societies too.

The mere owning of possesions doesn't make one materialist, to be a materialist, one has to place the collecting of material goods - in a way that disconnects the objects from their affiliated non-tangible social values - as an important life goal.

Of course, one could argue that the act of expenditure itself carries associated social values, and you would be right, however, these are incidental, not always regular or posistive (the status of the person buying can effect the view society places upon the act of buying), not always intentional and aren't as strictly attached as values are to objects.

That's not quite what I meant. I meant that materialism is a widely misused, as the only meaningful way that it can be applied within a system that is based on the acquisition of objects based on a perceived added value beyond the value of the object itself is towards obsessive collecting (OCD, that kinda thing) or object fetishisation. In any other circumstance, the person is buying more than the object.

perceived added value doesn't have to be social. it can be aesthetic. any object that is simply pleasing is pleasing according to an aesthetic. in most cases an aesthetic DOES have some basis in social value, but not always. pleasure isn't that easy to pin down.

I'm confused, that's precisely what I took you to mean. Was my post not clear enough?

capitalists societies dont exist all current societal structures?
are merely the capitalization on the people from the real and only true capitalists
but moving on!
im kinda materialistic
thawngterialistic and instruments and i am kinda in support of non materialism
and kinda minimalism in most ways
but at the same time its not for me to saymy preferences are any more valid than someone elses
so whateva
but musicall instruments and thawngz ARE but i wont say it!

I agree, sort of. I imagine the vast majority of people are materialistic to some extent; some obviously more than others. Some people will go to the extreme of owning 200 handbags. Others might simple furnish their home well. They are both more or less the same thing. It's like how Ophiel Ophiuci put it: it's not the object that matters; it what the object represents, how an individual can be perceived on the basis of possessing that object (or collection of objects).

I saw this article on BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4790079.stm
It's fairly standard "OMG I'M SHOE-ADDICTED" female blethering but the comments at the bottom are slightly more interesting. A couple of people leave messages blasting the woman for neglecting the troubles of the rest of the world and instead focussing on her shoe 'addiction', where others come back defending her. I thought it might be a brief and interesting read on the subject.

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Deux hommes font une promenade amicale. L'un des deux porte un parapluie à son bras.
Il se met à pleuvoir. L'homme n'ouvre pas son parapluie et l'autre lui demande pourquoi.
- Parce que ça ne servirait à rien, lui répond son ami. Il est plein de trous.
- Alors, pourquoi l'as-tu pris?
- Parce que je ne pensais pas qu'il pleuvrait.

Nah.

Two faced materialism cuts across party lines and liberal v. conservative labels. Look no further than the Reverend Falwell's limo and lifestyle for proof on this. Uber-right wing christians are just as guilty of materialism as anyone else. Who is the least cynical about it might be apropos; liberal bashing is just asinine, in view of facts.

Beside, the premise is flawed: the bumper sticker 'he who dies with the most toys wins' is de facto support of materialism.

A word to the wise: lufty (ever notice how close that is to lefty?) is like a kid pressing the traffic lights to see the cars stop. Best left alone.

nobody is talking about renverand falwell or about right-wing christians.... i made a statement about liberals, that is uncontestable.

that bumper sticker would appear to be.... however, that bumper sticker is sarchastic as well....

haha.....

yet, nobody has ever been able to leave me "left alone"..... interesting, hmm?