Dec 15, 2008

The world is a sad place sometimes: Must see - Kids and Money


That's the beef I have with society. Just when I think there is hope for human kind, in comes a documentary and fucks the idea over. HBO is currently showing a new documentary called Kids + Money. Please, for the love of Buddha, watch it.

They examine the effects of money and high society in kids. Disturbing is not a word to describe it. Maybe SAD. Yes, sad. You see, there are some people out there who live to show off how well they are. Instead of trying to be just normal good human beings, they insist on teaching their children that if you have money and you show it, then you are bound to be accepted. Three motherfucking thousand dollars for a book bag - FOR SCHOOL? Are you kidding me? Do you really need a $200 jean to go to school just to be cool? I really, really don't get it.

Money is the root of all evil, someone said, and I agree. The finer things in life should be revised, in my opinion. The thing is, there is a fine line between enjoying expensive things and actually living and working so that you can prove by the things you own that you belong in society. Makes me very sad to see 12 year olds - yup, I said twelve - worrying about if their mom can afford a certain shoe, bag, toy... just for them to make their friends think they are worthy.

Whatever happened to teaching your kids that you have to work for what you want? That money doesn't grow on trees, that mommy and daddy bust their balls so they can have their Xbox games and other stupid stuff? Jesus. The thing is, advertising is NOT helping at all. The more aspirational we can work our ads, the more kids think that this is the norm. I've been asked to put wealthy looking people in cigarette ads because they think that people will smoke them to seem more classy. Huh? And the thing is, I give in, not really thinking of what trickles down to young, naive people.

TV shows are not helping either. I used to watch when I was in college a show called Rich Girls. Not because I was interested in how those two teenagers lived, just because I was astonished at the way they were being raised. Their respective parents gave them all they wanted, just because. Ten THOUSAND dollar shopping sprees? Done. A trip to Paris to buy a dress for prom? No problem.

Dammit, in two weeks I am traveling to Paris and I have busted my balls so that I can afford it. It has meant that I have had to work long hours, weekends and have saved up so that I can have the privilege of walking the streets there for only a week. And these kids just ask, it's done.

If you can, try to catch it. I think it's important because we can see where this generation is going and we have a chance to correct it. We must, as future or current fathers and mothers teach our kids that in order to "live the good life" you gotta work for it. Hard. And also, we have to instill that owning some stupid Coach bag doesn't make you a better, cooler, interesting, classy human being. It just makes you a person who bought an expensive item. Simple.

(Image borrowed via HBO documentaries.com)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

SO true. I think the current economy isn't just the government's fault - a lot of the blame should go squarely on our "hey, debt is OK, it's natural" and "ooh, shiny car and big house" financial philosophy.

I've had my financial difficulties, but my wife and I are committed to making smart and practical decisions. (Of course, with twins on the way, we pretty much have to.)

We plan on teaching our kids the value of a dollar, which is something that a lot of kids featured on TV have no clue about.

Money and material things are nice, for sure. But they pale in comparison to love, family and friendship - and those are the things that make people truly happy.

Anonymous said...

True. It's sad to see these rich kids flaunting their branded appearance, expensive cars and exotic holidays. Their innocence wears off fast like their parents' love of them.
Their divine faces and innocent childhood of these kids which religions have been harping on for centuries..was sold off in some exchange program by their parents. They bought celebrity sex and orgies in return. (In my country they bought item numbers also)

All that said, I guess we're just making it worse by telling people why they should buy what they don't need (because it's so cool).
We're all responsible for making this world UBER COOL.

FoundationArt said...

Yes, I totally agree!

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