3 ms·

51% "only way I could afford it". "safe way to pay for things she couldn’t afford with her part-time job." There's something amiss in the way the subjects of t

51% "only way I could afford it". "safe way to pay for things she couldn’t afford with her part-time job." There's something amiss in the way the subjects of the story use arithmetic and time. I sort of doubt people are more credulous or innocent now vs past times. Wish we had insight as to what the popular perception of affluence was in generations past, because it does seem easy to be surrounded by "everybody seems to have everything" imagery in the current world. But if you can't afford something, you can't afford it. Borrowing makes it sorta worse, because creditors can screw you in ways that lacking some items won't.

raydiatian 4y ago
> it does seem easy to be surrounded by "everybody seems to have everything" imagery > But if you can't afford something, you can't afford it. Man this just strikes so hard at the heart of why America is broken. I think it gets seeded in elementary school and is enflamed by high school. Parents leave their kids in front of TVs so that the parents can get some prolonged free time, the TV which corrupts the kid into a tiny consumer, and by high school haven’t-ism is associated with failure. Everybody wants the advertised trappings and distractions of success with none of the education, experience, and journey. The irony is that the real value that the “successful” have is stoicism, optimism, and work ethic. The only time I ever found any of those lessons on TV as a kid was fucking Veggie Tales.