consumerism is a biaaatch. grrr

I can’t for the life of me figure out how ebay works. I just cannot. It looks very appealing however. Those who buy these fancy accessories chains, lockets, earrings, belts bags you-name-it-girly-stuff are usually all "this is from ebay and that is from ebay". And the rest are all "oooohh niiice" and pour on all of it and so on. Of course, all the trinkets look really nice. Very girly, fancy, chic, vibrant you name the adjective and it is that. 

I too, thanks to innovative multiuser logins, whatsapp, and the technological miracles of modern times (without which we seemingly cant live without) tried out this ebay business just to see what kind of thrill it offers the consumer..aka me.

Marketing haven it is. Typical “Daddy see. Daddy like” scenario. You see it, you want it.  The beautiful colors and the slim models portraying the auctioned items, the feeling that “my friend has it so I want it too, cuz it looked good on her and it’ll probably look good on me (which in actually fact, it might not)”, the “oh cheap stuff” factor are all part of the process of the need to buy demon taking control over you.

Apart from this unseen demon that takes over you, we also have the more physical, deadlier-from-a-mile, approach-with-caution, avoid-at-all-possibility, random local aunty. *shudder shudder* who goes all “anneeeee darling, did you see? X store had a sale ne, my daughter in law bought that and this for such and such a price. She is so over the moon. You should totally go and buy.” *face freaking palm*

Some would even go to the excuse of saying “athe sathe thiyena welawata witharane” *shakes head in disapproval cuz even I say that shit* 

The recent valentine’s whoo haa experienced a massive consumerism drive as well. “buy this, buy that,  your sweetheart wont love you enough unless you buy this for him/her at 14 discount” etc etc. Rather overarted and commercialized activity.

No one, not one person said two hoots about World Water Day when it was only 3 days after that infernal valentine’s. Not a single bill board in any of the stores saying "save water, without that shit, you aint even here"  Water being the one link that BINDS ALL FORMS OF LIFE TO LIFE is ignored and over looked. Irony at its best for all you hypocritical folk. 

Consumerism in definition is the social and economic order which encourages the purchase of goods and services in ever greater amounts and in excess of our needs. No it’s not just you. There is a an actual word that defines the force that drives the shopaholic into doing what they do. If consumerism is the weapon, advertising is the armed assailant.

All the sign boards iv ever walked into, all the leaflets that have been thrust at my face, all the giaganourmous billboards that cover the scenic view that our precious dainty island has so lovingly bestowed upon us have always wanted me to buy something. Anything. From the luxury maruti to the rin washing powder and so on. 

My question is, do we really need it all? Think about it, would you turn yellow without that nice pair of shoes or die without that patta new galaxy S 3 in comparison to the galaxy 2 in your hand? I hardly think so.

They offer you a whole load of deals but do you really  need it? Or are you just buying it for the sake of buying it. We are all entitled to a lot of things. The right to buy what we want is one such.

Do you not think for one minute that all the yahoo you buy is made out of the earth’s very limited and very valuable resources?  Earth is being stripped down and processed to meet the ever increasing demand for new and better things. Hence the deforestation, pollution et al. ( But of course, some of us more or less think that the sun revolves around them instead of earth and i might as well be talking to the wall)

Consumerism is good. In a way. Jobs are created leading to an increased income which over all increases the happiness feeling. WHY again? Because we end up buying more stuff with the money we earn so that we can buy so that we can consume more so that we produce more and the cycle is infinite.

And that my dear reader is the sad truth about consumerism. So you decide. Ask yourself the question "do i really need this?" 

Writer’s note; References to the feminine desire to buy is emphasized in this article. However it does not mean in anyway that only women are victims of consumerism. Men are too. 

p..s also note that the use of the word shit is excessive in my writing. 

For those who thought the article was about ebay, the following note

Quite easy. (Atleast for the average technology-unchallenged-shopper. I on the other hand being the technology tard I am, couldn’t figure out which is which and almost ended up purchasing one Apple laptop worth oh some how many millions rupees. How was i supposed to know that the “click me” button was reserved for the actual  “buyer” )

Those who are regular ebay shoppers say that it is quite cheap. A nice sweater chain would be less than one dollar which is something like 125 ish LKR (one tends to pay more attention to the exchange rate when one deals with online shopping) And usually the stuff gets delivered and not  get lost at sea or whatever. I was advised to focus only on the “free shipping deals too” (in order to refrain from getting a coronary when the payment is made)