[historygirl]

In this world, everything revolves around money. Based on my own experience at this moment in time, I consider what is the best subject to take, the best degree to take, the work experience I need to get... All so I have opportunity to get a good job and a good wage, to get a good house, a good car and all the material possessions I want... So that I can get everything which I need in life.
I do not propose that people should be allowed to be lazy, merely that I wish life didn't have to be so filled with the depressing thought of Money; whether we have enough money. However, life is what it is. In the system we live in, money must be of the utmost concern and anything else, unforntunately, is but a utopian dream.
We must have money. But money is merely pieces of paper. Do we didn't have to be a slave to a paper God?
What do others think?

[Clip]

(Original post by historygirl)
In this world, everything revolves around money. Based on my own experience at this moment in time, I consider what is the best subject to take, the best degree to take, the work experience I need to get... All so I have opportunity to get a good job and a good wage, to get a good house, a good car and all the material possessions I want... So that I can get everything which I need in life.
I do not propose that people should be allowed to be lazy, merely that I wish life didn't have to be so filled with the depressing thought of Money; whether we have enough money. However, life is what it is. In the system we live in, money must be of the utmost concern and anything else, unforntunately, is but a utopian dream.
We must have money. But money is merely pieces of paper. Do we didn't have to be a slave to a paper God?
What do others think?

I think that you could not sound more pompous if you tried.

[limetang]

We're a slave to money in that we need it to purchase food and shelter. Everything else is optional. It all depends upon your priorities.

[Spaz Man]

In a way yes. People worship things when they devote their lives to it whether they realise it or not.

[Brevillemonkey]

Before the invention of money, people would've had to been able to produce some sort of goods or offer some sort of service to society, in order to trade said goods or services for other goods and services that were necessary to survival. Because of this, I think this 'problem' goes much deeper than being slaves to money.

[nicatre]

We're not a slave to it so to speak but money is just the modern way of measuring worth and ability to acquire resources. The worth point is of contention but that is not the point of this thread.

At any stage in biological or social evolution a species always has commodities with which they can exchange for others be it money, food, power etc. The most powerful one currently in our societies is money. We're not a slave to it but acquiring a substantial amount satisfies the need to acquire enough resources to live the life we desire.

[Aspiringlawstudent]

Money is the reward we attach to productivity. It's only natural that we are attracted to it.

[historygirl]

(Original post by Clip)
I think that you could not sound more pompous if you tried.

Sorry if that's the impression I have given you - it isn't what I intended and I wouldn't want you to feel that way. I just wanted to write my statement well, but perhaps I've been too rhetorical. I'm sorry.

[ThumbsUp]

some people are, and some people arent - applies to most situations i guess

[ossR]

In this world we need money to live. (obviously you get your one off anomalies where people can live without money ever, but could you imagine our whole society not having money? No medicine, no incentives to do anything etc).

So your question is basically on the same path as 'are we slaves to food?'

[Dubstep Prince]

We don't really have an alternative tbh

[lightburns]

If you want to look after lots of children, travel, or buy nice things or live in a nice house, you need to be able to afford it. In which case, you need to follow the money trail. It's not a bad thing that we revolve around money.

[theonefrombrum]

I hate the notion that money is the be all and end all in life, the main thing to aspire to. While it's obviously important and it's rightly neccesary, there's more to life than products and services. Sure, 4 grand will get you a nice holiday in New York, but if you're a lonely person with no romantic interests then that trip isn't going to be enjoyable at all and even if you think that it is, the experience shared with someone that you love will be so much better. I think when people place a lesser premium on money, they might realise how essentially it really is just paper, coins and figures on a screen which can get you nice things, but things which aren't wrote about as being great in many classic novels, sung about as being beautiful and just generally are better than money.

It honestly annoys me how attached some people are to money, it's like they don't realise that their excessive frugality and tightness is inadvartently admitting to the world that they believe that they don't have the skills or talents to make more money, so they cling desperately to the money that they do have. I've actually seen people flat out refuse to give a POUND to charity because 'times are tough', saying all this while dressed in a ****ing suit and eating a Greggs Sandwich like a true Brit.

[Rhadamanthus]

A society without money would not be a very productive (or lengthy) society.

[PicardianSocialist]

Nobody wants money for it's own sake. Like you said, people see at as a mean to an end. They want a car, a house or social status. I really don't see what's wrong with wanting material possessions, and even if I did I wouldn't claim the moral authority to condemn those who do, especially considering a great deal of them have less than I do. If you don't want to live your life in pursuit of wealth, don't.

[Nick100]

We are not slaves to money; we are slaves to our needs. Money is just a proxy for the stuff that satisfies our needs.

[Clip]

(Original post by theonefrombrum)
It honestly annoys me how attached some people are to money, it's like they don't realise that their excessive frugality and tightness is inadvartently admitting to the world that they believe that they don't have the skills or talents to make more money, so they cling desperately to the money that they do have. I've actually seen people flat out refuse to give a POUND to charity because 'times are tough', saying all this while dressed in a ****ing suit and eating a Greggs Sandwich like a true Brit.

Non-consensual giving to charity would be either taxation or theft. Why should anyone give money that they don't wish to?

Wearing a suit and eating a Greggs sandwich will do more for the common good than putting money in the collection tin of some cheesy charity. How can there possibly be shame in having a job and buying goods from a legitimate business?

[theonefrombrum]

(Original post by Clip)
Non-consensual giving to charity would be either taxation or theft. Why should anyone give money that they don't wish to?

Wearing a suit and eating a Greggs sandwich will do more for the common good than putting money in the collection tin of some cheesy charity. How can there possibly be shame in having a job and buying goods from a legitimate business?

Mhmmm, good, puzzling question that you've just posed to me there. Give me time, it might take me a while to figure out why a person would give money to a charity which hardly gets any funding from the Government and exists to try and help disadvantaged people out there. Or have i already answered that ridiculous question without outwardly stating what i feel?

Seriously, if you honestly think that wearing a suit does more for the common good than donating to charity, then you have me convinced that you're so idiotic that you will never be in a job where you'll require a suit, so you wont be helping 'the common good' (?) any time soon. I never mentioned or even slightly insinuated that buying goods from a legitimate business was wrong, i was making the point that people wax lyrical about how times are tight when clearly they've got a pound to spare to help someone out. If everyone gave just a pound a month to a worthy charity, it would raise millions but either people are too damn tight, too selfish or just use the pathetic and ignorant excuse of 'my pound wont change anything, i'll just leave it to other people to sort these problems out' and that unfortunate cycle of thinking continues.

[cgraham15]

I work to live, so I'm a slave to life :-)

[Sternumator]

(Original post by historygirl)
In this world, everything revolves around money. Based on my own experience at this moment in time, I consider what is the best subject to take, the best degree to take, the work experience I need to get... All so I have opportunity to get a good job and a good wage, to get a good house, a good car and all the material possessions I want... So that I can get everything which I need in life.
I do not propose that people should be allowed to be lazy, merely that I wish life didn't have to be so filled with the depressing thought of Money; whether we have enough money. However, life is what it is. In the system we live in, money must be of the utmost concern and anything else, unforntunately, is but a utopian dream.
We must have money. But money is merely pieces of paper. Do we didn't have to be a slave to a paper God?
What do others think?

Money is not just a piece of paper, it is a claim to resources. As someone else said, before money the problem would remain but with a barter system. The real problem is the old economic problem, there are limited resources and unlimited wants. It isn't a problem with the system it is a problem with the world. You say your decisions are based on how you are going to get money to pay for the things you need but the things you need don't come from nowhere they have to be produced and that means you have to work for them. Having to work for your things is the same as a lion has to go out and hunt for its food. The lion might prefer to laze around in the sun but it has no choice but to hunt, whether that makes him a slave or not I don't know but he doesnt use money and faces the exact same problem.