[Snagprophet]

We're a slave to resources and trading. We always have been. All that's changed is there's no need for everyone to be a farmer any more. Growing wheat and making bread to sell or trade for money or other resources is normal.

[KillForOreos]

No I don't think we are. Like most people have said, we use money to get our material possessions, to get food, to buy a house that we are attracted to and so on. We could do what some people choose to do and live freely without the use of money by getting our food from skips and leftovers etc, make our own clothes. But materials run out and to produce goods, money is needed.

It's what we want - materials, not the money.

[321zero]

(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?

If you can independently try and stop yourself being such a 'consumer' and do things for the love of doing them and not because there is a financial incentive, then great.

In working life, IMO, an awful lot of people have to take jobs that they hate or they are unable to have any kind of creative or individual input with, as they have responsibilities such as kids and bills to pay. I don't think this is being a slave to money (for obvious reasons).

However, I think aspiring for a certain career purely because of the big bucks, even though it will have a negative effect on your quality of life, is a real shame.

If we are slaves to money then I think an awful lot of blame falls at the feet of marketing experts, advertisers and some areas of the media. On the other hand, no one makes us buy designer clothes or the latest Apple product.

[321zero]

(Original post by theonefrombrum)
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.

Just to second this, with the current economic climate, charities have taken an absolute beating. Barnardo's for instance, give roughly 95% of their raised funds directly to helping children - a brilliant cause if there ever was one. Their budget has been cut by £7M due to the reduction in government funding. The odd small donation to a charity is so so important.

[uwotm8?]

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

i think he sounds very philosophical and thoughtful, desirable traits imo. u sound like a **** though.

[Ex Death]

The Queen promises us that we are not slaves to money. It is important that we all sell our souls to a corporation so that we can get a job doing something we hate for 50 hours a week for the next 50 years of our lives so that we can live a "successful" lifestyle. It is important that we pretentiously throw around our job title to people we meet so that they will think highly of us. In the limited free time we will then have, we can become mindless consumer drones so that we can buy lots of pointless items that we don't need because this is conducive to happiness. After all, it is important that we make big contributions to the national economy because a bunch of economists from 200 years ago decided that economic growth is the best indicator of human happiness and wellbeing. Even though constant, perpetual economic growth will lead to the eventual destruction of the planet and the human species, it is important we remain apathetic and withhold all the outdated institutions of social control which keep us docile and stupid eg. the mainstream media. Welcome to the matrix. The queen loves you. Carry on and have a wonderful day.

[Tahooper]

No, my money is a slave to me (in that it rarely leaves the house).

[321zero]

(Original post by Ex Death)
The Queen promises us that we are not slaves to money. It is important that we all sell our souls to a corporation so that we can get a job doing something we hate for 50 hours a week for the next 50 years of our lives so that we can live a "successful" lifestyle. It is important that we pretentiously throw around our job title to people we meet so that they will think highly of us. In the limited free time we will then have, we can become mindless consumer drones so that we can buy lots of pointless items that we don't need because this is conducive to happiness. After all, it is important that we make big contributions to the national economy because a bunch of economists from 200 years ago decided that economic growth is the best indicator of human happiness and wellbeing. Even though constant, perpetual economic growth will lead to the eventual destruction of the planet and the human species, it is important we remain apathetic and withhold all the outdated institutions of social control which keep us docile and stupid eg. the mainstream media. Welcome to the matrix. The queen loves you. Carry on and have a wonderful day.

Point beautifully made.

[historygirl]

(Original post by uwotm8?)
i think he sounds very philosophical and thoughtful, desirable traits imo. u sound like a **** though.

Thank you for the complement (Though I think you meant ''she'' instead of ''he'' as I'm female. But it's probably just a typo. I think you may be right about that person who said I sounded ''pompous''. I've said sorry but no reply, so...

[historygirl]

(Original post by Ex Death)
The Queen promises us that we are not slaves to money. It is important that we all sell our souls to a corporation so that we can get a job doing something we hate for 50 hours a week for the next 50 years of our lives so that we can live a "successful" lifestyle. It is important that we pretentiously throw around our job title to people we meet so that they will think highly of us. In the limited free time we will then have, we can become mindless consumer drones so that we can buy lots of pointless items that we don't need because this is conducive to happiness. After all, it is important that we make big contributions to the national economy because a bunch of economists from 200 years ago decided that economic growth is the best indicator of human happiness and wellbeing. Even though constant, perpetual economic growth will lead to the eventual destruction of the planet and the human species, it is important we remain apathetic and withhold all the outdated institutions of social control which keep us docile and stupid eg. the mainstream media. Welcome to the matrix. The queen loves you. Carry on and have a wonderful day.

This is just the sort of thingI was talking about. My mother works for HSBC which, though a regular job and better than many others, is really a very mundane place and when I reflect on my work experience there, you really see that it's all just bits of paper which determines people's lives and which drives them. Some of them anyway.
In terms of possible university places, I was considering doing something like finance or economics because the prospects of getting a well paid job are better dince the finance sector is the bigest in this country. But it's not the degree I want. I'd only do it for the money and that's just it. There's too much belief in money being the only thing in life. Of course, as others have said, it is a nessessity but it can't buy happiness.

[historygirl]

Whoops, repeated message

[stellardesigf]

So how do we trade goods and services?

The OP should consider this before her hippy rants.

[Classical Liberal]

Dumb OP hippy does not understand what money does and where it comes from.

[SpiggyTopes]

I don't know. But I do know we're slaves to the rhythm...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSa5EvWqB7g

[Bill_Gates]

theres alot of negativity in this thread. You will always have people trying to deny the system as they find the cave they live in comfortable. Yes we are slaves to money but thats what human nature is. Our masters know us well.

[Bill_Gates]

(Original post by Classical Liberal)
Dumb OP hippy does not understand what money does and where it comes from.

I always thought hippys were liberals? classical liberal..........

[Classical Liberal]

(Original post by Bill_Gates)
I always thought hippys were liberals? classical liberal..........

Hippies are commies not liberals.

[Bill_Gates]

(Original post by Classical Liberal)
Hippies are commies not liberals.

i never knew hippies wanted to be controlled by the government LOL

[Classical Liberal]

(Original post by Bill_Gates)
i never knew hippies wanted to be controlled by the government LOL

Commies arn't socialists.

[AdvanceAndVanquish]

(Original post by Bill_Gates)
I always thought hippys were liberals? classical liberal..........

1960s liberal =/= classical liberal. that's pretty basic