LIKE YOURSELF. AND WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, LOVE YOURSELF

LIKE YOURSELF. AND WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, LOVE YOURSELF

Because in a capitalist system, it also becomes economical to feed into everyone’s insecurities, their vices and vulnerabilities, to promote their worst fears and constantly remind them of their shortcomings and failures. It becomes profitable to set new and unrealistic standards, to generate a culture of comparison and inferiority. Because people who constantly feel inferior make the best customers.

After all, people only buy something if they believe it will solve a problem. Therefore, if you want to sell more stuff than there are problems, you have to encourage people to believe there are problems where there are none.

This isn’t an attack on capitalism. It’s not even an attack on marketing. I don’t think there’s some big overarching conspiracy to keep the “sheeple” in line. I think the system simply creates certain incentives that shape media, and then the media go on to shape a callous and superficial culture based on trying to always live up to something. (Mark Manson)