<story><title>The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard to Be Happy (2010)</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/21/the-age-of-absurdity-foley</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>karma_vaccum123</author><text>There is an entire industry dedicated to making you feel inadequate and unhappy: advertising. We are bombarded with messages telling us we are not good enough as we are, but certain products and services can make it so.&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t worry though, it will all be better once you sit down with your Bay Area Mercedes Benz dealer to talk about financing options on the fantastic new S series featuring blah blah blah.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nimbix</author><text>What you said has been repeated so many times everyone just accepts it as true. But if you look at the new age hippies, they&amp;#x27;re playing the same game, but having a better car is replaced by having a nicer 30 yr old van, or nicer dreadlocks, or being more spiritual, etc. People will always want to be better than other people; having that S class you mentioned is just one of the methods of achieving that. Advertising is just one of many sources which feed you ideas on how to demonstrate your higher value over fellow human beings.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard to Be Happy (2010)</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/21/the-age-of-absurdity-foley</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>karma_vaccum123</author><text>There is an entire industry dedicated to making you feel inadequate and unhappy: advertising. We are bombarded with messages telling us we are not good enough as we are, but certain products and services can make it so.&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t worry though, it will all be better once you sit down with your Bay Area Mercedes Benz dealer to talk about financing options on the fantastic new S series featuring blah blah blah.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>aianus</author><text>Until it becomes socially acceptable to bring a tax return and 401k statement on a first date, nice clothes and a nice car are going to remain the only way to demonstrate success to a stranger.</text></comment>