How much money do you need to be happy?

JayScottGreenspan

silvercar wrote: »

It means that whenever someone like you looks at my car and thinks "how shallow!" I can think back "How shallow are you to judge me on my number plate."

Completely pointless in other words.

Wouldn't it make the world a better place if you could go back in time and tell your relative to give the money to a charity that saves people from going blind of preventable conditions in the third world?

bendix

Jayscott, do you get any satisfaction about feeling superior to these people, by any chance? I'm curious.

You remind me of the Christian missionaries, trying to save the uneducated natives. They were patronising too, yet oh so full of good intentions (by their own standards)

JayScottGreenspan

bendix wrote: »

Do you get any satisfaction about feeling superior to these people, by any chance? I'm curious.

No. People who get satisfaction from felling superior to others tend to buy flash motors and drive around with the top down.

Whatever works for them... but true happiness does not lie down that path.

JayScottGreenspan

bendix wrote: »

Jayscott, do you get any satisfaction about feeling superior to these people, by any chance? I'm curious.

You remind me of the Christian missionaries, trying to save the uneducated natives. They were patronising too, yet oh so full of good intentions (by their own standards)

Look, I think status symbols are pretty pathetic.

You clearly disagree. Let's not make it personal.

bendix

JayScottGreenspan wrote: »

No. People who get satisfaction from felling superior to others tend to buy flash motors and drive around with the top down.

Whatever works for them... but true happiness does not lie down that path.

And who defines true happiness? You? Or is it written down somewhere for all of mankind to know?

Again, I'm genuinely curious. I'm feeling a bit down, you know.

Troubled_Joe

JayScottGreenspan wrote: »

No. People who get satisfaction from felling superior to others tend to buy flash motors and drive around with the top down.

Whatever works for them... but true happiness does not lie down that path.

What qualifies you to define the true happiness of others?

silvercar

JayScottGreenspan wrote: »

Completely pointless in other words.

Wouldn't it make the world a better place if you could go back in time and tell your relative to give the money to a charity that saves people from going blind of preventable conditions in the third world?

Lets be real here, rather than sanctimonious:

a. Whatever we give to charity ( and we do give), we are always going to spend money on an actual present for a big birthday.

b. we are not talking thousands of pounds; do some research, number plates are not that expensive.

c. when buying a present for someone else the aim is to buy something that they would like and that they wouldn't buy for themselves. The fact that you wouldn't appreciate our choice is irrelevant.

bendix

JayScottGreenspan wrote: »

Look, I think status symbols are pretty pathetic.

You clearly disagree. Let's not make it personal.

no, I dont disagree. I find status symbols pathetic too, but the term is so vague as to be meaningless. Two years ago, a 42 inch LCD was a status symbol. Now it's relatively normal.

Similarly, half of Notting Hill where I live sit around at dinner parties boasting about how they sponsor a 'little black boy' in Botswana. They wave their faux-humanitarian goodwill as a status symbol too . . .(rather like you do, in fact).

It's a complex subject, and I think you're simplifying it.

JayScottGreenspan

silvercar wrote: »

Lets be real here, rather than sanctimonious:

a. Whatever we give to charity ( and we do give), we are always going to spend money on an actual present for a big birthday.

b. we are not talking thousands of pounds; do some research, number plates are not that expensive.

c. when buying a present for someone else the aim is to buy something that they would like and that they wouldn't buy for themselves. The fact that you wouldn't appreciate our choice is irrelevant.

A personalised number plate is supposed to say "Hey, look at me, I'm doing well for myself" and possibly "and I've got a sense of humour".

What they actually say to a lot of people is "I've run out of ideas of things to spend my money on. Seriously, I'm completely out of ideas.".

JayScottGreenspan

bendix wrote: »

They wave their faux-humanitarian goodwill as a status symbol too . . .(rather like you do, in fact).

No, I don't present that as a status symbol.

I present it as a better way to spend three hundred quid. Surely you can't dispute that.