Envy

Now to one of the most controversial subjects possible

The topic of Envy.

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Envy has long been known to exist in humanity, it has even been documented that some images drawn by cavemen have represented envy (whether this is a dramatic extrapolation or not is beyond me). Cardinal sins is the category that envy falls under, similarily to other "more obvious" ones like Lust, Pride and Gluttony.

Today's society, full of fast pace movement. New product lines at a rate that feels like it is daily. Macbook air's being refreshed, people bitting at their nails for months beforehand speculating if today is the day they will sell theirs... afterall they do need the new biggest and shiniest! (Or in the case of Apple-laptops, the most aluminium and sleek and grotesquely engineered.)

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So that raises the question, are we driven to this illogical emotion? Letting jealousy corrupt us and turn us into "monsters"? Is it society's fault for praising this elite which has an invisible border etched between "us" and "them" just like on a map? Fancy watches, priced far beyond their real value. Suits, purses, fragrances, even 'designer drugs'.

But from an evolutionary standpoint, jealousy can be seen as productive. A motivator for enginuity... "Oh, they have that do they? Well... I'll make sure I have the best (Insert X thing)!". So perhaps it is that key factor that has allowed evolution to progress.

Microbe A: "Damn! Microbe B just totally grew another mitochondria! Grrrrr....!"

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Or has it, instead, lead us up to this point in which it was effective and is now throwing us off? Perhaps this mechanism proposed by evolution has risen to a peak and now is falling off.

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We have a beautiful society in so many ways, yet we have the presence of obviously unhappy people.

Antidepressants are becoming more and more prescribed, in a world full of want. Ssri's (prozac being a massively common one), MAOI's, Tricyclics, SNRI's, and a heapfull of psychiatry and experimental drugs and cognitive models.

Is this because of a pre-dictated 'genetic sequence' that our race has always posessed as evolution would say? Or is this because of society in general.

Looking at some of the people around us, they are born with nothing and given nothing; overall they expect nothing. They have one goal in mind, survival. Life becomes paramount to them and is a thing to be cherished. Too many times do people overlook even a person with a handicap, many times they are the best people you will ever meet!

But in today's society? The value of life is minimized. We have people who put down animal's after having them for a week and deciding that they aren't interested in "Mr. Fuzzums" anymore, or that "Sparky"... well... Sparky "is just too goddamned loud and annoying, kill it! Kill the damn thing!".

And when they hear it may cost 200 dollars just for a semblance of a peaceful death (a poor analogy of one)? They walk out shaking the cage with the animal in it to cause concussive brain damage, etc, just to avoid the fee.


So why is it that we place so much value in what others have, so much so that the very drive of life itself is thrown out the window. Girls all of a sudden become "prey" to get at in bars, buy them a drink, **** them and leave them. Everything in society is tailored for the garbage dumps. The trick is, "Why aren't you getting laid while X is currently screwing your girl right now? Oh, sorry I didn't mean to let that out."


Perhaps it is the very pursuit of happiness that is the cause of all unhappiness.

As is, humerously, stated on this Lulu lemon bag.

http://www.marccizravi.com/uploads/2010/02/Lululemon-Bag.jpg
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But on that note, isn't some of those quotes ironically in themselves elitist? That is putting aside the whopping $100 for a pair of pants.


So is that true? Are we envious of what others have, because they have something that we "desire"?

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A question worth noting is, are we actually jealous of the health benifits of this man? His physique? The fact that if he really wanted to he might be able to run an extensively long marathon all day? Or is it just because he "gets the girl"? Or does that even matter and the biological evolutionary aspects can be broken down further.

To the core of procreation... to the fact that our brain gets its "jollies" from sex, a reward that has no doubt made it possible for our species to continue...

But if you are interested I'll allow Cameron from House season 1 episode 3 to define sex in quite good detail.





Oh, and the best part about it? We all have traces of envy in us. Insecurities buried deep. Not many of us show them, mindyou, but they are definately there. Even the most famous movie stars and actors have secrets and insecurities buried deep within their skin. Corporate executives a lot of the time are on the edge, consistantly stressed worrying about their business.


Remember me with that picture of David Beckham above? He has one of the most extreme cases of OCD documented. Envy? I think it could take an entire thesis to cover the topic myself, but envious of what?

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/Serious discussion topic.

 

Too tired to read thread, but I like how the pictures go from gummy bears to a laptop, some microbes or whatever, humans being chased by dinosaurs off a cliff, and back to a supposedly sexy male model.

Classic Aegis

 

wall of text...

well, jealousy/envy is always there, fact. but how you channel it into a positive attitude is important.

say hatred to someone for what he/she has, what would you do? hate the person forever? instead of doing that, why not do something in your life for you to have what you wanted/needed use that anger to fuel your desire to achieve it....

not all people could do that, changing negative to positive attitude, but at least try.

 

Pfft everyone likes your post Lucent but not mine D:

I wrote it all myself qq.

 

I promise I'll read it tomorrow <3

Unfortunately right now this is what it looks like when I read it:
Sleep has long been known to exist in sleep, it has even been slept that some sleep slept by sleepers have represented sleep (whether this is a tired extrapolation or not is beyond sleep). Cardinal sins is not a category that sleep falls under, similar to other "more obvious" ones like sleep, tired and bedtime.

 

Sleeep -=throws a sheeps at you=-

 

This is only an analogy, so dont mind me if someone does not like it...

Are you aware that comunism did not work due to the same reason (envy)? Envy its part of human nature, it originates from the fact that we are individuals and we acknowledge our own existance by looking at others that are similar to us (like looking at a mirror, you know how your face is). So differences become noticiable and some become desirable. Everyone wants to be looked at and everyone cherises its own indivuality. This can be seen even in mating procedures, where we compete for females, we try our best to look somewhat interesting and desirable, this acomplished by the looks, status, power, etc etc etc.. If everyone is the same as comunism says we are, we deny our own nature because everyone thrives to be different from each other... now translate all this to our current consumer society where everything is a trend, a fashion, we seek status, we seek money, we seek power, and all this is for sale.

Our current society encourages the envy in people, even though its leading to less healthy people that end with eating disorders, massive loans, and thinking that a futbol soccer player is something good to look at.

Its envy a good human trait?? Its a necesary evolutionary mechanism if you ask me, its what pushes us to be better somehow by trying to be different. Our current society made of it something ethicaly questionable.

 

Sometimes, a person is envious because he thinks that he isn't as good as X or just because he has an older version of X's product or a cheaper one.