Ramanisblog

Tag: consumerism

  • Desire Avarice Jealousy Lifestyle.

    I am hurt.

    Mad rush for things.
    Consumerism.Image Credit. http://philebersole.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/consumerism/

    I am unhappy.

    These are the most heard from people.

    This is also reported  to be cause of Stress.

    People  attribute this to the changed Lifestyle and a host of other factors, like work pressure,peer Pressure.

    But there are more fundamental issues involved.

    One is regarding our-self.

    Another is how we behave with others.

    Regarding the first point, our attitude of Comparing ourselves starts in childhood.

    Parents would like children to be what they have failed to be and force them into doing what they may not prefer.

    Parents compare their children with other children and force the children.

    Then comes the way of behaving.

    They are taught what the others follow and this even in matters of Food and dressing.

    There is a fine line between good behaviour and aping others, especially the West.

    Then Education.

    We study what guarantees high income, without bothering whether one has the aptitude or attitude for it.

    Lifestyle again.

    We acquire , not things we need, but what we think others will be envious about.

    That’s the point.

    We allow ourselves to be conditioned by the others.

    Why?

    Because we want to be what they are.

    Bottom line of this, we are jealous of them.

    But this remains hidden in our heart.

    Jealousy, trying to become what we are not and our striving t be like them is the cause for our ills.

    This is what we should avoid.

    Closely connected to this is our desire , avarice.

    We fail to distinguish between Wants and Needs.

    Blind desire blurs the line between the two.

    Desires are fine.

    We should be able to channelized desires, not allow desires to direct our lives, or Desire is impulsive and does not envisage the future problems arising out of satisfying the desires.

    If we can avoid Jealousy and Desire, avarice, quality of our Lives would improve.

     

     

  • What Is Not Yours

    I used to be fond of watches.

    At one point of time, as early as last year, I had about 28 wrist watches!

    Now I lost interest in them.

    I had a thought.

    I have been acquiring things.

    After a lapse of time, I lost interest.

    I discard them.

    They were mine for a time.

    No body has taken them away from me.

    They are still there.

    But I feel they are not mine.

    So is with everything in Life.

    You have a Car ;after some time,you lose interest,in name they are yours ,but you do not enjoy it anymore.

    In that sense it is not yours.

    What is ours here?

    The Ground we walk on?

    Water,

    The Sun,

    The air we breathe?

    Friends?

    Wife?

    Children?

    Wealth?

    Why go further?

    Even Life is not ours.

    We are Trustees..

    Things are here for our temporary keeping.

    We have no ownership.

    We have the right to enjoy them,with the consequences.

    Nothing more.

  • Star Vijay-Neeyaa Naana-Teachers,Students-A Review.

    Star Vijay has been hosting a Talk show ‘Neeya Naana’ which addresses social issues and in some cases personal issues as well for quite sometime now.

    The show is good for the topics chosen and the manner in which the discussion is steered and summed up.

    The show instead of being crammed with statistics and a show of projecting the Anchor draws out what the people really feel about the social issues.

    The strength lies in selection of participants, though the Special invitees seem to lack objectivity and their knowledge is shallow when they make sweeping general statements.This could be addressed by the producers of the show.

    The latest show on 25 December 2012 on’Teachers and Students–  how they perceive each other ‘ has brought out the core problem of the relationship between the Teachers and Students.

    On the Teachers side the following points were put forth.

    Students look elsewhere in the Class room without paying attention to what is being taught.

    They behavior is unruly and distracting.

    They refuse to take notes.

    They lack manners and self-discipline

    The boys use bad words and make obscene comments on lady teachers.

    If they are questioned parents come into the picture and question the parents.

    Students have the behavior  a Customer.

    On the Students’ side:

    Teachers expect blind obedience.

    They do not conduct classes interestingly, nor do they conduct classes in the interactive mode.

    Students are pointed out their mistakes in the Class publicly lowering heir self-esteem.

    Teachers lack self-discipline and do not prepare for the classes.

    The Teachers dictate notes verbatim from standard text Books, which is a waste of time.

    Part time students are being questioned uncivilly.

    The most important factor ,in my view, is that Teaching profession does not have (mostly) really interested and motivated Teachers who are interested in the Welfare of the Students and seem to attract people who either get into Teaching profession as a stop-gap arrangement till they get a more rewarding job(monetarily) and even those who come ito the profession lack the Character and traits that make a Teacher.

    As I have noted in my earlier Blogs, to-day we no longer have teachers who are dedicated and involved,say about 50 years ago.

    Teachers under whom I studied did not have fancy qualifications like M.A.,Phd,specialised in teaching.

    In fact the Teachers under whom I studied in a small place were just B.A. and in some case B.T.(equivalent to B.Ed of today) or L.T (Licentiate in Teaching).

    But they had the personal Character and dedication to the welfare of the students without being aware of it.

    My father was a teacher and he used to take tuition with out fees as also my other teachers,saying that to charge fees for teaching is a sin!

    Parents never questioned the Teachers for they knew, nay felt, that the Teachers were better in handling their children.

    It  is the quality of Teachers that is the issue .

    Privatization of Education has brought in Consumerism where the parents mind set is’I pay the Fess-it is your job to make my ward proficient’ forgetting that whether they have allowed their wards to choose what they want.

    Managements need to increase the number of Students every year to earn profit of the institution.

    So the Teachers are forced to runthrough the syllabus without any scope for interaction in the class.

    By collecting huge donations Managements admit students with ut quality or aptitude.

    Add to this the confusion of Reservation,based not on merits but on Community.

    To show results and retain their jobs teachers encourage tuitions to increase income as well.

    Another factor is the industry.

    The point was made by a professor of New College Chennai, where he stated that the industry(now getting employment alone is the criteria of education), requires not a completely competent professional but one  with the basic inputs in the subject to enable the industry to mould the students their way and interests.

    This is a serious issue.

    Are we going to lead our lives the Corporates want us?

    Parents need to reflect on this.

    However Teachers must realize that times are changing and the Students of the day are no longer the blank ones or their minds is a tabula rosa.

    The students of the day are  well informed thanks to technology and internet and what they need is guidance and a spark to get them fired.

    As to complaints about students’ behavior excepting the teasing of female Teachers the other behavior is what one would expect of a student and there is nothing different since my days.Students will be students

    Parents must realize that not withstanding the technological advancements Teacher can never be replaced  and they should not expect the Teacher and education to be a commodity.

    I am seeing lots of economically well of youngsters, who are well placed in life .who are academically brilliant , not being able to cope up with Life, for which the Education has not prepared them.

    Again formal education has to be complemented with Life facing skills.

    Students must know that their freedom does not lie in being obscene and objectionable social behavior for they will be harming themselves.

  • The Most Desired Brands in America.

    These are tie companies that use unethical practices to trap the consumers and release misleading and often erroneous information on Health under the guise of advertisement.

    Most of the USPs of their products exist only in the mind of the copy writer.I shall be blogging separately on this.

    Women in the United States desire Johnson & Johnson most among all brands. Men have a strong affinity for Procter & Gamble‘s Crest.

    It makes sense that women would go for a maker of baby products. But oral care for men, and not cars or sporting goods? That’s what the results of a new study released this week by Buyology, a strategic neuromarketing firm, found.

    The study looked at men and women’s relationships with many of the nation’s biggest brands. By examining the strength and types of those relationships on both a conscious and nonconscious level, using the tools of neuromarketing, which has been around since the 1990s, Buyology found that men and women are drawn to different kinds of brands, and for different reasons.

    …..

    Many of the findings may surprise some. Sony ( SNE – news – people ) is No. 2 among women, with a superiority-superiority combination. Amazon.com ( AMZN – news – people ), on the other hand, elicits a harmony-exploration connection for them. Tide makes the men’s list but not the women’s, for technological innovations that deliver harmony-harmony.

    What the findings suggest is that consumers are most likely to choose brands that strike a nonconscious as well as conscious chord for them, and marketers who know exactly how their brands resonate with customers will have a sustainable advantage over competitors, according to Buyology’s chief executive, Gary Singer.

    Google ( GOOG – news – people ) could do more to strengthen itself as a superiority and exploration brand among women, and could lift itself above sixth place for them, Buyology founding partner Donna Sturgess says. Car companies, which appear only on the men’s list, may want to build on their neurotype identifications, such as awe-awe for BMW and exploration-exploration for Hyundai. Such differentiation is especially important in cutthroat categories where many of the top players sell pretty much the same product.

    Buyology’s research is timely for several reasons. In an economic downturn, consumers are more likely to switch brands, and marketers who build on the strengths of their current relationships with consumers are most likely to succeed. Marketers including Campbell Soup ( CPB – news – people ) and Frito-Lay have become increasingly interested in neuromarketing, and the explosion of digital and social media has made knowing the context of one’s engagement with consumers a vital matter, Buyology adds.

    Still, nonconscious relationships are not a be-all and end-all. Nigel Hollis, a former consumer goods marketer who is now chief global analyst at research agency Millward Brown, says nonconscious indentification may work well for simple, everyday purchases such as a box of Twinings tea, but bigger, more expensive purchases, such as a new car, are likely to involve much more complex decision making. With them, the nonconscious may have relatively modest influencing power.

    And then there are times when circumstances override habit. A devout Twinings customer may automatically reach for it on a shelf, but if it’s sold out, that customer will begin to discover some other brand, Hollis points out.

    http://www.forbes.com/2011/02/01/most-desired-brands-leadership-cmo-network-men-women_2.html

  • 10 Things You Really, Really Don’t Need.

    Behold the iPad in All Its Glory
    Image via Wikipedia

     

    Readers may contribute to this list.

    1. Microwave oven

    I haven’t had a microwave since Clinton was in the White House. Sure, on occasion I’ll miss the opportunity to melt down butter without burning it on the stove. I’d just rather give the counter space to something more deserving, like cookies. Or cupcakes. Or brownies…

    2. Electric wine bottle openers

    Waiters can open a bottle of organic wine, at the table, with just a mere flick of a wrist and cork-screw. Mentally raising a cork out of the bottle with special brain powers would be cooler, but for now a simple corkscrew works fine. And gives good strength training!

    3. Bread machines

    Sure, bread machines can be an awesome way to get perfectly-shaped loaves of steamy, fresh bread. But allow us to face the delicious reality of fresh bread. If you’re taking the time to make fresh bread in your bread machine, you probably have the time to bake fresh bread in your oven. Hard realities, folks. Hard realities.

    4. Neck creams

    It’s become casual sport in Hollywood to guess an actress’ age by her neck, which still remains hard to control by Botox or a lift. So now there’s a whole industry of creams dedicated to the neck. In reality, you should just use the same creams and treatments on your neck as you do on your face. Moisturize tone, mask – just bring it down a few inches lower than your jaw line.

    5. Beauty products tested on animals

    To which we and super cute-bunny-that-fits-in-a-hand say – really? Products like said Botox are continually tested on animals with appalling results. There’s a whole world of products, beauty or otherwise, that are cruelty-free. You can find them here.

    6. Hand sanitizers

    I’m not saying medical professionals should go without, or that we should immediately start diving into gas station bathrooms to dance around barefoot. But washing your hands will kill germs just as easily as hand sanitizers. Sanitizing your paws every time you touch a door knob will kill most bacteria. But the tough ones that survived will multiply and will be stronger than the cousins you killed off. (Read more about that here.)

    7. The latest product from Apple

    iPods are fun. As are iPhones and yes, even iPads are kind of cool. Do they get more fun as the latest updates cycle through every year and/or month? (As giant UFOs bearing the Apple insignia lower into our horizons.) Sure, maybe we all need the ability to instantly play music/record/brew latte with our phones. But why not let your old apples actually fall from the tree before you replace them?

    8. Automatic toilet flushers

    One of the greatest questions of our time is obviously – do toilets really need to flush on their own, causing us to flee to the other side of the stall to avoid splash back? And repeat.

    9. Motion-Activated Anything

    Recently, I saw an advert for a motion-activity candy dispenser. (Because obesity isn’t enough of a problem in this country. Yes, I’m waving a cranky cane right now.) Motion-activated devices are fantastic for people with disability issues. But how many wheelchairs do we see on escalators? We also opened doors for centuries without the power of electricity.

    10. Throw pillows

    When you’re lost under a gigantic pile of plush, you have no one but yourself to blame.

    This post first appeared on EcoSalon.

    http://www.alternet.org/story/148474/10_things_you_really%2C_really_don%27t_need?page=2

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