The Big Splurge.

greetings and salutations,

i've often thought about the question of conspicuous consumption and have come with one simple answer ... hunger.

way i see it, when someone hasn't eaten for days or weeks and you take them to a royal buffet, they will inevitably over do it, to the point of gluttony.

looking at our history, africans have been made to be a people of want, have been (systematically) kept in a position of poverty, have been made to feel like a wretched people.

now we have a "new dispensation" and a "growing" black middle class, in other words, there are people who were part of the group mentioned above but have somehow managed to remove themselves from that, unfortunately they happen to live with those who have not made it up or out.

so the people who have moved into this new middle class, do not want to be associated with their prior status and the only way to do so is spend the money they now have that their neighbors or extended family members cannot ... i'm sure we've all seen that dstv advert were the uncle goes on about having dstv as if no one else has, meanwhile whereas everybody does.

also, people want to splurge on things that they would've otherwise not been able to splurge on were it not for the new dispensation or new access to disposable income, indeed, new money SHOUTS!!

we should not forget the effect apartheid had on the psyche of africans, thus the importance of black consciousness.  you see, people don't feel good about themselves, living in the ghetto or squatter camp or free and low cost housing (forgive me for making such a gross generalization) so buying things that are akin to the upper class makes them feel better about themselves.

in the end however, i feel this too shall pass. as south african society begins to feel better about itself and realize that the price of your shoes or cell phone is of less importance than your education, that the price of your car is of less importance than your house.

#wordsmith