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Topic:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it [Locked] |
Cawlin  Posts: 1,759
Registered: 2005-2-22 07:58:42
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it |
What about the people who buy a BMW because it really is a good car - maybe they buy a couple year old used one that came off a lease deal, and for them, the purchase has nothing at all to do with status but instead to do with value in the purchase, safety, performance, and confidence in the vehicle's longevity?
The point is it's all subjective... and the further point is that everyone has status symbols.
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If ignorance were painful, half the posters here would be on morphine drips.
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Yukishiro1 Posts: 3,243
Registered: 2002-9-20 23:52:57
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:01am
Subject:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it |
Cawlin posted:
Your walmart pen could be a status symbol if you were some sort of campaigner for OWS - i.e. you're using a very proletariat writing tool as your sword against the designer pens of the 1%ers...
Only if other people agreed with you. 
A status symbol is something society (or some subsegment of society) recognizes as a sign of higher status. It could be a hair shirt if your society thinks self-flagellation is good and material possessions are bad. In our society as a whole a fancy watch or a BMW fits the bill. Maybe at brown its an old bmw instead of a new one.
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Sin_of_Onin Posts: 1,307
Registered: 2005-6-29 08:21:12
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:01am
Subject:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it |
Yukishiro1 posted:
Yeah but whether its a status symbol or not depends not on what you personally think but how the people viewing you think about it. That is what status is. If you're the only one who thinks it's a status symbol it isn't.
It is still a symbol of status, just not a popular one. Not all symbols are as well known as others and some are meant to be secret!
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"Okay... I'm with you fellas" --Delmar
F is for Fake-believe
"We apologise for the inconvenience" --God
"What Jesus fails to appreciate is that it's the meek who are the problem"--Reg
Run, Forrest! Run!
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Yukishiro1 Posts: 3,243
Registered: 2002-9-20 23:52:57
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:01am
Subject:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it |
Cawlin posted:
What about the people who buy a BMW because it really is a good car - maybe they buy a couple year old used one that came off a lease deal, and for them, the purchase has nothing at all to do with status but instead to do with value in the purchase, safety, performance, and confidence in the vehicle's longevity?
There are probably a few of those people. The test is whether they would buy the same car if it looked like a honda and was called a honda and was only different under the hood. As I said, few people would buy BMWs in that case. I'm sure they exist but they're a tiny minority.
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Yukishiro1 Posts: 3,243
Registered: 2002-9-20 23:52:57
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:01am
Subject:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it |
Sin_of_Onin posted:
Yukishiro1 posted:
Yeah but whether its a status symbol or not depends not on what you personally think but how the people viewing you think about it. That is what status is. If you're the only one who thinks it's a status symbol it isn't.
It is still a symbol of status, just not a popular one.
The whole idea of status is based on the opinion of people around you. I don't see how you can call something a status symbol if no one else recognizes it to connote status. You might want a status symbol that only certain people recognize but if no one recognizes it it seems like you failed.
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Cawlin Posts: 1,759
Registered: 2005-2-22 07:58:42
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:01am
Subject:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it |
Yukishiro1 posted:
Cawlin posted:
What about the people who buy a BMW because it really is a good car - maybe they buy a couple year old used one that came off a lease deal, and for them, the purchase has nothing at all to do with status but instead to do with value in the purchase, safety, performance, and confidence in the vehicle's longevity?
There are probably a few of those people. The test is whether they would buy the same car if it looked like a honda and was called a honda and was only different under the hood. As I said, few people would buy BMWs in that case. I'm sure they exist but they're a tiny minority.
I think you are either too hung up on peoples' motivations for things that have no effect on you, or that for you, in this environment, it's some sort of status symbol to proclaim yourself above "status symbols"...
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If ignorance were painful, half the posters here would be on morphine drips.
Everyone playing WoW knows everything about playing two classes: 1) their own and 2) Hunters
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Sin_of_Onin Posts: 1,307
Registered: 2005-6-29 08:21:12
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:01am
Subject:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it |
Yukishiro1 posted:
The whole idea of status is based on the opinion of people around you. I don't see how you can call something a status symbol if no one else recognizes it to connote status. You might want a status symbol that only certain people recognize but if no one recognizes it it seems like you failed.
So it is a failed status symbol.
-----signature-----
"Okay... I'm with you fellas" --Delmar
F is for Fake-believe
"We apologise for the inconvenience" --God
"What Jesus fails to appreciate is that it's the meek who are the problem"--Reg
Run, Forrest! Run!
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Cawlin Posts: 1,759
Registered: 2005-2-22 07:58:42
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:01am
Subject:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it |
Yukishiro1 posted:
Sin_of_Onin posted:
Yukishiro1 posted:
Yeah but whether its a status symbol or not depends not on what you personally think but how the people viewing you think about it. That is what status is. If you're the only one who thinks it's a status symbol it isn't.
It is still a symbol of status, just not a popular one.
The whole idea of status is based on the opinion of people around you. I don't see how you can call something a status symbol if no one else recognizes it to connote status. You might want a status symbol that only certain people recognize but if no one recognizes it it seems like you failed.
There are MANY examples of people wearing "status symbols" even though many people around them do not recognize them as such. In those cases, often the status they are seeking is acknowledgement of their being "true" to their heritage or their former surroundings where their "status symbols" were meaningful...
I think you need to think about the sociology of groups and populations a little bit more and think about how "informal" or "social" status is obtained.
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If ignorance were painful, half the posters here would be on morphine drips.
Everyone playing WoW knows everything about playing two classes: 1) their own and 2) Hunters
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Yukishiro1 Posts: 3,243
Registered: 2002-9-20 23:52:57
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:01am
Subject:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it |
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Noticing things doesn't make you hung up. It's just noticing things. It is interesting how our society sorta puts people in this double bind where it expects people to buy status symbols but also expects them to deny the reason they buy a status symbol is for the status.
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Elocism  Title: Pseudonym
Posts: 787
Registered: 2002-5-3 01:50:00
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:01am
Subject:
It's funny how people who are obsessed with status symbols will almost never admit it |
i think that IRL, being anti status symbol is not a status symbol, just because no one knows any different. they just assume you are poor
however, being all anti status symbol here in this thread is very much a status symbol
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you are broken now
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just do everything i tell you to do
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