CIIE

Many contemporary societies foster the idea that fame, power and money constitute the essential ingredients of a happy life. I recently saw a movie, untitled “The Pursuit of Happiness”, which emphasized the association between money –a lot of money- and happiness. Wearing fashionable clothes and expensive jewelry, driving powerful and opulent cars, owning a luxurious house, being popular among friends, classmates and colleagues, having authority over other people, command over resources, and so on, are systematically associated with a life of success; which is understood as the life people ought to pursue in order to be happy. The role model played by heroes in ancient civilizations is nowadays played by celebrities. TV stations broadcast programs that endorse the life of the rich and famous as a life which everybody ought to pursue. Consumerism tells us that having is a necessary and sufficient condition for being. Hence, it is of no surprise that TV programs promoting the idea of bec...