Affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more. (de Graaf [1])
affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by the pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth.
I'm in the middle of reading the book and I find it to be a real eye opener. It's written by Oliver James and I love the fact that the guy swears from time to time. I was told not to swear when I put my thought on screen :-).
And I love you for putting the time into me and giving me the direction I needed - the Bees. I think of you when reading the book and feel very blessed of having people like you along the way. You'll always be in my heart.
The Affluenza virus is, according to James, a set of values that make us vulnerable to emotional distress. It is our insatiable desire for money, fame and power; our envious and obsessive need to compete with and compare ourselves to others. In this celebrity-obsessed age it is not so much our keeping-up-with-the-Joneses as our keeping-up-with-the-Beckhams. It is, in short, neo-liberalism, or from James's socio-psychological perspective, "Selfish Capitalism".
Read the thing, I know you'll like at least some parts of it.
