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A comment on Couples are taking out loans to pay for their weddings. Parent comment

Re:Couples are taking out loans to pay for their weddings by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Thursday June 20, 2019 @09:39AM (#20232787)
Marketing and social pressure are significant factors in people's decision making processes. Our entire society is constructed on the basis of convincing people to buy things and for a long time now whether or not they can actually afford them has not been a significant concern. It is especially callous and ignorant to claim that people are in no way victims of this.

However, I think the solution you propose is generally correct. We need to create a social pressure in the opposite direction of pressures pushing for people to take on debt.

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Re:Couples are taking out loans to pay for their weddings by the_gastropod on Thursday June 20, 2019 @09:47AM (#20232865)
I think you hit the nail on the head—it is a person's responsibility to spend wisely, but they're fighting a steeply uphill battle. I don't know where the political will will come from to help create that social pressure, when so much money in politics comes from those advertising so heavily to us.
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Re:Couples are taking out loans to pay for their weddings by mbrumlow on Thursday June 20, 2019 @10:01AM (#20233000)
This why I try to speak out on this issue when I can.

We can change the social perception by speaking out about it. If we don't speak out about it, its basically giving a pass to a bad social norm.

If marketing still was pushing the issue, but all your friends were like "fuck getting in to deb" and treated debt like the black death far fewer people would find them self's chained to institutional debt.

90% of the things people are buying today did not even exist 100 yeas ago and people got along fine.

So I urge people, when your friends are considering debt, have a serous talk to them about the consequences. And let them know, that new gadget, event, fancy dohikie they will use 3 times before they get board of it is just not needed.

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