/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.7016257]

Can money buy happiness?

[Anonymous No.7016259]

sometimes

[Anonymous No.7016275]

It can buy the tools for happiness in 99/100 cases.

The only thing money cannot buy you is the struggle for happiness, which is sometimes what's needed for happiness to be achieved.

Maybe a modern Albert Camus would be better off poor than rich.

[Anonymous No.7016281]

It lets you experience things you wouldn't be able to experience without money. Money can buy your way into happiness as long as you don't have too much money and too rich imagination

[Anonymous No.7016287]

I know everybody says
Money can’t buy happiness

But it could buy me a boat, it could buy me a truck to pull it
It could buy me a Yeti 110 iced down with some silver bullets
Yeah, and I know what they say,
Money can’t buy everything
Well, maybe so,
But it could buy me a boat

[Anonymous No.7016293]

>>7016257
If you derive happiness from material things, then yes. If not, no.

[Anonymous No.7016294]

I think 'money can't buy me happiness' sort of lacks nuance.

Money can buy pleasure and it can lessen UNhappiness. So while it may not 'buy' happiness, it can certainly indirectly contribute to it.

Sometimes money can make you unhappy, though. It's much easier to fall into drug addiction if you're rich.

[Anonymous No.7016298]

It can't, but you can get so distracted you don't notice for a long time

[Anonymous No.7016306]

To the extent that you reach a level of wealth where you no longer need to worry about money, yes. As to the rest? No. You'll still be you. Money won't change that, only you can. Elliot Rodgers had money, and he thought that would give him girls, but it didn't, and instead of trying to become a better person, he gunned people down. Ask yourself, what kind of person are you today? Let's say you're a loner, a lazy one who doesn't work out or meet people, and tomorrow you'll win the lottery, become a millionaire, and you'll think for a second, hey, everything will change now. But do you really believe money will make you automatically more outgoing and less lazy? It probably won't, and you'll spiral into the darkness.

[Anonymous No.7016308]

na I'm rich and not always happy, im about as happy as a lowe/middle class person would be, probably less happy than them actually

[Anonymous No.7016316]

>>7016306
Elliot Rodger wasn't just some socially inept guy, he was deranged

[Anonymous No.7016321]

>>7016293
But in today's world it's hard to win people's hearts without wealth. What I'm trying to say is money opens up the doors which open up doors to intangible things

[Anonymous No.7016324]

>>7016287
i recently moved to the south and i hear this song all the time. hearing it it just sounds trashy but reading the lyrics you really get that it's about the economic and demographic decline (collapse?) of the rural south. last weekend i drove east-west through georgia and in every little town there were at least as many abandoned houses and shut down businesses as occupied and operational.

[Anonymous No.7016352]

>>7016257
people don't want to be happy, one of the first rules of psychoanalysis

literally asking the wrong question ie do people with money actually use it to be happy

[Anonymous No.7016354]

>>7016294
that's not true
in fact the richer you are the less likely you will suffer from alcoholism and drug abuse.
it has to do with your environment. Addiction happens when you have an environment devoid of stimulation.
This is the reason the soldiers in vietnam did not come back addicted to heroin despite using a shitton of it. they have actual lives, addicts are only addicted because their environment is so shit.

[Anonymous No.7016374]

That's what the capitalist world sells it to you. That is precisely the point. Money can buy anything, as long as people still believe in its value. But happiness is ill defined. There is the happiness in accumulation of money and the illusion of power that comes with it, but there is also joy in losing money (that is, spending it, putting it to use). There is also a deeper level to this in which you can ask whether the happiness money can buy is the only happiness there is or if it will last a bit more.

Money can only buy things. It cannot build anything, but buy things. The better question is thus not whether money can buy happiness or not, but whether what would give you happiness is for sale or not and if yes, at what cost? More than that, how would you know if you haven't bought it yet.

[Anonymous No.7016386]

>>7016257
Richfag trustfund babby here.
I'm happy because I have goals and interests that don't revolve primarily around the making or conspicuous spending of money. I'm not denying that I'm happier than most people in really dead-end positions, so hear me out. When you grow up with a lot it just changes where you set your standards for the parts of life that require money and I think it largely comes out to be a wash. For example it was just expected that I would go to a high-tier private university, and it would have been a crushing disappointment to only get into the honors college at a flagship state university, even though that would be a huge point of pride for a middle class student. I'm using a large chunk of time to work exclusively on a novel, and that's easy and secure for me, so I guess that's a major difference if you derive your happiness from creating art. It also means that I can securely start a family younger than most, which is a huge priority for me personally but probably not for many here. I still drive a 2001 F-150 and live in a single room on someone's roof to save on rent because I value financial security and flexibility over the cool shit I could buy.

When you see rich people going to what appear to be needlessly expensive places, just know that they aren't necessarily having more fun or experiencing more happiness there than you do at your hangout. It's just that getting sniped at having your car keyed by jealous fags isn't fun so they only really loosen up with their own kind.

[Anonymous No.7016827]

>>7016308
>>7016386
These are the answers you seek. Modern life is confusing and unfulfilling unless you take a good hard look at yourself and find out what keeps you going. Wealth doesn't change that much at all.

[Anonymous No.7016841]

>>7016352
that's right, let the priest-- i mean, yes, uhm, analyst, tell you what to think of yourself.

[Anonymous No.7016935]

No but it'll lease big tittied bitches to bring you happiness on a silver platter after you blow your loud in their questionably legal assholes.

Tldr: yes

[Anonymous No.7016957]

Short answer: Yes
Long Answer: No

[Anonymous No.7017003]

>>7016354
A lot of what you say is true, but I used to have money and I became a drug addict. It didn't become a 'Problem' until I ran out of money, and therefore drugs.

To be sure, it was a problem before I ran out of money, mostly to those around me who I was a flaky asshole to.

My point is, money can prevent drug addiction from leaving you a homeless mess, so maybe our perception of the rich as not having as many drug problems is flawed.

[Anonymous No.7017008]

>>7016957
>3 letters < 2 letters
average liberal arts major

[Anonymous No.7017235]

>>7016257
Not really tbh, but I wouldn't mind the cash needed to own a house in a fairly secluded place but with electricity, tons of top recording gear, sequencers, MIDI, electric guitars, pianos, electroacustic guitars, synths, drums, a comfy large library and good liquors and wines.