Clare Voyens
~ Anxiety Aunt
Dear Clare,
I’ve noticed that I react emotionally
to television commercials whenever I’m starting
a relationship (or after just ending one). I
normally don’t react to these commercials. Is
something wrong with me?
Clare replies:
This is a common problem, but the causes are
fairly complex. The favourite pastime in competitive
societies tends to be social comparison. Comparing
oneself to others starts at school, where your
worth as a person is measured in categories
not chosen by you – categories applied
uniformly to everyone. Although personal worth
ought to be seen as a measure of uniqueness,
it’s never actually viewed this way in respectable
society (unless you become a celebrity, like
me). Social comparisons therefore become an
obsession, leading to one of two feelings: inferiority
or superiority... |
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...The former feels awful; the latter
is vastly overrated – neither are
recommended.
Addiction to social
comparison really takes hold during
romantic (ie sexual) relationships.
Hormonal changes can emotionally sensitise
perceptions of socio-sexual status.
This explains why car advertisements
feature babies or tantalising glimpses
of female thigh. Advertisers juxtapose
social-comparison anxieties with suggestion
of sex-bonding for maximum emotional
insecurity button-pressing.
Social comparers
(winners and losers) make good
consumers, but sad individuals. There
are two ways to escape this trap: i)
don’t have romantic relationships, or
ii) don’t watch TV (if you can avoid
both, you’ll achieve enlightenment within
a year).
Clare Voyens is
an unregistered practitioner of neo-Reichian
gland therapy, and runs an aura alignment
telephone service for stressed executives. |
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