October 9, 2008

free but unwanted

i was thinking, people in general, do not appreciate or like things that come cheap.

for instance, Cambridge Uni. it's elite, exclusive and notoriously difficult to get in. and because of that, people want it; clamour for it, work hard for it. whereas, localized or 'cheaper' items go unwanted.

things that are imported are always better received. things produced locally pile up. marketing wizards know this, and they bank on it. making this perception even more deeply rooted.

the more elusive something is, the more people want it. the easier something is, the less people notice it. if it's difficult to get, people 'assume' it's exclusive and of a better quality. if it comes for free, that's even worse because people question the validity of it.

why must we make things so complicated? why must everything come with a 'darker side'? must all our gifts be questioned? must there be a reason for love?

no wonder, people find it a difficult to accept that all it takes is just to believe.

3 comments:

Doug P. Baker said...

Should we perhaps begin charging exorbitant entrance fees for church services? Maybe tack on a fee for parking. Turn a few people away at the door just to make it more "exclusive"? We could bill it as "an exotic religion imported straight from the oldest perpetual war zone in the world."

The Realistic Dreamer said...

you know what? there are 1 or 2 mega churches that do that and surprisingly/not, people go.

Doug P. Baker said...

Hmm, I looked it up. Joel Osteen charges. There is an article about it here.

http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/DN-osteen_11met.ART.State.Edition1.4ab6661.html

I also found a funny but true article about a church that was thinking about charging admission 110 years ago.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9A07E1D91338E233A2575BC1A9679C94659ED7CF&oref=slogin