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The Morality of Spending Money on Pleasure

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

21:10 / 04.06.05

I was shopping this weekend and I noticed that the third series of Alias which I have yet to see has been released on DVD, and I found myself eyeing it lovingly, fully intending to purchase it and go home in a whirl and vanish into an Agent Bristow/Arvin Sloan induced haze for the rest of the weekend when the thought hits me that instead of spending the forty odd quid on a DVD set which I don’t in any way shape or form actually need in order to live my life, and which won’t even improve my life all that much I could donate that money to a worthy charity and have it actually maybe save a life or something somewhere in the world.

End result I’m paralysed by indecision and eventually exit the shop quivering and hugging myself, hurting for a Sloane fix, although it should be noted that I didn’t donate the money to charity either (barring fifty pee to someone collecting for ‘street children’) and in all likelihood by the end of the month it will be gone on either the Alias DVDs or some other pleasure item. So my question is this; is it ever truly morally justifiable to spend money on luxury pleasure type items that we don’t really need when that money could do far more good elsewhere?

I’d love to get thoughts and opinions on this, many apologies if this has already been covered in great depth elsewhere, but i couldn't seem to find anything when I looked.

09:13 / 05.06.05

I am of the opinion that generosity should not be an obligation. Rather you should donate money and give gifts exactly because it gives you pleasure. To end up a quivering wreck or even feeling guilty just because you live in a capitalist system is frankly absurd.

I personally don’t believe in pure altruism, I believe in desire; if you buy the DVD set you are attempting to satiate your desire for Alias. If you donate the money then you are attempting to satiate your desire to do ‘good’, perhaps to help someone or to see another person happy, or perhaps even (if you flaunt your charitable nature) your desire to appear more of a philanthropist and hence a better person.

This does not however cheapen morality; I am merely asserting that it is subjective, not that it is false. Fundamentally, both charity and DVDs are a luxury; decide which one gives you the most utility and function like a good little economic entity.

To sidetrack a bit this sense of obligation to give is one of my main dislikes of numerous prescribed ‘giving times’ such as Christmas and birthdays. I derive far more satisfaction from spontaneous acts of generosity than I do from having to go through the same rituals each year.

Hmm, upon re-reading I realised I have not necessarily actually answered the question; justifying you buying DVDs. Well, there are lots of philosophies you could adopt; you could even just say that 17% of your purchase goes to VAT and that suffering is just the fault of the government not spending your taxes correctly. You could adopt hedonism and claim your own pleasure as the highest goal. You could adopt a form of conservative individualism and claim that it is each person’s right to rise or fall on their own and not to rely on charity. I am sure there are more abstractions to be made but I don't feel the need to list them...

Personally I give when I feel the desire, and otherwise I justify the luxuries I buy with some form of hedonism.

All Acting Regiment

17:46 / 05.06.05

How would the ethics of this change if you were going to buy a DVD of a documentary about the third world, for example, that might then make you go out and do something more worthy?

Taken further, you could argue that even a straight "entertainment" DVD like Alias is not just for pleasure in the hedonistic/onanistic sense; you could say it stimulates your mind and thus enables you to live a potentially worthy life.

My personal take on your question is that yes, it is more moral to spend that money on charity than on DVDs, and it's certainly a good thing that you thought about the issue- even if it did cause you a fit of indecision.

However, often people who work in charities say that it's not about individuals spending huge ammounts of money and rearranging their lifestyles; to really make a change it is better if everyone donates something, you see? Going off this, your 50p to charity could possibly take on more moral worth by multiplication (i.e. by how many other people did it) than a single act of giving away £40.

01:37 / 06.06.05

of course, there were not just two options. you could have given the money to a random person, deliberately thrown it away, bought a supply of food/essentials to put away for later, bought clothes you need, put it in the bank, bought a birthday gift for the next of your family/friends to have one, put it on no. 4 in the fourth - always a winner - anything.

you could also have thought about which charity most deserves it, googled for the name of the ceo of a company or business you think has lots of money - more than forty quid - and spent a few coins on a bit of paper, an envelope and a stamp and written to that person explaining just why they should donate a sizeable sum to that charity.

then you could buy alias guilt-free!

just don't beat yourself up about this. wonderful it should occur to you at all. you are a beautiful person.

...or you could send me the money. forty english pounds is a goldmine in australia! pm me for my post office box address...

Not in the Face

08:23 / 06.06.05

I think chasing comparisons for other uses of individual purchases is a deadend. Broadly speaking there is always something 'better' you could spend the money on because charity is a relative thing - you'll always be able to find someone who needs it more than you need 3rd series of Alias. By following that argument you could end up finding a better use for almost every penny, but unless you want an ascetic life thats probably not what you meant.

My personal approach is to try to make a consistent contribution rather than stress about big purchases- £5 a month direct debit to a charity would be 50% more money than giving up Alias would provide and be of more use to the charity because it would be a predicatble and regular income. I'm not sure whether it is more moral, but see my previous point about dead ends.

22:05 / 06.06.05

there was a good thread on charities in this forum previously. as for there always being something better to spend your money on, well of course that's probably true, but my point was that to see it as simply an either/or choice was a sure way to beat yourself up over an issue that is entirely made up and arbitrary (at the risk of tautology).

another way to fund charities i found last year was, for my [significant] birthday, i got my band to do a gig, persuaded a venue to let us do a sunday afternoon gratis and we charded a small fee at the door for a charity - medecins sans frontieres, as it happened - and so i had a cool birthday, singing for friends and others, we all had fun and msf got several hundred dollars they otherwise would not have got. the event turned into a regular thing for a few months and we got bucks for about eight or ten charities we, as a band, nominated; and got a regular jam session! neat.

there are many ways, grasshopper.

paranoidwriter waves hello

22:37 / 06.06.05

I bought an electric guitar from a Sue Ryder shop once. Double-joy!