For the past few weeks, Mr. MMM and I have been enjoying some much-needed vacation time with our little family of 3. During that time, we’ve enjoyed NYC and traveled across the country to see the Grand Canyon. We also had the opportunity to see a Broadway show, tour Antelope Canyon, and do some horseback riding. Horseback riding is always better when it’s through the Ponderosa Pines in Flagstaff, Arizona, BTW. But the one thing that shocked us during our downtime was the very-much-alive concept that money is evil and still demonized in pop culture. Let me explain.
As a member of the FIRE/FIOR community, I delight in teaching my daughter the importance of being mindful with her money. I love teaching her how to earn it, save it, invest it, and spend it. So far, so good. But since I identify with such a wonderfully isolated community, I forgot what the rest of the world thinks about the green stuff.
It should come as no surprise then that, during our travels, we were not-so-gently reminded that money is still evil and the pursuit of it makes you a bad, bad person.
Start Spreading The News
Our whirlwind vacation started with a mostly frugal weekend in NYC. It was there I realized the financial message popular culture is continuing to dispense to our young people.
We decided to see a show on Broadway that was age-appropriate for Mini Monster but would also keep Mr. MMM and me entertained. Mission accomplished. Did I mention we got these tickets half off by using TKTS? Yeah, we did. It truly was a frugal NYC win. 🙂
Unfortunately, we were both shocked by some of the actions and dialogue expressed during the kid-friendly show.
Here’s a brief synopsis:
The world was ending and had to be saved by a hero and heroin. Much to our surprise, there was a character trying to capitalize on this by selling more of his product (Think: Krabby Patties) to unsuspecting customers during the final hours.
This side story was innocent enough and it certainly wasn’t the point of the show. However, watching it from the perspective of a family pursuing financial independence we realized that little messages like these continue to seep into the minds of our young people and shape their thoughts around money – and the pursuit of money.
Bottom line, by incorporating these money messages into popular media we’re teaching our children that money is bad and the pursuit of money makes you a bad person. After all, everyone should be saving the world and not just out to cushion their own bank accounts, right?
Arizona or Bust
Another blatant example hit me when we traveled across the country to spend a week in the deserts of Arizona. While in the Southwest, we escaped to an air-conditioned movie theater one evening to enjoy big, bad dinosaurs tearing up the screen.
I mean, what kind of parents would we be if we denied our little girl the satisfaction of watching prehistoric animals kill things? Ha. Truth be told, we were just as excited to see this much-anticipated summer blockbuster as she was.
As we were sitting in the theater watching the plot thicken, we, again, were met with the underlying theme that the pursuit of money is evil and the people who pursue it are evil.
The entire plot of this oh-so-popular movie was that the dinosaurs needed to be rescued from a natural disaster and the person entrusted to save them was planning to sell them for profit to other evil people from around the globe. Ugh.
So, in the span of about a week, our daughter had been exposed to the concept that the pursuit of money is evil via two very popular channels.
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Money Is Still Evil
Thankfully, our daughter has much more exposure to her FI-pursuing parents and the FIRE/FIOR community than most children. This exposure hopefully mitigated any damage that might have been caused by these not-so-subtle money is evil messages she was exposed to during our vacation.
With all this mind, though, I shudder to think that, despite the plethora of financial education that is currently available on the interwebs and in our schools, (yes, some schools are now providing guidance and even classes around money management) our young folks might continue to internalize the demonization of money.
What does this mean for the young people?
At best, nothing. It’s possible that messages in the media can be overridden by parental guidance, educational resources in school, and quality financial information readily available online.
At worst, everything. It’s also possible that messages in the media will be internalized as truth by our youth, especially by youth that lacks parental guidance, educational resources in school, and access to quality financial information online.
And thus concludes my financial obsession of the week. I will continue to ponder the ramifications that these subtle and not-so-subtle messages will have on the minds of the future. I don’t think I stand alone when I say the last thing we want is to teach a new generation to shun financial education, accept debt as normal, and ignore saving for retirement until it’s nearly upon them.
16 Comments
Sadly it’s nothing new. Ironic when you think about the money the movie makes the actors and the studios.
As for impact on kids, at least historically I don’t think it’s made much difference.
Yeah, it’s definitely not new. I’ve just been out of the loop for a bit in terms of popular culture. We don’t typically watch a lot of TV or attend Broadway shows. 🙂
Not overreacting. It’s also just a lazy way of thinking that is bad for our kids to learn. Madoff screws people over, all wealth is through ill gotten gains. Drug company exploits patent loophole and raises prices, all pharma is gouging the sick. Priest abuses child, all of that religion is evil.
This type of blanket, unuiamced thinking can have huge negative repurcussions on society. On Twitter and the big and small screen, these simplified message play to the masses.
Money is a form of trust and it is amazing that we all operate fairly well in a system where there is nothing backing our currency. We give our time and talents based on faith that others are doing the same for an equal amount of a trust based currency. Then we exchange with each other based on that mutual trust. It’s actually quite the opposite of evil.
You’re absolutely right that it’s a lazy way of thinking. Thank you for your thoughtful and insightful comment.
I would not say that you are overreacting but I do think you may be overthinking the situation a bit. I too just saw that Broadway Play this weekend and part of the charm of those characters is that they are almost all extremists. If they were more moderate, there would be no humor to be had.
I do think you are absolutely taking a hugely important step in opening discussing money with your daughter. I have no idea why money has always been such a taboo but I think it silly and counter productive. How else can we teach or share ideas whether with your daughter or friends/family if we cannot discuss the topic openly. Kudos for being wise enough to step beyond the cultural constraints of money and discuss it openly!
Thanks for your comment. I actually quite enjoyed the show and I probably am overthinking the situation.
I love the way you think.
You are not overreacting; our children are bombarded by such messages. Remember Scrooge McDuck? Ironically, this leaves kids MORE vulnerable to unscrupulous business/marketing practices (those “evil capitalists”) because people who think money is evil are encouraged to think about it less and manage it poorly through pointless consumption (as opposed to the mindful consumers of businesses that offer valuable goods).
I think this goes well beyond messages about money in our culture (which are disturbing) to look as a parent about the messages our children absorb from media, peers, and school. It’s important that we discuss and question values that could be harmful or dubious and avoid the tendency to dismiss simplified or negative value statements as “cute” because it’s kids. (For example, I’m struggling right now with my son’s insistence that girls are somehow a different, and terrible, species with whom he doesn’t want to associate; it drives me nuts how few other people think about the messages we send to 6-year-olds translating years down the road.)
Also, thanks for this reminder of how counter-culture FIRE/FIOR is. Sometimes I forget that my disagreements with my family of origin about are actually because they are so bought in to the (upper) middle class American consumerist culture. I AM the weirdo. Haha.
Thank you for this! I really don’t think I’m overreacting either. It’s unbelievable how these messages regarding money are everywhere and I’m quite certain it has a negative affect on our children. Like you said, someone who sees it as evil is going to spend less time learning, thinking, and managing it.
Yes, we truly are in the minority. FIRE/FIOR is still way off the beaten path. I forget it sometimes myself.
Trust me it could be worse. I worked in the chemical and oil industry running a safe and environmentally compliant facility. The public school system and Hollywood portrayed people like me as greedy monsters because in addition to the fact we profitable, a grievous crime, we also were single handedly destroying the planet. The whole truth is usually complex, people prefer simple dogma.
Very true. I work in the pharmaceutical industry and we are also demonized quite often. I suppose you’re right.
I am going to have to disagree on this one. I would argue that the message of the shows isn’t that acquiring money is bad, but that acquiring money by doing immoral things (e.g. selling all the dinosaurs) is bad. And I think it’s a very positive thing for kids to be taught that there are moral/ethical issues that arise from how we make money.
You make a very good point.
I agree with this! My kids actually get this at school…they were told by their “life skills” teacher in middle school that the stock market was awful and risky and it should be avoided. I mean, WTF? Sad to think of the decades of capital gains these kids are going to miss due to what they “learned” from teachers like this at a relatively young age. Its hard for us as parents to counteract that, since like it or not what their teachers say carries a lot of weight with kids like that….
You are absolutely right. Having an educator say something like that to young, impressionable children can have a terrible outcome for their financial futures. I’m so sorry to hear this was the case for your children. Hopefully, with your involvement in the FI community, you can counteract any bad info being dished out.
Money is not evil. I believe the quote is “…love of money is the root of all evil…”
Very good point!