"Keeping up with the Joneses" - "Jones's label" , by Erik Pevernagie, oil on canvas,(100 x 80 cm) x

We expect populists to be popular. However, what can be more inconsistent and nonsensical than “unpopular” populists. They start doing everything to fit the job and are gritting their teeth so hard that they shatter them all and are chewed to bits. The moral … let us be genuine, humble, and coherent instead of stumbling from a vainglorious stance into the opposite.

Neighbors can be a benchmark to define social status. Demonstration and accumulation of material goods are a way to prove one's socio-economic or cultural superiority. Through conspicuous consumption, one can establish a position on the social ladder.

Many want to live in a society of appearances. The world is a show, and the show must be a performance of the wealthy, the beautiful, and the fortunate.

The invulnerable and the exclusive people live like dazzling fish in a scintillating seascape behind glass. Everybody may admire them, nobody can touch them, and there is no fear or guilt of overexposing luxury and fortune. Belair must be able to snub at Beverly Hills with total peace of mind.

The wish to copy-paste the glittering fish meets the gnawing and demanding need to keep up the living standard. Many depend on excessive spending to realize the societal show. They buy gadgets they don't need at all, with money they don't have, for people they don't actually care for while infringing their corporeal and financial capacities, merely to pay doctors and psychiatrists.

In their feverish and unbridled efforts to "do as the Jones's do," they are trapped in a reverse situation that they wanted to escape. By living beyond their means, they feel profoundly frustrated and consider themselves as failures and damned losers.

Giving up both the obsession with sign-values and the subservient fascination of the social pyramid allows us to set priorities in life, find out the core of our true self, and appreciate being "in" the moment. Rather than continually grumbling about "owning," "not owning," or "not possessing enough," why not delight in the healing enchantment of the little moments of every day.

Phenomenon: Demonstration and accumulation of material goods

Factual starting point: Label in coat