I thought this was very interesting, on Lenin's Tomb, about happiness; some of this unhappiness has to be coming not from assessments of one's very isolated material well being, but from consciousness of the suffering of the majority and the injustice of our arrangements. The msm tries to train us to have the isolated torturer's lentality, to identify with the torturer, his impunity, his dettchment, but I think it only works on a tiny, sick minority (which is all one needs of course, equally distributed between brazen collaborators and faux dissidents whose solutions are all punitive...).
As the 60s graffiti reprinted on your blog says: "Abolition du travail aliéné". Most people are remarkably kindly and helpful, when they're allowed to be. This is not sentimentality but a empirical observation that can be verified almost anywhere in the world.
All alienated labour is training in cruelty and indifference, and stupidity. For those who feel uncomfortable without statistics, there are tons of them demonstrating that some of the "poorest" countries in the world have some of the highest happiness-ratings, in self-assessments by those questioned - as long as the tribal and family structures are still intact; as long as people are allowed to feed themselves, and follow their interests, and work and celebrate with their friends, and have some connection to the rest of the universe beyond a paycheck and a TV; as long as they are not being forced to "develop", i.e. succumb to the imposition of backbreaking wage labour for a pittance so that... so that their children, or at least their grandchildren, will not have to succumb to the imposition of backbreaking wage labour for a pittance. Which of course depends on their kids being smarter, tougher, harder-working or better-connected than their neighbour's kids. This is something to strive for.
- Suicide amongst young males in Ireland has increased by 70% since 1990. It coincides perfectly with the economic boom.
"Many media commentators glibly put the rise in self-intoxication down to primitive hedonistic urges unleashed by the boom." - Well, they would, wouldn't they? This delight in regarding human beings as acid-tanks under high pressure! This headscratching puzzlement about "the breakdown of the family"! This solemnly responsible cogitation!
I thought this was very interesting, on Lenin's Tomb, about happiness; some of this unhappiness has to be coming not from assessments of one's very isolated material well being, but from consciousness of the suffering of the majority and the injustice of our arrangements. The msm tries to train us to have the isolated torturer's lentality, to identify with the torturer, his impunity, his dettchment, but I think it only works on a tiny, sick minority (which is all one needs of course, equally distributed between brazen collaborators and faux dissidents whose solutions are all punitive...).
ReplyDeletementality! detatchment!
ReplyDeleteoy!
ReplyDeleteAs the 60s graffiti reprinted on your blog says: "Abolition du travail aliéné". Most people are remarkably kindly and helpful, when they're allowed to be. This is not sentimentality but a empirical observation that can be verified almost anywhere in the world.
ReplyDeleteAll alienated labour is training in cruelty and indifference, and stupidity. For those who feel uncomfortable without statistics, there are tons of them demonstrating that some of the "poorest" countries in the world have some of the highest happiness-ratings, in self-assessments by those questioned - as long as the tribal and family structures are still intact; as long as people are allowed to feed themselves, and follow their interests, and work and celebrate with their friends, and have some connection to the rest of the universe beyond a paycheck and a TV; as long as they are not being forced to "develop", i.e. succumb to the imposition of backbreaking wage labour for a pittance so that... so that their children, or at least their grandchildren, will not have to succumb to the imposition of backbreaking wage labour for a pittance. Which of course depends on their kids being smarter, tougher, harder-working or better-connected than their neighbour's kids. This is something to strive for.
- Suicide amongst young males in Ireland has increased by 70% since 1990. It coincides perfectly with the economic boom.
http://www.swp.ie/socialistworker/2005/sw236/socialistworker-236-4.htm
"Many media commentators glibly put the rise in self-intoxication down to primitive hedonistic urges unleashed by the boom." - Well, they would, wouldn't they? This delight in regarding human beings as acid-tanks under high pressure! This headscratching puzzlement about "the breakdown of the family"! This solemnly responsible cogitation!
Ach! I'm ranting again.