SLAVES FOR THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMY

Playing the Game It seems like America has become not only the paper processing agent of the world, but it has also changed its role from producers to consumers of goods and services. It’s become the mecca for many migrants to come, make their nest, gather their eggs, and return home to fulfill a dream. In the process they, like everyone else, work round the clock, day after day, in a numbing state of automated activity from dawn to dusk. During that time, people submit their identity and conform to roles necessary for assuring personal survival: the paycheck! That ticket which, after the bills (e.g. rent, utilities, services, and groceries), might offer opportunities for some leisurely escapades.

Thus, the need for multiple breadwinners, with multiple jobs, to sustain a single household. Meanwhile, their children are often left to fend for themselves either in the streets or stuck in the often seductive and violent world of virtual reality. Need you wonder why the young are in the news – why unchecked curiosity often leads to rebellious deviance? To many, It’s a mad world. Things are happening fast! Demands are coming from all directions and the threat of becoming an outcast is constant. The fear of being left alone and obsolete is real and it’s easier to become an ostrich; just stick your head in the sand and leave the rest of you up for grabs – Isn’t that a swift kick in the ###.

Under such circumstances, prolonged feelings of powerlessness and helplessness grow and give birth to feelings of neurosis, depression, anxiety, panic attacks and more. Thus, the system knows the automaton needs occasional tweaking and lubrication; it (you) needs to experience some sense of freedom and control. Thus, enters government endorsed and supported Hedonism; the simple effort to live life in the most pleasurable way possible. It’s the pursuit of sensual self-indulgence in ways that tries to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Just prioritize pleasure in one’s lifestyle, thoughts, or actions and let Viva La Vida Loca!

Top on the list of immediate gratifications is Consumerism: when you feel ill, stuck, whatever – just shop! Shop! Shop! And when necessary, just Charge It! Alas you become a slave to the next paycheck. But do Party when you’re a bit stressed and in need of company. By all means, feel free to spice your life with vises of all sorts: Buzz it all out and get loose with a drink and a touch of coke, dope, smoke, or some new exotic trick in a pill. Just Chill! After all, you can always get on the couch and legally medicate with your neighborhood pill pusher/psychiatrist and brain twist er/psychologist. But beware! When all else fails there are labels to assign and justify institutionalization; face it! Hospitals and prisons do good business.

And so, with good reason, the system is flexible: To survive the alienating effects of constant shifts in socio economic compartmentalization and sustain sufficient cognitive dissonance (a split between one’s internal values and external reality), it expands to accommodate and contracts to motivate the new slave, the automaton. Point! Capital ism needs, and sustains, a certain level of Neurosis, narcissism, deviance, and addiction. Until the next issue, consider the movie “Wolf of Wall Street” where one is allowed, based on affordability, to indulge one’s insatiable hunger for pleasurable people, places, and things. Meanwhile, let’s medicate to animate the automaton party.