Consumption today is forced and institutionalized—not as a right or pleasure, but as a civic duty. The Puritan viewed himself as a business meant to thrive for the greater glory of God. His personal qualities and character, which he dedicated his life to developing, were seen as capital to be managed prudently, without speculation or waste.In contrast, the modern consumer sees himself as someone who must enjoy life, a business of pleasure and satisfaction, with the duty to be happy, in love, flattering/flattered, seductive/seduced, engaged, euphoric, and dynamic. This reflects the principle of maximizing existence by multiplying contacts and relationships, intensively using consumer goods, and systematically exploiting all potential benefits. The consumer does not question whether to escape this compulsion. The new individual spends less time on production through work and increasingly focuses on the production and continuous innovation of their needs and well-being. They must ensure they constantly mobilize all their possibilities and consumptive capacities."Try Jesus," says an American slogan. Everything must be tried: the consumer is driven by the fear of missing out on some kind of pleasure. You never know if a particular experience or contact—Christmas in the Canary Islands, eel with whiskey, the Prado, LSD, or Japanese-style lovemaking—might offer a unique sensation.This is no longer about desire, taste, or specific preferences but about a generalized curiosity transformed into a diffuse restlessness. This is the "fun-morality" or the imperative to amuse oneself and thoroughly explore all possibilities—the imperative to enjoy, reward oneself, and get into the right mood.
>>24094696I just resubscribed to world of warcraft the other day.
>>24094725Based.
>>24094696I get it but he kind of sounds like a sourpuss, like all French "people" do
>>24094696And this is bad because...?
>>24095708Potential cultural side effects caused by rationalization and mass production are unpredictable. There is no protection for the population from the effects of sensationalist media, or the damage caused by a grim apartment block or the latest kitsch film. Furthermore, accelerated obsolescence and the proliferation of misinformation, job instability, and increased expectations for mobility exacerbate social pressures related to mobility, competition, and status. The system is caught in a cycle of self-destruction.Those who cannot keep up become outcasts. Those who manage to adapt their lives to the growth model do so at the cost of effort that leaves them weakened.Therefore, society must make ever-greater efforts to offset the social costs of growth by allocating an increasing share of GDP to social institutions (education, research, health), which are primarily intended to serve growth.These expenditures merely compensate for the system's dysfunctions rather than meeting needs positively, and they are added to the accounts of "increasing the standard of living."In short, we are reaching a point where the dynamics of growth and abundance become circular and self-referential, with the system exhausting itself to maintain reproduction, until a threshold is reached where the gears spin aimlessly, and all productivity gains are used to sustain the system. The only objective outcome is the proliferation of numbers and balances, as we regress to a primitive state.
