It’s not enough to merely be complicit in society; to keep your head down and … exist. Oh no, they want you to be keen about it. It’s a way, I’m convinced, to sort out the fakers from the true believers. You can’t take a job and simply turn up and do the required labour, now you must go “above and beyond” customer expectations, you must “show enthusiasm” and be “a team player.” Read any job advertisement for examples of this rhetoric.
And this applies to all aspects of life it seems. Not just confined to the workplace, this contemporary attitude of enthusiasm for more, for an unnatural keenness in all things spills over into the world of daily mundanity. The examples are too numerous to mention but I’m sure you get my drift. A better experience is the catch cry for all things - from appliances to holidays, from linen to lighting, there is a zealotry to life which, quite frankly, I find disturbing.
I suppose it is yet another side effect of the consumerist model; this constant competition for “value” or perceived benefit. No longer are we happy with good enough, everything must be better, faster, sexier, more efficient and yet less expensive. That last one being the kicker for it is an obvious contradiction. How do you get better for less? Well of course there is genuine innovation but breakthroughs in technology or manufacturing processes are rare and yet we are lead to believe we are riding the cusp of a wave of constant ever increasing efficiency. This simply cannot be. The truth behind this phenomenon is, of course, that it is bullshit.
There are innumerable ways one can flog the benefits and superiority of one’s product or service from outright lies (a common tactic) to appeals to its perceived social desirability (this product will make you cool). Why have a washing machine that simply beeps when done when you can have it play a completely uninspired 8bit melody?
Coming back to the beginning and I do suppose it’s something of a chicken and the egg conundrum, this hysterical desire of more for less has placed an unusual burden on us. It seems to me that even our leisure time has been co-opted into being something that requires a level of productivity, be it lively entertainment eg. watching sports or a movie - to low level education eg. watching a documentary. Does anyone simply sit and BE anymore? Does anyone ever get bored?
Zooming out still further, widening the frame, I see a general tendency towards lower tolerance, especially towards libertines like Dollyboy. He gets unfairly maligned. DB really just wants to be left alone so he can get on with his life, he enjoys his boredom. He doesn’t care much for the sportsyball or Marvel movies and prefers to cook and read. He is quiet, too quiet for a man and has no ambition beyond making things easy for himself and others.
However it seems as though this behaviour is intolerable. There is an implicit expectation that one must be stressed out all the time and busy - always busy, “Oh I am sooooo busy these days!” I’d like a dollar for every time someone has uttered those words. People who don’t complain are not only treated with suspicion they are actively excluded because they are not partaking in the collective suffering. They must be doing something wrong. Look at that guy sitting there with a hat on … just sitting, watching the world - what a freak!
I feel that we are seeing a narrowing of society, of what is deemed as being acceptable modes of behaviour or perhaps it has always been this way and we are simply seeing a shift in the view finder of tolerance? I am unsure for I have not lived long enough to be able to truly compare cross-generational attitudes. But I see, through the stories of the past, a different attitude. It seems that in times past there was at least a tacit acceptance of difference - “Oh that’s just Nutty Ned, he’s like that,” or some other such utterance. Once there was an acknowledgment of difference but there still remained acceptance because … well … they are people and people deserve to be treated with love and respect.
Tell me what you think?
In the meantime, please enjoy some of my music:
> "I feel that we are seeing a narrowing of society, of what is deemed as being acceptable modes of behaviour or perhaps it has always been this way and we are simply seeing a shift in the view finder of tolerance?"
There's far more intensive efforts expended today in imposing a society-wide narrowing of what behaviour behooves one deemed to be a member of that same society.
Acceptable modes of behaviour are a weapon projected onto those who consume whatever the majority are consuming. I don't trust the majority's consumption of mainstream media to be in my interest, or safety, or whatever they think their consumption is for. Hence, I don't trust my ability to be congenial to people anymore (at least not towards the majority of people).
I find my attitude towards such people problematic because it makes me miss people, miss individuals and miss the enjoyment I used to get from random social interactions with strangers. I pretend that I'm okay and stronger because of it, but really don't believe pretending or getting along to get along, will work for me anymore.
Here's a performance that surprised me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTOZMFW4MnE
Oh yes Dollyboy! I've noticed a trend over my lifetime. That trend being the squashing of any kind of individualism. We are all supposed to be herd members. Herds of like mind are much easier to control and manipulate. One only has to reflect back to 2020/2021 to see just how far the mass public has been brain washed into thinking that everyone has to be the same and if anyone steps outside of the "right thing to do" they are kicked out of the herd. In the future, us individualist miscreants will most likely be put in prison, a camp, or killed. I say, "bring it on". I really don't care. I would rather die standing on my own beliefs and principles. Heck, even with people I agree with on most things I still find myself outside of the collective when in a group. I'm proud of that! I don't need to be liked. I'll never forget something I read one time. It went something like, "Why do we spend so much time trying to gain favor from people who don't even like us? Why would a person even want to be friends with people that don't like us?" I agree. I would rather search out just one person that likes me exactly the way I am, then have 100 people in my life who only like me because I'm just like they are. Great post and I could rant for hours about this. But I won't. Haha