Mencius Moldbugman

THREAD I’ve been thinking a lot about depression, narcissism and burnout recently. An abundance of sociopathic status seekers in my work environment have led me to ponder whether they are truly happy or more prone to more illness. Despite their status, most seem mentally ill.

Caveat 1: My thoughts on this are still being formed and I will tweet as the thoughts reach me. There may be some flow issues with this thread, remember it’s a thread not an essay, but I hope by the end it will all be clear more or less.

Caveat 2: A lot of what I am going to say was inspired by reading The Burnout Society by Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han. It’s only a short read and I highly recommend it to understand the sickness of our late-capitalist current age.

Han’s diagnosis of our depressed culture is that we live in an overly positive culture that is increasingly dominated by narcissism and self-reference. We have also lost our desire due to the disappearance of the ability to devote to 'the other', the stranger, the non-self.

Many today revolve exclusively around themselves, unable to build meaningful relationships. Even love and sexuality are permeated by this social change: sex and pornography, exhibition and presentation are displacing love, eroticism and desire from the public eye.