“Having complete and total control over every single aspect of your experience, including everyone around you, is the textbook definition of alienation—precisely how human beings are severed from each other and from their own humanity.”
-
-
Replying to @noampomsky
but no one has complete control? is the quote meant to suggest that alienation is correlated with level of control over your life? or caused by it?
0 replies 1 retweet 2 likes -
Replying to @kacperwikiel @noampomsky
I think cause and effect here are tangled up you form strong bonds by going through shit together, and constrained environments are often either geared toward that (e.g. military and education have, to some extent *are*, explicit rites of passage) but (cont in next tweet)
1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes -
I think the going-through-shit-together part is the important part, and it's *facilitated* by constraints on exit / ability to tap out
1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes -
The ending of American Psycho (the book) comes to mind.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
yes!! this actually was from an essay on late-capitalist fairy tales (Mad Men, Fifty Shades of Gray + American Psycho by Heather Havrilevsky)pic.twitter.com/adagiCM5bV
1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes -
compare-contrast with "Having complete and total control over every single aspect of your experience" though
2 replies 0 retweets 1 like -
I agree “total control” is impossible but there are people who have as much control as humanly possible (near-infinite resources, complete control over their social and romantic life, the ability to choose nearly every interaction they have) and I do think it “flattens” them
1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
for ex if you have an near-infinite partner pool (like many movie stars do) it becomes incredibly difficult to have a deep and lasting relationship because loss is no longer “expensive”; you become much more isolated from meaningful attachment
-
-
I guess I just don't vibe with the "control" framing of this phenomenon
0 replies 0 retweets 2 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.