1/ Notes on addicts and addictions: Everyone seems to be an addict today. I wouldn’t be surprised if oxygen consumption becomes an addiction. Much as I admire Jung, I’m sceptical about the AA model. It seems to have a streak of Puritanism about it.
-
-
8/ I don’t know if it’ll ever be possible to invent a drug that would whack alcoholism or depression on the head, but there’s a resistance in the addiction model to any drug, because these drugs aren’t chemicals for these people. They’re religious symbols (Dolan again).
Show this thread -
9/ There’s an idea that taking a drug to beat depression is “cheating”. But if it works without talking...who cares. We tend to moralise diseases we can’t treat (see Sontag on TB as being somewhow poetic or sexual). Once we can treat, it’s mundane. Point is Nietzschean.
Show this thread -
10/ People want to be “addicts” to feel vaguely alivei nour society. It’s, again, parallel to seeking out a victim identity. And it crops up in Fight Club (vicarious thrill of joining cancer “survivor” circles, AA; cancer itself also being moralised because we can’t cure 100%).
Show this thread -
11/ “Addiction” is tied into civilisation. In order to function in our societies we need to suppress a lot moneky behaviours, particular the desire to fuck, kill, and throw shit about the place. Booze, carbs, and so on help us depress ourselves enough to wear suits & smile.
Show this thread -
12/ You can cultivate drugs towards higher experiences, but most don’t. The struggle against “addiction” is a pseudo-struggle against civilisation itself, which needs us drugged. Insofar as there’s a way out of “addictions” or negative behaviour patterns...this is my view...
Show this thread -
13/ The way out is Dr Johnson meets Nietzsche. If you want out, you have to go out completely and existentiallly. Will Self described a gangster he knew who used to smoke. “When did you stop?” asked Self. “1960s. I read the Doll report in the papers. Stopped next day.”
Show this thread -
14/ Self describes the villain’s approach as existential. A bit like a Jean-Paul Belmondo film. “Read that smoking is linked to cancer. [Spit ciggie out] Stop smoking. Move forward. Do the job.” Assess what is good for your body, cut out the bad. No moralising. No question.
Show this thread -
15/ This is also the Dr Johnson approach, which holds that giving up completely is easier than moderation. “I’m not doing that any more.” People sometimes describe epiphanies likes this when they feel they’ve smoked every cigarette they had to smoke. They had 10k in them.
Show this thread -
16/ Anyway, the Nietzsche-Johnson approach is the opposite of cultivating a moralised identity as an “addict” where you secretly get off on the shame-confession dynamic of falling off the wagon. You dirty little Puritans.
Show this thread -
17/ But it’s also possible that, really, people need their vices & that the vices are in them. “Self-improvement” is a very American* democratic notion. The other vaguely Nietzschean angle is to accept people need these things to be what they are, even if the results are fatal.
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
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.