|
|
Musings Report #39 9-25-15 Does Our Society Thrive on Addiction?
You are receiving this email because you are one of the 500+ subscribers/major contributors to www.oftwominds.com.
For those who are new to the Musings reports: they are basically a glimpse into my notebook, the unfiltered swamp where I organize future themes, sort through the dozens of stories and links submitted by readers, refine my own research and start connecting dots which appear later in the blog or in my books. As always, I hope the Musings spark new appraisals and insights. Thank you for supporting the site and for inviting me into your circle of correspondents.
Margins of the Unfiltered Swamp #2
Welcome to our second Musings from the Margins of the Unfiltered Swamp--affectionately known here at Of Two Minds by its acronym, MUS.
As mentioned in Musings #34, the last Musings of each month will focus solely on one topic or idea that is on the very margins of the unfiltered swamp, i.e. everything that goes into the Musings, the blog and my books.
A number of readers sorely missed the From Left Field links (apparently semi-random but actually very carefully selected), so I'm adding them back in to MUS #2.
Does Our Society Thrive on Addiction?
It's self-evident that humans are prone to addiction. This may well be true of mammals in general. Lab rats keep hitting the button for more cocaine (or so we're told), endangering their lives to maintain the high. Unfortunately, the same self-destructive tendency is visible in human addicts.
It's also self-evident that addiction does not require drugs--anything that fires the pleasure centers of the brain can fuel addiction: sex, food, exercise, video games, shopping, and so on.
As a society, we have a peculiarly incoherent set of rules for addictive substances: we allow dangerously addictive alcohol (the Prohibition ban on alcohol did not just fail, it may have counter-intuitively raised alcohol consumption) and highly addictive tobacco, but we restrict mildly addictive marijuana and completely ban highly addictive cocaine and heroin. Meanwhile, highly addictive prescribed narcotics are widely available.
The official mindset is that addictive substances must be controlled because we surrender all too easily to addiction once we taste the illicit elixir. But this loss of control is by no means universal. Even if cigarettes, heroin and cocaine were free, a great many people would have no interest in taking them. Millions of people have little difficulty consuming moderate amounts of alcohol.
So what fuels addiction? Though research suggests some are more prone to addiction than others, it seems addiction results from a coping mechanism that enters a runaway feedback loop.
Whatever makes the individual feel better--by either triggering pleasure centers or numbing an inner pain--is naturally repeated.
The official mindset focuses on the addiction rather than the source of the addiction: some psychological pain, anxiety, dread or emptiness that drives individuals to self-medicate with whatever fills the void or numbs the pain: sex, video games, alcohol, shopping, power, food, etc.
Though the official position is that addiction is bad and society must restrict any substance that fuels addiction, it seems our society also benefits from addiction: addiction drives consumption not just of whatever the addict craves but of services to suppress controlled substances, punish those selling the substances and lastly, to help cure the addict of the addiction.
Much of the law-enforcement/prison complex in the U.S. is devoted to suppressing or punishing addictive behaviors and substances. Much of the medical services are devoted to repairing the damage done by addicts (for example, the thousands of vehicle accidents caused by drunk drivers).
This raises a question few seem to ask: does our society generate high levels of anxiety, dread, emptiness and pain that we then seek to self-medicate with addictive behaviors and substances?
I would argue that consumerist societies are intrinsically anxiety-producing, as "keeping up with the Joneses" (i.e. maintaining one's self-worth via consumerist signifiers such as clothing, tattoos, vehicles, etc. of the correct coolness/hipness) is essentially impossible for those with limited income, as the measure of what's cool/hip constantly changes.
The taxonomy of status requires ever-greater sums of money, a pressure that is itself anxiety-creating.
The ultimate emptiness of this consumption-based identity also generates anxiety. After the initial high of buying something new wears off, the owner is left with a painful void: buying/owning signifiers doesn't create meaning, real identity, integrity or self-value.
This consumerist taxonomy of self-worth leaves the majority of people in a state of what I call social defeat: they can't possibly attain the elitist markers of self-worth, so their sense of self and self-worth is poor. What's available to offset these feelings? various addictive substances and behaviors.
In my view, the end-state of this battle for identity and self-worth that most will lose in a mass-media dominated society is the otaku, the class of youth in Japan who spend their lives at home, locked in their bedroom, playing video games, absorbing every detail of various manga series, or pursuing expertise in some sub-genre of the global mass media.
Stripped of opportunities for real engagement, relationships, self-worth, meaningful work, purpose and integrity, these addicts draw pleasure and purpose from mass-media simulacra, essentially shadows on the wall: films, anime, manga, video games, etc.
Social defeat is real, and so is the social disintegration it spawns. It turns out addiction is much more than personal weakness for addictive substances; it is a reflection of a society that excels in generating and distributing social defeat. With few options available to positive social roles, the defeated turn to what's available (and celebrated in the mass-media): addictive substances and behaviors.
Our goal in pursuing Degrowth is not just to do more with less, but to re-order society so that it generates positive social roles in abundance rather than social defeat for all but the few at the top of the heap.
From Left Field
A question of utility: Patents are protected by governments because they are held to promote innovation. But there is plenty of evidence that they do not. -- Intellectual property field is ripe for disruption...
Forget 'developing' poor countries, it's time to 'de-develop' rich countries -- degrowth...
Overthinking Worriers Are Probably Creative Geniuses, Research Finds -- finally, confirmation that there's a payoff to being a worrier!
Robber barons and silicon sultans -- wealthier than the robber barons of old...
Functioning 'mechanical gears' seen in nature for the first time
How PowerPoint is killing critical thought -- no surprise here--the illusion of understanding...
Trapped in the System: A Sick Doctor’s Story (via Joel M.)
Time for the Nuclear Option: Raining Money on Main Street -- it's called QE for the people...
Red meat triggers toxic immune reaction which causes cancer, scientists find -- no human studies yet...
Tech bus drivers forced to live in cars to make ends meet -- costs rise, wages don't....
Are You Really Middle Class? The standard of living taken for granted in the 1960s is now affordable to very few.-- one of mine...
This economic collapse is a 'crisis of bigness' -- well worth a read
Korea, Thy Name Is Hell Joseon -- so much for miracle economy of S. Korea...
"Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and the ugly in us, but our emptiness. The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there." Eric Hoffer
Thanks for reading--
charles |
|
|
|
|
|
