So I watched Cosmopolis. Decent enough film.
Cronenberg films always sort of resonate me well beyond the viewing,
which I think is a indication of the skill at play. There was a portion
of it where the lead character is having a conversation with someone and
she’s talking about the commodification or tracking of time; dividing
it up into measurable portions so that we can assign meaning or measure
things with it. Since the movie revolves around the nature of business
and unimaginable wealth the conversation got me thinking about the whole
notion of “Business Hours” and how that’s a product of the capitalistic
structure of our society. The hours in question have been deemed
“valuable” because they are the hours within which money can, and
should, be made; a holdover from our days of working with the earth,
can’t harvest in darkness. This has long since become irrelevant as the
world has gradually become smaller and smaller; we have “Business Hours”
in our own little pockets of the world, but it’s the people with the
power that have found a way to manage the entirety of time and commodify
all of it.
I’ll get to the people in power in a bit.
For now, I’m thinking about the nature of marking part of our day as “Business Hours.” It interests me because that is the part of the day that we’ve assigned meaning to and it is because that is the time of the day that money can be made. Hours outside of this, also known as “off hours” or “free time,” is not valuable because money isn’t necessarily made and tracked during this time. Yes, we buy things after we’re done work (groceries, medicine, alcohol, “entertainment”) but it is not tracked until the following “Business day” where people are paid to categorize, measure, and log what money changed hands and with whom. During our “valuable” time we must contribute to some greater goal in some form or another, it can be in large ways or small ways but we must “make good use of our time” after all, we’re being paid for it. Money makes things worth while. Money makes meaning. Money is meaning. Thus is capitalism.
Then there’s the notion of ideals. We’re supposed to find work that fits with our ideals, work towards some greater purpose as our own individuals minds determine that purpose; my mind likes numbers and money so accounting would give me purpose, for instance. We seek jobs and financial validation for whatever it is that our mind and who we are has identified as “important.” It’s all no more or no less important, there’s no inherent ranking, but in a world driven by money the ideals that lead to the most money are the ideals that our society holds as a priority. Our ideals drive our work, work must happen during “Business Hours” to count, our hours are commodified so our ideals have been commodified. Our ideals have a price tag. Our ideals have a bottom line. Some people seek validation and in our society that validation comes from financial sources; the best product gets the most financial support and financial validation. Many people aren’t looking for this top level validation and those at the top are fine with this because what fun is it to have “the most” if there are no others who you can see that you have more than. Having said that I think that a lot of people would like to have “the most” or receive more validation than they’re currently receiving; however, to get that “top level” one needs political maneuverings and that requires a personality type that is rather rare. We may have the ability to move, but if this movement does not result in greater financial gain for someone that they are not movements that count towards anything. Most are left wanting.
But capitalism has an answer for this.
Funny enough, the answer for people that are left wanting is the very notion of wanting itself. The best way to get people to buy something is to make them think that they want it and to make them think that it’ll be a solution. Much of our suffering revolves around the notion that we feel incomplete and we feel incomplete because we haven’t spent enough time figuring out what it is exactly we need out of life. Capitalism tells us that we need movie tickets, a car, or the latest “Thing X” and gets us to buy into the cycle of wanting. This distracts us from the greater, and more messy, practice of self-exploration to discover our own needs; incidentally it is also much hard to market to a person searching for their own needs. Want is simple. Want is profitable. As long as people are wanting things they’ll be too distracted to figure out what it is that they are needing. We spend a great portion of our life time wanting and lusting after different things and we’re always certain that whatever it is that we want, it is going to be the thing that fixes us. We don’t know what’s broken because we haven’t spent time looking at what’s going on; I would posit that there’s nothing wrong with us in the first place, humans are beautifully and wonderfully complex. Capitalism needs problems it can sell solutions to, so it reframes beautiful and wonderful human complexity as a simple problem with a simple solution. Oh, and the solution comes in the color of your choice. To reflect your “individuality.” We’re all special, unique individuals buying the same lies one way or another.
I mean just think. I know I “need” money because it will allow me to buy the things I “need” and the things I “want.” I know I need food, for instance, so I know that I need a job. But I also know that having food is not enough, I am presented with so many examples of people who are much happier than I am because they have “Thing X” so I, in turn, begin to want “Thing X.” As the days go on and I am being constantly exposed to all the people who are happier than I am, the want turns to need and I begin to work the financial considerations for “Thing X” into my personal budget. I no longer know or care about why I feel I need “Thing X” all I know is that the want feels very real. Acquiring “Thing X” solves nothing because the need for it wasn’t real in the first place, but because we’re inundated with the cycle of need we don’t notice. All that ends up happening is that I realize that “Thing X” wasn’t what I needed, it must be “Thing Y” over there because those people who have it are much happier. I avoid the scary, ugly truth: I am unhappy. So long as I’m pursuing a “solution” I don’t have to stop and think and sit with the fact that I am unhappy. We’re told on a regular basis that we should not every be unhappy, even though I would argue that being unhappy is a very healthy, human experience.
But again, in a world of “Business Hours” sitting with a feeling for a moment takes us out of the cycle of consumption; takes us off the easily traceable path that has been laid out for us by capitalism: buy toys until college, by college until “real world,” in the real world we must by a house and car, eventually we get married and have kids. All the while we must be spending money along the way. Sitting with ourselves and our thoughts is not easily traceable and trackable, so it is not in our best interest to do so. Days must be productive and meaningful, they are only meaningful and productive if we’ve made money.
I think this is all rather incoherent but I needed to get the thoughts down somewhere. Maybe I’ll write more later…
I’ll get to the people in power in a bit.
For now, I’m thinking about the nature of marking part of our day as “Business Hours.” It interests me because that is the part of the day that we’ve assigned meaning to and it is because that is the time of the day that money can be made. Hours outside of this, also known as “off hours” or “free time,” is not valuable because money isn’t necessarily made and tracked during this time. Yes, we buy things after we’re done work (groceries, medicine, alcohol, “entertainment”) but it is not tracked until the following “Business day” where people are paid to categorize, measure, and log what money changed hands and with whom. During our “valuable” time we must contribute to some greater goal in some form or another, it can be in large ways or small ways but we must “make good use of our time” after all, we’re being paid for it. Money makes things worth while. Money makes meaning. Money is meaning. Thus is capitalism.
Then there’s the notion of ideals. We’re supposed to find work that fits with our ideals, work towards some greater purpose as our own individuals minds determine that purpose; my mind likes numbers and money so accounting would give me purpose, for instance. We seek jobs and financial validation for whatever it is that our mind and who we are has identified as “important.” It’s all no more or no less important, there’s no inherent ranking, but in a world driven by money the ideals that lead to the most money are the ideals that our society holds as a priority. Our ideals drive our work, work must happen during “Business Hours” to count, our hours are commodified so our ideals have been commodified. Our ideals have a price tag. Our ideals have a bottom line. Some people seek validation and in our society that validation comes from financial sources; the best product gets the most financial support and financial validation. Many people aren’t looking for this top level validation and those at the top are fine with this because what fun is it to have “the most” if there are no others who you can see that you have more than. Having said that I think that a lot of people would like to have “the most” or receive more validation than they’re currently receiving; however, to get that “top level” one needs political maneuverings and that requires a personality type that is rather rare. We may have the ability to move, but if this movement does not result in greater financial gain for someone that they are not movements that count towards anything. Most are left wanting.
But capitalism has an answer for this.
Funny enough, the answer for people that are left wanting is the very notion of wanting itself. The best way to get people to buy something is to make them think that they want it and to make them think that it’ll be a solution. Much of our suffering revolves around the notion that we feel incomplete and we feel incomplete because we haven’t spent enough time figuring out what it is exactly we need out of life. Capitalism tells us that we need movie tickets, a car, or the latest “Thing X” and gets us to buy into the cycle of wanting. This distracts us from the greater, and more messy, practice of self-exploration to discover our own needs; incidentally it is also much hard to market to a person searching for their own needs. Want is simple. Want is profitable. As long as people are wanting things they’ll be too distracted to figure out what it is that they are needing. We spend a great portion of our life time wanting and lusting after different things and we’re always certain that whatever it is that we want, it is going to be the thing that fixes us. We don’t know what’s broken because we haven’t spent time looking at what’s going on; I would posit that there’s nothing wrong with us in the first place, humans are beautifully and wonderfully complex. Capitalism needs problems it can sell solutions to, so it reframes beautiful and wonderful human complexity as a simple problem with a simple solution. Oh, and the solution comes in the color of your choice. To reflect your “individuality.” We’re all special, unique individuals buying the same lies one way or another.
I mean just think. I know I “need” money because it will allow me to buy the things I “need” and the things I “want.” I know I need food, for instance, so I know that I need a job. But I also know that having food is not enough, I am presented with so many examples of people who are much happier than I am because they have “Thing X” so I, in turn, begin to want “Thing X.” As the days go on and I am being constantly exposed to all the people who are happier than I am, the want turns to need and I begin to work the financial considerations for “Thing X” into my personal budget. I no longer know or care about why I feel I need “Thing X” all I know is that the want feels very real. Acquiring “Thing X” solves nothing because the need for it wasn’t real in the first place, but because we’re inundated with the cycle of need we don’t notice. All that ends up happening is that I realize that “Thing X” wasn’t what I needed, it must be “Thing Y” over there because those people who have it are much happier. I avoid the scary, ugly truth: I am unhappy. So long as I’m pursuing a “solution” I don’t have to stop and think and sit with the fact that I am unhappy. We’re told on a regular basis that we should not every be unhappy, even though I would argue that being unhappy is a very healthy, human experience.
But again, in a world of “Business Hours” sitting with a feeling for a moment takes us out of the cycle of consumption; takes us off the easily traceable path that has been laid out for us by capitalism: buy toys until college, by college until “real world,” in the real world we must by a house and car, eventually we get married and have kids. All the while we must be spending money along the way. Sitting with ourselves and our thoughts is not easily traceable and trackable, so it is not in our best interest to do so. Days must be productive and meaningful, they are only meaningful and productive if we’ve made money.
I think this is all rather incoherent but I needed to get the thoughts down somewhere. Maybe I’ll write more later…
No comments:
Post a Comment