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by Zseni 02/14/2007, 6:40pm PST |
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For the most part, Americans are shielded from the direct application of power—in other words, they generally don’t have people telling them what to do without some semblance of a voluntary contract being in place.
"But a subsidiary lesson of such shows is that there’s only one winner. You only earn social recognition when others lose it—you are an individual only if your peers conveniently make up a mass you can stand out against. When basic dignity is defined in terms of this kind of individuality—and even a casual glance at our public discourse confirms this is the case—success in securing it will at the same time inevitably alienate you from those peers, depriving you of the solace of community without gaining you admission to a more receptive one."
I like this because it means that everyone hates me because I make them massive.
My brother and I were discussing this on the way to work this morning: how much control do American consumers - our fellow American consumers - have over their money? Of course we wouldn't say that a man's income is 100% controlled by people other than himself. But I'm not convinced that he has complete autonomy either - at least, the rational consumer does not. |
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