there are literal explosions above this house. no neighbors running to see what’s happening, no fire trucks, nothing. these kids have been completely abandoned to the horror.

this is how you damage a whole generation’s psyche, normalizing #alienation.

choose your art & media wisely, white folks. these kinds of stories are pure #nihilism.

“A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings.”

Shipyard union leader James Reid was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1971. He gave his rectorial address #OTD, 28 April, 1972. The New York Times reprinted it, & called it the greatest political speech since the Gettysburg Address. Read it online at

https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_167194_smxx.pdf

Im throwing a #birthday #party. It looks like only my partner is coming.
Im literally throwing a party and no one is coming.

My #loneliness and #alienation is now a cliche.

I held it a week early to avoid conflicting with inauguration and associated protests.

Friendship, I'm bad at it.
I'm bad online, and in text. I think I'm good in person but... actually I'm good at socializing. Acting. Charming. I'm not very sure about my feelings.

I'm broadcasting my unhappiness here & on Insta. Meanwhile I'm not reaching out to family. I'm not returning DMs. Why? I'm scared to.

Self #alienation is a topic that interests me. I figure it comes from rejection by my nuclear family & pressure I've put on significant others who leave to save themselves.

https://shatterzone.substack.com/p/alleged-ceo-shooter-luigi-mangione

In the wake of this shooting every media organization commenting on it has had to grapple with the waves of public enthusiasm for Luigi’s actions. Right-wing media figures condemning the left for celebrating this assassination have been criticized by their own readers and listeners. Insurance companies have pulled down lists of their executives from the Internet.

This is because they too understand the shooter culture of the United States. Like anyone else, they know that any mass shooting that meets with massive media coverage and interest will spawn copycats. The assassination Luigi is believed to have carried out was new and exciting; it demanded the public’s attention in a way most mass shootings don’t.

At almost the exact same time the United Healthcare CEO was assassinated, a gunman walked into a religious school near Oroville California and shot two young children before killing himself. This shooting drew almost no national attention. It was entirely drowned out by the execution of an insurance industry CEO. The armed and disaffected young men who are most drawn to this sort of thing will not miss this fact.

#MentalHealth and #alienation under #capitalism

'The practice of “punitive psychiatry” involves the application of diagnostic criteria to discredit, undermine or institutionalise those whose ideas or actions pose a threat to the political and social order.'

#DSM #Psychiatry

https://socialistvoice.ie/2024/11/mental-health-and-alienation-under-capitalism/

[Nouveau podcast] LHDG20. Négocier avec une machine

Bon, je me suis encore un peu énervé… Vraiment, je sais pas vous, mais moi j'en ai ras-le-bol de devoir négocier avec des machines !

Lire et écouter : https://grisebouille.net/lhdg20-negocier-avec-une-machine/
Grise Bouille, Tome VI : https://editions.ptilouk.net/gb06
Soutien : https://ptilouk.net/#soutien

"Invigning av blomkrukspojken" ("Inauguration of the flowerpot boy"), 2024.

From Todd Mcgowan’s Embracing Alienation, loc 1998:

The lure of overcoming alienation entraps subjects in the pursuit of a false possibility that deforms their perspective on existence. Existence becomes the struggle to transcend the obstacles standing in the way of achieving happiness. Unhappiness becomes a state to flee rather than the normal state of existence. Burdened by the image of an unalienated future, one finds oneself fleeing from existence itself. In such a position, there is no possibility for finding satisfaction in the everyday variegations of one’s life.

Which I think is pretty much as simple as Oliver Burkeman makes out here in loc 483 of his new book. The images of an unalienated future inevitably obscures what it is we can do meaningfully in the present: today rather than tomorrow, this morning rather than this afternoon, now rather than in an hour:

Almost nobody wants to hear the real answer to the question of how to spend more of your finite time doing things that matter to you, which involves no system. The answer is: you just do them. You pick something you genuinely care about, and then, for at least a few minutes – a quarter of an hour, say – you do some of it. Today. It really is that simple. Unfortunately, for many of us, it also turns out to be one of the hardest things in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M88SE8yiWPM

And Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand
Always kinda sorta wished I looked like Elvis
And in my head there's all these classic cars and outlaw cowboy bands
I always kinda sorta wished I was somebody else

https://markcarrigan.net/2024/10/07/burdened-by-the-image-of-an-unalienated-future-one-finds-oneself-fleeing-from-existence-itself/

Alienation: Marx's Conception of Man in a Capitalist Society by Bertell Ollman, 1976

In this book, the most thorough account of Marx's theory of alienation yet to have appeared in English, Professor Ollman reconstructs the theory from its constituent parts and offers it as a vantage point from which to view the rest of Marxism.

@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#philosophy
#alienation
#capitalism
#Marx

#frg #israel #palestine : #war / #gaza / #identity / #alienation / #discourse / #media

„The Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 was a transformative experience for much of Germany's Palestinian diaspora. Many lost relatives in Gaza, along with their trust in the German media. Four Palestinians in Berlin share their experiences.“

https://qantara.de/en/artikel/die-letzten-zwoelf-monate-waren-die-schlimmste-zeit-meines-lebens

I #amreading EMBRACING ALIENATION by #ToddMcGowan. Only a few pages in, and he's blowing my mind in some of the best ways possible.

#alienation
#identity
#LifeHacks
#philosophy
#existentialism
#psychoanalysis
#Hegel
#DeathDrive
#reading
#books
#bookstodon
#subversive
#resist

Let’s look at another issue that for meany people is hidden by “common sense” in our daily #deathcult worship. That wage labour is not voluntary and limits freedom, workers are forced to sell their labour due to lack of alternatives for basic survival. The ability to choose between employers does not equate to freedom in this sense, it limits freedom because workers have no meaningful alternative. Capitalist wage labour alienates workers from their labour, the products of their labour, their human nature, and other workers, This #alienation leads to a loss of freedom and self-realization.

“Wages are determined through the antagonistic struggle between capitalist and worker. Victory goes necessarily to the #capitalist. The capitalist can live longer without the worker than can the worker without the capitalist. Combination among the capitalists is customary and effective; workers’ combination is prohibited and painful in its consequences for them. Besides, the landowner and the capitalist can make use of industrial advantages to augment their revenues; the worker has neither rent nor interest on capital to supplement his industrial income. Hence, the intensity of the competition among the workers.” https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/wages.htm

The capitalist and #socialist perspectives offer different ideas of freedom.

Individual liberty: #Capitalism emphasizes individual freedom to make economic choices without government interference. The ability to own private property, engage in “voluntary” exchanges, and pursue profit in a free market economy. Consumers have the freedom to choose from a variety of goods and services produced by competing businesses. Freedom is defined as the absence of coercion or constraints imposed by others, especially the government.

Collective freedom: Socialism focuses on collective liberation from economic exploitation and the constraints of capitalism. Freedom can not be achieved without basic needs (food, housing, healthcare, education) guaranteed for all. Freedom as the ability to realize one’s potential, which requires access to collective decision-making over economic resources and production.

Capitalist freedom is tied to market mechanisms, socialist freedom involves democratic planning of the economy. Formal vs. real freedom distinguishes between formal (legal) freedom and real (material) freedom, capitalism only provides the former. Capitalism focuses on economic and political freedoms, while socialism expands the concept to include social and economic issues. The elimination of economic constraints on human potential, this is the humanistic path we need to take.

On this path, we need to view justice and freedom as intertwined concepts. True freedom is defined to incorporate justice, equality, solidarity, and universal access to substantive (not just formal) freedoms. The #anarchist and socialist perspectives reject definitions of freedom that ignore this, our “common sense” needs to reflect this.

What tools would we need to take important parts of society away from this mess https://opencollective.com/open-media-network

https://hamishcampbell.com/wage-labour-is-not-voluntary/