-----Original Message----- From: Yoshie Furuhashi
>Even when the capitalist elite appear (to us the mob)
>to be afflicted with megalomania, they are simply behaving as normal
>capitalists do -- increasing the market share, practicing mergers &
>acquisitions, giving incentives to CEOs. Nothing pathological here!
The pathology is social. Capitalism over-emphasizes the role of the individual relative to society. When we subscribe to the notion that mental illness is primarily a function of the individual mind, we fall into the trap of capital-think. Behaving like a normal capitalist is to be absorbed in a group-based pathology. Just like being a "normal" evangelical Christian.
>The capitalist aesthetic demands that we worship the Thin, (Very) >Young, &
Beautiful
>(here we follow the lead of an eminent emigre Russian intellectual).
>Or youths of amazing athletic graces (Leni Riefenstal Lives!). This
>is symbolically appropriate because both in modelling & sports eating
>disorder is very common, and eating disorder follows the logic of
>capitalism: Binge & Purge. Or Scarcity and Desire Unlimited.
Interesting. Bulimia follows the patho-logic of capitalism. The difference is that bulimics know they're sick.
Ted