Voyou wrote:
> I think one of the best people writing about the ways in which
> early-21st century capitalism specifically relates to depression is the
> blogger mark k-punk. This post is particularly good:
> http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/007656.html
>
Very interesting, clear article. Thank you.
I have two kids: boy, 24; girl, 14. My son, I'd say, fits the ahedonic, depressive profile. My daughter is just the opposite. Some of the difference is the result of temperament; but some is the result of the fact that my daughter has been involved in the discipline of dance (ballet) since age 9. So, first, she has been working hard at a craft and has been able to realize how this effort actually translates into a mastery of sorts and, second, she has been surrounded by others similarly engaged, so that she is growing up in an atmosphere of great communal effort and work. Looking at her and the kids in her classes, I've never seen a more joyful, easy-going, bunch of people.
Now, there's pleasure in dance, but really it's more like 95% work, pain, struggle, hardship and 5% fun. And what is really remarkable is how much the structure of this discipline gives them all a sense of safety and power.
The biggest lie of consumer society is that satisfying your appetites will result in happiness. The second biggest lie is that eros is nothing other than sex. The third biggest lie is that work is just a means to an end -- money, which is the means to satisfy individual appetite.
Joanna