We value others in the abstract. It is like the old expression: "I love humanity. But I can't stand people." I know what this is like. The most altruistic virtue signallers are often the most irritable grouches, in private anyway. I know this, because I happen to be one of those high-falutin hypocrites. It can be a challenge getting through the crowds of idiots downtown without having already consigned almost every single one to the outer darkness, especially if they are smoking on the sidewalk and I have to dodge them in order to not inhale their toxic waste. And don't get me started about the excessive and ridiculous love that almost everyone seems to have for their pet doggies, while ignoring homeless beggars that are huddled on the pavement, or the young tech junkies giving their thumbs carpal tunnel on their dear little Precious. Or people who shouldn't be allowed to sit anywhere behind a steering wheel. I could go on.
The streets are full of mindless idiots. They appear mindless because they really don't have a clue. Like sheep without a shepherd. I'm sure they all have lives, though I'm not sure that any of them lead the type of existence that I would call enviable. Most probably, those who are not students that have drunk the neoliberal Kool Aid and still think the only way to make a difference is by making a buck, are those same students a few years later who are now stranded in mindless occupations that barely pay the rent or mortgage. Serves them right, methinks.
We are also hostages to an economic system that cannibalizes us. Business wants to remain competitive so you have to give them your spirit, body and soul, and that is still not a guarantee that you will have a job next month. If we don't feel already valued, then that is something we have to do for ourselves. a form of existential masturbation methinks. So what else are you going to do if no one invites you onto the dance floor?
I really wonder if that is what made self-esteem necessary? If we are hardly adequately valued by our own parents and families, then where else are we going to get validation? We have to do it yourselves. (Hmm...that would be an interesting brand name for a vibrator: Do It Yourself. The awesome new Do It Yourself Vibrator! Now available in your local sex shop. And don't forget to scream "I'm Awesome!!!!!") Except for our families, we are on our own. People really care crap about each other, no matter how many meaningful noises we try to make. And that is why the Temple of Self-Esteem has become our dominant secular religion. No one else is going to love you, so love yourself and, by the way, Gentle Reader, it is a myth that you have to love yourself before you can love others. When it is yourself that you love, you will love only yourself. Probably no one else, unless they serve your purpose. When you love others then you can love your sweet little precious as well, just as when people love you it also makes it possible for you to love others, including your dear little precious. If it was really true that self-esteem would generate loving, caring and empathic persons then why, Gentle Reader, is this obscenely wealthy country, this Canada of ours, languishing underneath a humanitarian crisis of homelessness, and we are still in denial that this is a humanitarian crisis?
We have twenty-four hours to figure it out before I post something new tomorrow.
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