I do have the power. I can decide for myself what I want, even if the thought stresses me out.
Renata SaleclI don't criticize political or electoral freedom, but capitalism's perversion of the concept: the illusion that I hold the power over my own life.
Renata SaleclEvery time we decide for something, we lose something else. Buying a car is a great example. A lot of people not only read ratings before they buy their car but they continue afterwards - to make sure they really made the right choice.
Renata SaleclSigmund Freud already discovered that suffering gives us pleasure - in a strange masochistic way. The tyranny of choice exploits that weakness. Consumer culture exhausts us. We suffer. We destroy ourselves. And we just can't stop.
Renata SaleclWe constantly feel stressed, overwhelmed and guilty.It's our own fault if we're unhappy. It means we made a bad decision.
Renata SaleclOne of the greatest gains of capitalism is that even the proletarian slave feels like a master. He believes he has the power to change his life. We are propelled by the ideology of the self-made man: we work more, we consume more and in the end we consume ourselves. The consequences are burnout, bulimia and other lifestyle diseases.
Renata Salecl