Immortality

In his novel Immortality, Milan Kundera writes that "the face is only the serial number of the specimen." He says that figuring out our identity is to get over the surprise that the face we see in the mirror is just the outcome of an accidental string of events. And we don't just have to realize this, we have to identify with it; we need to believe that the who we present to others is unique and has an essence. Consequently, we don't simply have to identify with ourselves, we need to do passionately - to the point of life and death.

We, therefore, seek to immortalize our essence through speech and action. We go to great lengths to ensure that the image we present to the world is one we wish to be remembered by. The problem is, according to Kundera, that we have no control over how we will be perceived once we have passed. While we may believe strongly in our greatness, piety, or moral superiority, we may just be seen as an arrogant SOB.

All this to say, no matter how passionately you defend your cause or try to convert people to it, actions speak louder than words. Rather than piss people off, do what you believe in, and some are sure to notice and hopefully be inspired to do something too.

More on (anti-) consumerism...

Planet Green says, find happiness without buying it.

A suggestion made is to imagine you have no money and ask yourself what you would do to make yourself happy. Rather than focus on material accumulation, they suggest spending time with friends, or enjoying nature.

You know one thing I'm sure many of us would not do if we had no money (or needed it) is work, especially at a monotonous, boring job, sitting in front of a screen, breathing in bad air and dealing with annoying people.

Although we know the things we buy won't bring lasting happiness, if we labour to satisfy the life process (i.e our 'needs'), and try to restrict ourselves from buying stuff, then it's like, what are we working for? As mentioned in a previous post, being a labourer means being a consumer. Therefore, if you're anti-consumerist, your labouring almost becomes meaningless and it's all the more boring and depressing. So, my point is, if there is something wrong with consumerism, it's because there is something wrong with the labour process.

Feminism is dead

Ask some people how they feel about feminism and they'll say, “Feminism is dead. It’s accomplished.” However, while women (insert any power minority) have a great deal more political equality than a hundred years ago, they still lack social equality. That is, people's identity, i.e. race, gender, sexual orientation, puts them at a social (dis)advantage. While quotas in the workplace can be dangerous and ineffective in that they risk reducing equality to a common denominator, to deny someone a job because they have a vagina (or are black or gay), is to treat them adversely because of a common denominator.

Contrary to popular belief, feminism does not base equality on sameness. Feminists believe that equality should be based on distinctiveness. However, feminists resist the argument put forth by those who fear feminism that the distinctiveness of women should be based on traditionally inscribed gender roles. To do so is to contradict one’s argument for distinctiveness because it reduces women to a common denominator (their vagina). Furthermore, the problem with basing gender-equality on traditional gender roles is that the traits and characteristics, even “virtues,” traditionally associated with women is that they are not valued in society.

A consequence of this devaluation has been the association of femininity with weakness/inferiority which has become accepted by society as natural and normal. Not only is this demeaning to women in that it imposes artificial limits on what they can achieve or who they can be, it is also demeaning to men because it reveals the instability of their masculinity. Put differently, if women pretend to be less intelligent or less strong than men, to maintain consciously the illusion of weakness in relation to men – in order to make men feel more secure about their masculinity – then masculinity and its associations with strength and superiority are undermined.

Consequently, although political equality has been achieved, it is not meaningful unless society’s assumptions have also changed.