/lit/ - Literature

How radical is it to think that current (a least American) society has been hollowed out by pleasure entirely? We've become more specialized in our skills and narrowed in our goals for the sole pursuit of cash.

It started with a thought: what if institutions today are hollow shells of their former selves, staffed with various shades of unwitting neoliberals? Example: Chinese infiltration of American institutions is simply because the important defenders no longer have complex interests like patriotism, racism, pride, paranoia, depression, or hatred. What if it's just easier to let the markets take their course? Everyone gets a little richer, little fatter, and a little less sharp.

We can apply this notion to anything really. Privacy, speech, free association give way to job security, access to technology, reputation-derived dopamine, etc.. All non-nuanced pursuits of pleasure.

I just need to know that things are different now, and any good will is coattail ridden.