"Today’s society is no longer Foucault’s disciplinary world of hospitals, madhouses, prisons, barracks, and factories." Really? It's all in a name. Hospitals have become madhouses, the privately-owned prison business is booming and looking for more customers (inmates) by lobbying for the criminalisation of ever more minor offences, the factory mentality of the boss 'overseeing' you on the production-line is now overseeing you digitally counting your keystrokes on the computer as you work from home, and the barracks which have been silently built in America across all states the last 20 years are waiting to be filled by those who protest against the growing tyranny.
We might have added "fitness studios, office towers, banks, airports, shopping malls, and genetic laboratories" and now call people "achievement-subjects" but this is a subset of "obedience-subjects" in new physical set-ups. The base-line of the few ruling the many hasn't changed one iota; it's just morphed into a different constellation with a different language and a different physical environment.
"Self-improvement" and "human potential" are the new religion replacing moralistic Christianity, and no less intolerant. People trying to be 'good upright christian citizens' is no different from achievement-oriented entrepreneurs of the self.
"If deep boredom is the peak of mental relaxation, could it be an essential state for creativity and self-discovery, rather than something to be avoided in a productivity-driven culture?"
As an artist, I preach sleep and procrastination as essential components of the creative process. Not sure if it's possible to be bored when you have an innate creative drive (that's the problem!) - but procrastinating on an artistic task by doing other stuff (whether creative or practical or nonsensical, doesn't matter) is a great way to gather the right kind of energy for The Task.
I don’t agree with any of BCH’s observations nor conclusions. They seem both reductive and slightly off the mark. Still, aspects of his idea are attractive, if not provocative.
They are attractive because they provide, for us an easy explanation for societal charges. That said, he seems to be correct in another sense. He gets that a people’s habits, outlooks, and economies can be relative easy to manipulate. That manipulation can result from at least two things. First, are the times. Second are the ideations of the ruling classes at any particular time.
We should be weary of these observations. We should challenge them because, if adopted, they may cause great disruptions and harms to a society. The unhinged observations of persons like the current US president, it DOGE head, and others, are materially impacting every aspect of American life. They are doing so in the worst of ways. One is by being observationally incorrect. The second are its ideations. The idea of manifest destiny (on behalf of Zionists) in Palestine is but one of the things that would result in material harms. The second is the manner in which America’s rich and power elites will be encouraged to have more of a go at exploiting both American human, environmental resources, or both.
I’ve never heard of Byung-Chul Han, but I like his theories although I don’t agree with all of them.
His assessment that the society has become a shopping mall, etc., cannot be disputed. But his ideas of burnout is questionable. I believe as the question posits that we that burnout are unable or unwilling to seek help and advice from colleagues, instead burning themselves out by piling it all on themselves.
The statement that speaks of self-motivated action to get ahead implies to me more freedom. You may increase pressure on yourself, but the spiritual and self-empowering benefits are far greater. Great ideas today, so topical. Thank you for exercising my brain!
"If deep boredom is the peak of mental relaxation, could it be an essential state for creativity and self-discovery, rather than something to be avoided in a productivity-driven culture?" A great question worth pursuing.
"If deep boredom is the peak of mental relaxation, could it be an essential state for creativity and self-discovery, rather than something to be avoided in a productivity-driven culture?" A great question worth pursuing.
The new elite still uses the pyramid system to dominate the working class:
It is very important for the establishment to control the press and the management of the private and public sectors in order to achieve the self-exploitation of the masses.
“The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. […] And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.”
Quote #1 doesn't hold true for the USA any longer. Under the Trump Taliban the country is being turned back into a disciplinary harness: if you don't fit the model (white m/f) you're either excluded or deported.
Byung-Chul Han dissects modern civilization with surgical precision - except the patient (society) still thinks it's healthy. 😏 Looks like we’ve traded prison cells for gyms, but the bars are still there, just made of neon lights and to-do lists. Freedom? Maybe only when we learn to be useless. Thanks for this dose of philosophical awakening! ✨
I don't agree with Byung-Chul Han's analysis.
"Today’s society is no longer Foucault’s disciplinary world of hospitals, madhouses, prisons, barracks, and factories." Really? It's all in a name. Hospitals have become madhouses, the privately-owned prison business is booming and looking for more customers (inmates) by lobbying for the criminalisation of ever more minor offences, the factory mentality of the boss 'overseeing' you on the production-line is now overseeing you digitally counting your keystrokes on the computer as you work from home, and the barracks which have been silently built in America across all states the last 20 years are waiting to be filled by those who protest against the growing tyranny.
We might have added "fitness studios, office towers, banks, airports, shopping malls, and genetic laboratories" and now call people "achievement-subjects" but this is a subset of "obedience-subjects" in new physical set-ups. The base-line of the few ruling the many hasn't changed one iota; it's just morphed into a different constellation with a different language and a different physical environment.
"Self-improvement" and "human potential" are the new religion replacing moralistic Christianity, and no less intolerant. People trying to be 'good upright christian citizens' is no different from achievement-oriented entrepreneurs of the self.
"If deep boredom is the peak of mental relaxation, could it be an essential state for creativity and self-discovery, rather than something to be avoided in a productivity-driven culture?"
As an artist, I preach sleep and procrastination as essential components of the creative process. Not sure if it's possible to be bored when you have an innate creative drive (that's the problem!) - but procrastinating on an artistic task by doing other stuff (whether creative or practical or nonsensical, doesn't matter) is a great way to gather the right kind of energy for The Task.
Reminds me to ask myself, what is my "why"?
I don’t agree with any of BCH’s observations nor conclusions. They seem both reductive and slightly off the mark. Still, aspects of his idea are attractive, if not provocative.
They are attractive because they provide, for us an easy explanation for societal charges. That said, he seems to be correct in another sense. He gets that a people’s habits, outlooks, and economies can be relative easy to manipulate. That manipulation can result from at least two things. First, are the times. Second are the ideations of the ruling classes at any particular time.
We should be weary of these observations. We should challenge them because, if adopted, they may cause great disruptions and harms to a society. The unhinged observations of persons like the current US president, it DOGE head, and others, are materially impacting every aspect of American life. They are doing so in the worst of ways. One is by being observationally incorrect. The second are its ideations. The idea of manifest destiny (on behalf of Zionists) in Palestine is but one of the things that would result in material harms. The second is the manner in which America’s rich and power elites will be encouraged to have more of a go at exploiting both American human, environmental resources, or both.
I’ve never heard of Byung-Chul Han, but I like his theories although I don’t agree with all of them.
His assessment that the society has become a shopping mall, etc., cannot be disputed. But his ideas of burnout is questionable. I believe as the question posits that we that burnout are unable or unwilling to seek help and advice from colleagues, instead burning themselves out by piling it all on themselves.
The statement that speaks of self-motivated action to get ahead implies to me more freedom. You may increase pressure on yourself, but the spiritual and self-empowering benefits are far greater. Great ideas today, so topical. Thank you for exercising my brain!
"If deep boredom is the peak of mental relaxation, could it be an essential state for creativity and self-discovery, rather than something to be avoided in a productivity-driven culture?" A great question worth pursuing.
"If deep boredom is the peak of mental relaxation, could it be an essential state for creativity and self-discovery, rather than something to be avoided in a productivity-driven culture?" A great question worth pursuing.
Regarding quote N.2 and paired question :
The new elite still uses the pyramid system to dominate the working class:
It is very important for the establishment to control the press and the management of the private and public sectors in order to achieve the self-exploitation of the masses.
“The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. […] And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.”
Anna Arendt
Saved.
Quote #1 doesn't hold true for the USA any longer. Under the Trump Taliban the country is being turned back into a disciplinary harness: if you don't fit the model (white m/f) you're either excluded or deported.
Byung-Chul Han dissects modern civilization with surgical precision - except the patient (society) still thinks it's healthy. 😏 Looks like we’ve traded prison cells for gyms, but the bars are still there, just made of neon lights and to-do lists. Freedom? Maybe only when we learn to be useless. Thanks for this dose of philosophical awakening! ✨