Friday, February 18, 2005
How Crazy Are You?
I've got no desire to work today. That's not unusual, but I don't even want to keep up the facade of being productive. I hate being at work, I hate being in a cubicle, I hate rerunning the same inane conversations I have every day.
Does this make me one of those lazy leftists who are just afraid of hard work? Damn straight it does. Productive, creative activity fills me with joy. There is nothing redeeming about work.
Therefore I thought I'd and write about something that's been bothering me.
Wild n crazy
It's de rigeur for people to describe themselves or others as 'crazy' or 'wild'. It usually goes something like: "She's so crazy, she went sky-diving!" or "He started singing in the middle of the street! He's crazy!" Or think of Billy Idol's "Wild One".
So, crazy no longer means mentally unstable, but rebellious. 'Crazy' people transgress social boundaries. So far, so good.
But what social boundaries are people crossing? 99% of the time, 'crazy' means:
- drinking too much
- being too loud/obnoxious
- an 'extreme' sport
- spontaneity
But none of these things are rebellious! At most, they challenge social & cultural rules. They don't confront power structures. They don't involve much physical danger. They are safe risks. They are fully commodifiable: there are whole industries devoted to making you drink too much, buy sports equipment and, more commonly, sell the image of 'craziness' back to you i.e. you're truly wild if you buy this cell phone, eat this brand of chips, etc. Capitalism wants you to be as crazy as possible, as long as you keep working at your day job(s).
To truly transgress social boundaries means confronting the power structures that shape them. In other words, trying to shut down a WTO meeting is much 'crazier' than taking a spontaneous vacation. Throwing a tear gas canister back at the police is more 'wild' than snowboarding. But you'll never see those activities marketed as 'crazy', and reflected in mainstream opinion's idea of what crazy is. Genuine challenges to power are hidden, suppressed, or written off as crazy/unstable, not crazy/cool.
The Iraqi Resistance movement is rebellious. Drinking till you puke is not. I just wanted to make that clear.
Does this make me one of those lazy leftists who are just afraid of hard work? Damn straight it does. Productive, creative activity fills me with joy. There is nothing redeeming about work.
Therefore I thought I'd and write about something that's been bothering me.
Wild n crazy
It's de rigeur for people to describe themselves or others as 'crazy' or 'wild'. It usually goes something like: "She's so crazy, she went sky-diving!" or "He started singing in the middle of the street! He's crazy!" Or think of Billy Idol's "Wild One".
So, crazy no longer means mentally unstable, but rebellious. 'Crazy' people transgress social boundaries. So far, so good.
But what social boundaries are people crossing? 99% of the time, 'crazy' means:
- drinking too much
- being too loud/obnoxious
- an 'extreme' sport
- spontaneity
But none of these things are rebellious! At most, they challenge social & cultural rules. They don't confront power structures. They don't involve much physical danger. They are safe risks. They are fully commodifiable: there are whole industries devoted to making you drink too much, buy sports equipment and, more commonly, sell the image of 'craziness' back to you i.e. you're truly wild if you buy this cell phone, eat this brand of chips, etc. Capitalism wants you to be as crazy as possible, as long as you keep working at your day job(s).
To truly transgress social boundaries means confronting the power structures that shape them. In other words, trying to shut down a WTO meeting is much 'crazier' than taking a spontaneous vacation. Throwing a tear gas canister back at the police is more 'wild' than snowboarding. But you'll never see those activities marketed as 'crazy', and reflected in mainstream opinion's idea of what crazy is. Genuine challenges to power are hidden, suppressed, or written off as crazy/unstable, not crazy/cool.
The Iraqi Resistance movement is rebellious. Drinking till you puke is not. I just wanted to make that clear.
