in our current postmodern era, not only is outsourcing factory jobs and food production possible, but as is identity, thought, and relationships. no longer do you have to form a concept of self through self reflection and socialization, all you need now is a tiktok and a desire to be a "type of girl". no longer do you need coherent critical thinking skills to process concepts and form frameworks, you just need to spend some time on the political side of youtube. relationships with people are redundant, as relationships can be formed en masse with micro influencers exploiting your attention and care for personal gain.
this is hardly surprising, as a system with the goal of infinite growth will continuously demand more and more from its subjects in order to facilitate that growth. the commodification of the self may indeed be the final capitalistic inevitability. not satisfied with merely the fruit of our labor and the advertising in our leisure, capital has begun to demand the sale of our personal, internal lives as well. we have reinvigorated capitalism into a brand new dystopian nightmare, where identity and commodity are one.
to show your identity, you need products and items that show your identity. and the only identities that will be shown are the ones that make someone money, because theres no incentive under capitalism to do anything for free. you are going to pay for the privilege of anti-consumerism and youll love it. even without money, looking at anything on the internet now is exchanging one resource (time + attention) for another (ad revenue + increased site interaction).
capitalism will grind us all into the dirt and we’re gonna have to pay for it
“Baby, we're all born to be businessmen
Every Fugazi record has a catalog number and a price tag
And every independent label is selling you another goddamn product
But, no, we're not slaves to the music
Oh no, we're not slaves to the company, baby
We do what we're born and raised to do and when you create something
You're producing something and that act of producing is the creation of a product”
-"Side Projects Are Never Successful" by Bomb the Music Industry
2/11/2023