Very lately I've been ever so sceptical of the structure of modern society; how it is, how it conforms, even how it adapts and has adapted for the mass population. It's ruthless, ruthless of those with an inability to use the structural system for their own gains. However, I'm not taking a far left perspective of this, because of course, how can I mock a structured society which has successfully catered to my needs thus far? This would be selfish and the first person who would read this would immediately point the finger at me to say "But socialism/communism/whateverism doesn't work. It never has and never will. We need to stick with the system we already have because it works." No, I am attempting to look at this from a non-biased approach as much as I can as I have come from a working class/lower class background and thinking from a linear perspective would be anything but fair. I am trying to convey what I see as the truth; some of you might state that some truths from this are "obvious" but you'd be surprised how many people fail to understand me or even shoot me down when I state that capitalism does not work to an extent, and also can be changed and even will change as humanity progresses.
Capitalism; A Long, Narrow Road To Freedom
It's true! Adhering to a capitalist system gives you freedom to an extent, but where does the line stop? Does it stop? It's a blurry line at best. Blurred by those, as most people already know, with the power to reach out to the population of the world on a mass scale. Let me give you an example; television licensing. Everyone who wishes to watch live television must own a television license. Okay, I don't watch television, but I still get constant reminders to alert the system for licensing that I don't. But say I do, and I pay the tax...Where does this go? Apparently it goes towards governmental schemes such as the right to non-commerical broadcasting. Okay, so I've paid the tax to view my television...What do I get from this? You get to watch television, without the right to choose how things are broadcasted of course. But, again, it's not fair to choose what is broadcasted to millions of people, is it? This is where the capitalist lines blur; moral obligations are anything but precise in a world which the few who are powerful rule.
Taking this example further; say I wish to choose what is broadcasted, so I decide to make my own television programme which takes up a slot on a channel. It would take decades of my life to make such a show appealing to a mass audience, as I don't have the sufficient funding to do such a task. Instantaneous gratification is a thing of the past; where we used to come together to promote our ideals in such a way, that they would be accepted as having an impact on our lives for performing the objective we set out to do...We are no longer able to do this on such a scale where we can accept that we have made a significant change to our lives. It only takes a lifetime to create such an impact now; going through the educational system and deciding at way-points whether you want to pursue an educational goal, a practical one or live a solitary life, and even then, through the solitary path of confinement the impact which you set out to achieve is personal, not external. So how is freedom meant to be understood from living in this structured society? Limited, but emancipating to an extent? This is where educational circumstances takes its toll; not everyone is educated the same way, i.e. not everyone in such a society benefits from an education. Some fail very early on, some go on to pursue and improve their educational life.
Education; A Right Or A Privilege? Now, this is the part where many people may disagree with me on and probably the part which is going to be biased, but it must be in order to understand how these perspectives are formed. Coming from a working class background I've followed the idealistic renaissance perspective where I have attempted to work my way out of the lower classes into a middle ground, so to speak anyway. My parents don't have the power to manipulate the system, so I've had to use what I can to further myself to accomplish my goals. This hasn't been easy in any respect as I've had to take hours of my life into travelling to and from college and school in order to achieve what I originally couldn't where I live, due to the population being working class, and their offspring following suit into the system. This is where modern capitalism fails to accept the lower class; the backgrounds which they come from manipulate their way of viewing the world, and as such their strive to achieve what they originally wanted from life. Instead, they view the instantaneous gratification of living a quiet life in the working class as such gratification is hard to come by unless you're blessed by the system of being born into the upper end of the spectrum of classes.
Again, we are free to choose whether we wish to stay in the lower end of the hierarchy of classes, but our surroundings and society in which we are born into provokes and promotes a pacifist nature. This is also why people refuse to talk about such a subject; seen but not heard is a statement which best defines the failure to invoke a strive in today's generation of youth.Of course, it's in Human nature to strive to be accepted, and a pacifist outlook on such a system promotes a certain acceptingness to the lower class, however at the same time it promotes the ideal of a modern capitalist society to stay the way it is. But, I digress; class systems are what form capitalism. Without class, there wouldn't be a way to put currency into perspective, and as such the lower classes would be without an incentive to do their jobs to please the upper classes.
Freedom; Strictly An Ideological Concept Or A Very Real Force?
In whatever perspective you take on the idea of freedom, it is both a force and a concept; blurred lines, as I previously stated and this modern structural society dictates how free someone can be. In relevance to modern capitalism, it provokes the question of if you are free to abstain from such a system, you lose out on purchasing and the currency system, so how do you live freely this way? Marx promoted the idea that capitalism relies on the class system in order for production to work for the rich, but not for the poor.
The idea of maintaining a classless system, however, has thus far proven to be driven by greed and famine through the means of Leninism, Stalinism and even the dictatorship of Hitler to name a few. Can it ever be successful? Such an ideal cannot work with such a populated world; such Science-Fiction ideals represented on screen such as populated planets in Star Wars show that in the far or perhaps near future (If space exploration gets any funding at all...) populated planets could extend to represent certain ideals; as an example, we have video games which use certain races to promote differentiating ideals...Such as Dwarves being seen as capable warriors; elves being knowledgeable through their extended lifespan...The list goes on. Perhaps then we can be free from the bonds of a capitalist society which holds back many dreams and wishes.
EDIT: I somehow feel this is incomplete. I will most probably return in the near future to expand on capitalism and the emancipation of society...I feel as if I didn't expand on my points properly enough to have the desired effect I hoped for...
A recent blog post by Oxhorn (Blogging with class) which I engaged with thoroughly drove me to post what my thoughts are surrounding the topic of self satisfaction, and if it is indeed an evolutionary failure when we relate the action of one sexually satisfying himself to the epitome of manliness and of course, what Oxhorn has time and time again related with as being 'Classy'. However, as I am relating such a broad topic which many people are aware of to something which is admired on many levels I'd like to define what manliness actually is from my perspective.
Manliness and Class
A Man, being of sound health and manner, as well as coming from a Darwinist perspective should be accepting of change in order to survive, of course, this isn't always the case as we have seen in our modern society. People have created their own sub-cultures, and from this their own definition of manliness, and indeed class. Classiness is subjective in this regard rather than, as an example, conforming to the classical Hollywood film view of class...Perhaps the image of an upstanding gentleman in society; kind to women, and from this, fellow men as a form of respect all of which employed alongside a silently pitiful mannerism towards those who are unable to attain such class. As an example of said manliness, let me take a moment to use the image of James Stewart in Hitchcock's masterpiece 'Vertigo' to present this notion of masculinity.
James Stewart; Hitchcock's classical Hollywood hit "Vertigo"
Of course, this representation of manliness is subject to change through time, as has been seen through the many sub-cultures of the youth of today. We fear that they are to be the future of mankind because man is ever chiefly so nostalgic and unforgotten of the past; each man, through his own experiences, define manliness in a different way; as Julius Caesar rightfully stated "Experience is the teacher of all things." So from this we can never be accepting of what manliness means to the youth of this generation...But, of course, we can relate the image of manliness with our elders, because they are the ones who brought us up to view manliness in this regard....An example of which can be observed not many years before the production of 'Vertigo' is 'Rebel without a cause' portraying what the youths of that time period viewed as 'Classy' and 'Cool', the flick knives and leather jackets being seen as 'manly,' which is anything but laughable now. Alongside Goddard's portrayal of Michel being rude to women and offensive to authority in his film 'Breathless' it is no surprise that the aspect of classiness and manliness is an ever-changing position. As examples of this changing position, allow me to take a moment of your time to view these portrayals of men through time.
James Dean; Rebel without a cause
Michel; Goddard's French New Wave film "Breathless"
Through the changing aspects of manliness and class through time, it's not so hard to see that it's easy to point the finger at something such as self-satisfaction being anything but manly. It is indeed true that as a species we have evolved to procreate and advance our species to the next generation, but one factor that was not programmed into the language of evolutionary behavior is over-population. Through generation to generation we have over-populated the Earth in the last century more-so than we have ever populated this planet, and from this is it not hard to view the act of self-satisfaction, and even homosexuality in this case (although debatable; see here.) Such a hetero-normative perspective on homosexuality however has fuelled a need to classify it as 'unmanly' - as to what end is homosexuality a means of population control? Heterosexuality is fed to the masses through a lens which normalizes such behavior and as a result of this homosexual behavior has become somewhat 'othered' even though it is completely and utterly normal.
Human Nature and Biology
Before using this as a basis for my argument let me take a moment to state that although the aspect of classiness and manliness attain no such link with Human biology it must be noted that we are the custodians of the meaning of class, and from this we must observe that our biological structure plays its part in determining this. Evolution has aided us into becoming self-aware, and has even granted us the ability to view an argument from both sides; the opposing side to our argument and the accepting side, whilst still being accepting of said sides.
Such changes, however, also have their downfalls. New diseases and disabilities have been discovered to infect and take control of the biological structures of young children; effectively disabling them before they are self-aware enough to realize what is happening to them. Disabilities such as multiple sclerosis have been observed to take control of an entire hosts body, leaving them helpless to act. As an example, I have provided a lovely picture of the young Stephen Hawking for you to observe.
Stephen Hawking; world famous physicist
How then, can one maintain such a standard of 'Class' or 'manliness' in an ever-changing society whose own standards appeal to the upbeat but ignore the downtrodden? Surely, it is then better to live isolated than have your own company of a woman who would not respect the way you look, act, touch, taste even smell...Not that I would have had the chance to smell Stephen Hawking to begin with. The fact of the world today is that evolution itself is a failure in many terms, however such failures can also be seen in a successful light. Stephen Hawking once stated that he is 'accepting' of his disease simply because it allowed him the time to study and observe the universe as it was meant to be; in all its magnificence. Here he states that his disease has effectively allowed him to research in such depth rather than be distracted by meaningless debates in modern society.
Stephen Hawking; discussing the aspect of God and his personal life
Surely then, it could be debated that Porn and Self Satisfaction are in fact natures way of granting humanity the chance to satisfy sexual cravings rather than failing oneself by being unable to in fact attract a mate. However, porn itself could be regarded as 'pathetic' in the regard of a lack of imagination rather than being somewhat lazy in not attaining the class to attract a mate, but the fact is that people who have and will never be able to do this arguably makes this point invalid through imagination simply not being enough through having not experienced having Sex.
Porn and Self Satisfaction; an affront to a Human's enjoyment?
Pornography itself has been with us for a long time and thus has become a means to an end for our sexual satisfaction. However, in the past century we have began to question pornography's place in society; why don't people experience 'the real thing' rather than masturbate to it? The fact is that if we were 'created to procreate' from a darwinist perspective, or even so to survive in order to create the next generation of our species we would be nothing more than primates. The definition of 'class' which has been present in modern society dictates that a man should be nothing less than a type of Renaissance everyman; one who rises from nothing to gain class and etiquette in society through respectable means...The application of 'survival of the fittest' cannot be applied to such means. Although there are 'classy' and 'non-classy' people as Oxhorn has rightfully stated here, on his youtube channel, the aspect of class itself has changed into a much more modern sense.
Leonardo Da Vinci; the idealistic renaissance man
Individualism reigns supreme in modern society; we are no longer held back by the aspects of hierarchical class systems of wealth in order to express ideas, such as Leonardo was not, but the majority of society views porn as something to be pitied; a means to an end, and from this, an addictive behavior to satisfy this end. However, how can one view such an act as an addiction where we are already programmed for this? It is a highly snobbish and frankly ignorant view to see masturbation as an addiction which pales in comparison to sex for this reason alone. We see children making jokes about sex, giggling about how rude and abstract the topic is for their discussion, but we are not children anymore so surely we can view masturbation as a serious subject, but still people argue that it is pathetic; masturbation itself is not lesser or superior to sex, it has its place in society just as pornography does. To weigh one against the other is foolish and, if one can argue, 'climbing on your high horse,' trying to mock someone who partakes in such an act for his worth. One can maintain a position of manliness and class without engaging in sex, in fact, in can be argued as respectable in many regards such as the spread of HIV and AIDS and the view which other people see them as through partaking in such acts.
50 cent; how modern society views a hetero-normative man craving sex
To use a Darwinist perspective to argue that porn as a use to sexually gratify oneself is meaningless in its application to a modern society; the world does not need more people. We are already over-populated, as I stated before, as it is. A Darwinist perspective also argues that it is 'survival of the most adaptable'; surely, from this we can view masturbation as an adaptable action to satisfy oneself rather than going head-long into society to prove you are a MAN.
Although many argue that porn is pitiful and pales in comparison to sex, and from this men (though everyone can participate in the observation of porn...) should get the real thing in silent dignity, I believe that I have affirmed the position of porn in society; it is no longer a means to an end, it is something which we can enjoy in leisure. No longer are we living in caves and the dark ages, we are able to freely communicate our wants and desires with the world; this does not make us any less 'classy' or 'manly' than the next man simply through the fact that everyone comes from different backgrounds and individualism has reign over modern society.
Alongside all of this, as a little note, it should be stated that I believe masculinity and this notion of 'manliness' to be foolish; gender is a social construct through any sociological lens. Masculinity and femininity are employed by ALL gender categorizations. Capitalism has fuelled these notions of men and women to separate each from the other as a binary construct. This post regarding 'manliness' should be viewed through a willingness to conform to the blog this is in response to; a way to engage the matter on the same level of phrasing and tone.
I'd like to thank Oxhorn for giving me the idea for this blog post; his enthusiasm for class, as seen here, and his position on the topic of this post seen here encouraged me to make my position on this topic clear, and hopefully learn more about his position on such a topic; it was a challenge to make my viewpoint respectable in such a judgmental society on the internet.
With the eventual rise of opinions and perspectives over issues which seem to be causing a sort of disturbance in society today, I thought I'd re-light the fire of blogging once again. Hopefully this time I won't be as ignorant towards this as I was previously, and just maybe be able to conjure an audience of sorts to respond towards my views and ideals of different subjects which attain my interest.
Without disregarding how dead this blog may be, I hope to have at least one person respect the work I put into this in the near future; so, without further compromise I present to you my new canvas for my thoughts.
