Status Updates From Growth Fetish

i wish this one had been longer. i’d like more about environmentalist movements and liberal responses to them and more of the philosophy behind the movements. i should be reading more philosophy books for that but still, would have been interesting. i like the bit about ecofeminism and how humans’ attitude towards nature and humanity resembles the one towards women and men. wouldn’t have thought of that before.

‘work’ was an okay chapter. had some interesting reflections but didn’t really blow my mind. observations most people have likely made but put into words and expanded upon, which was pretty fun. some potentially misogynistic attitudes at the end?

“if inequality of opportunity is the problem and the problem has been fixed, then inequality of outcomes simply has to be accepted. however, equality of opportunity can never be enough if an unacceptable level of inequality is built into the very structure of the capitalist economy. if so, there is no escaping the need for redistribution of outcomes.”

this chapter was my favourite so far. wish it had been longer

"the tragedy of market economics is that if it did in fact accurately reflect the essential motivation of human life - an anthropic version of Nature 'red in tooth and claw' - we would soon find ourselves living a nightmare." apart from the quoting of a famous terf in the feminism section, this was a pretty solid chapter. REALLY like the point made about markets not being politically neutral.

this was a great chapter on identity in consumerism. i could recognise myself and people i know in the patterns described. good example of corporations who are presenting an image of themselves to be against the system while benefitting from the system. in fact benefitting from people being against the system. good reflection at the end about how what’s being consumed is not the product but the style and attitude.

really interesting bit on the treatment of ADHD in the US and how it sort of seems like a cop-out; easier to blame the brain than the parents, the system or the school. comparison with soviet politicians taking political control via psychiatry. i want to point out though that the author claims ADHD mostly affects middle-class white boys, which is not true. they simply tend to be diagnosed at higher frequencies