Depersonalization and the modern world

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
1

In thinking about it, one of the problems that our modern
world suffers is the depersonalization…
but what exactly is depersonalization?

Depersonalization: a dissociative condition characterized
by a persistent feeling of detachment from one’s own body,
thoughts or emotion… often described as watching oneself
in a movie or being a robot… It is frequently triggered by severe
stress, anxiety, or trauma…

that is from my handy-dandy dictionary…and in our day, how would
we be able to see this ‘‘depersonalization’’ in action?
It is so prevalent today, that we can’t even see it anymore…
I recently retired from my retail job of 18 years…and one doesn’t
even see this depersonalization until one steps away… it was
the very atmosphere we breath in the store… part of the
depersonalization comes from the very fact that workers, all workers
are considered to be expendable… if you are expendable, then you have no
value… the priority in our store was money/profits first, management second,
merchandise third and last, workers… this is part of the depersonalization that
we face in our modern times…that we have no value as a human being
outside of being able to create profits for businesses… we are truly
expendable because profits/money comes before people…Corporations
don’t hide this… it is listed in their mission statement… all companies
have a mission statement and all mission statements have making
profits the ultimate goal of said corporation/business…

Once, many years ago at work, I tore down a small sign,
and I was threatened with being fired for ‘‘destroying’’ company
property… human beings have less value than property…
we see this every day… when a proposal is made, say to
help feed the poor, and the inevitable reply is made, '‘Who is
going to pay for it?" that is another form of depersonalization,
where money, in the form of taxes is held to be of more value
than poor people…’'You’re not going to feed them with my taxes?"
this is another common form of depersonalization that is so common,
so normal, that it isn’t even seen as depersonalization…
The modern-day emphasis on one of the three forms of
existence, that of the worker, the producer and the consumer,
that those three forms dominate how we think about ourselves…
if we are one of three forms, either worker, producer or consumer,
that we have been depersonalized into thinking so…if my worth
is found in my modes of existence, either worker/producer/consumer
that is depersonalization… for I am not a human being anymore,
for I consume or produce or work and that is my existence…

This act or action of depersonalization is also called Nihilism…
to negate or dehumanize people and their values is nihilism…
and this ongoing act of depersonalization is just more of the same
nihilism that swirls around our existence like a fog that won’t
dissipate…

this depersonalization lies within the very heart of our modern world,
the commercial aspect of existence, the buying and selling of goods
and merchandise is just another form of depersonalization…for the
value lies within the purchase of goods, not within ourselves…
we will in some unstated fashion, become more desirable if we
were to buy this item or that item…This desirability comes from
our evolutionary needs and wants… one of the major ideals
of our psychologically needs lies within the need for esteem
and a sense of belonging… advertising feeds into our psychological
needs… for advertising is basically hype, indoctrination, disinformation,
or one might even say, brainwashing…and one of the ways of overcoming
these indoctrinations is by becoming ever closer to being human…and part
of the path to becoming human lies in overcoming our evolutionary needs…
to overcoming our instincts… where our choices and decisions lie
in our choices, not in instinct or our psychological needs…If I am
not free to act, I am not human…the definition of being human lies
in being able into making choices…if you have no choice, you are
then an animal… nothing more…

The act of depersonalization is the act of removing choices…
for no one willingly accepts depersonalization and the loss of
choice…the entire modern age has been about choices
and depersonalization…

Kropotkin

1 Like
2

this depersonalization can take other forms too…
for example, one of the primary ways we operate on
is our own self identities… how I self identify is a very
important aspect of knowing who I am…and one of the most
important self-identifications we have is our sex and those sexual needs…
part of our own psychological needs is the need to express as we see fit…
If I were gay or trans or a cross-dresser and that is part of who I am,
and part of my own self-identification… any attempt to remove or
punished this aspect of who I am, that is depersonalization…
this ongoing war to depersonalize people includes gays as I mentioned,
but also, minorities, blacks, women, and even liberals…
to try to return women to being property, as the right clearly wants,
that is depersonalization… to attack blacks whose only crime
is to be black, that is another example/form of depersonalization…
and that is why the right attacks the culture, myths, stories of
blacks, women, minorities and gays…instead of lifting people
up, the right devalues, dehumanizes people…any attempt to
negate or dehumanize people, as practiced by the right, with
their bigotry and prejudice, that is also depersonalization…to
reduce people to the perceived prejudice of the right, that too is
another example of depersonalization…to reduce people based
on bigotry and prejudice, that is depersonalization…
once we have reduced people to es, being other, it becomes
easy to dismiss them, to deny them their humanity, is to
make it much easier to deny people their rights, value and even
their very lives…once you have denied others their humanity,
it becomes easy to imprison them, to deny them rights, to even kill
them… bigotry and depersonalization can lead us to reduce
people in value, to turn them from du into es… from you to other…
and it becomes easy to harm others… for they are no longer human,
for they are no longer you… and this turning people into others,
that is the path to slavery, to Jim Crow laws, to the Holocaust…
a two-tiered society, one of slave holders and one who are slaves,
that society is doomed… and turning our own modern state into
a two-tiered society, us vs others, that is doomed to failure because
it separates, divides people… and our strength as human beings lie
in our ability to work together, live together, love together…
as we know from evolution…a solo human being, apart
from the state/society dies… it is as simple as that…
our very survival as human beings lies in our ability to create
community… and this division of us vs others, creates a division,
which is unstable by its very existence…we cannot survive,
as human beings or as a society if we divide ourselves, if we create
a two tiered society/state… us and others… the old saying,

"It takes a village’’

that is evolution at work… and the path for our own survival as
human beings… we work together or we die alone…and bigotry,
prejudice and depersonalization, all damage the society and state to
the point where our very survival is at risk…

Kropotkin

1 Like
3

It doesn’t seem like a problem at all.

We mostly live alone.

4

Number 1: social media: spontaneity gone, interpersonal relations where body, voice tone, breathing, vibe is present gone; the self as presented surface.

1 Like
5

depersonalization is also present in our day to day lives in
the form of our seeking out the trinkets of existence, that
of seeking out money, fame, titles, power and material goods…
for these trinkets of existence that form the basis of our modern
lives…for what exactly is depersonalization? that is taking away
from ourselves, our own humanness… to seek out that which
is beyond us, outside of us…

The pursuit of the trinkets is a pursuit of goods or objects outside
of us…pursuing these trinkets doesn’t make us better human beings
or protects us from the ongoing depersonalization that occurs daily in
our lives…in seeking out these trinkets, be it cell phones or fancy
cars, or a big house, that does nothing to improve us, as human
beings, nor does it improve or change us in terms of values or ideals…

if as Heidegger suspects, that the most important aspect of existence,
is not the pursuit of those trinkets, but in the understanding of being…
Does being have something to do with the pursuit of those trinkets?
I don’t see how… being, the nature of what it means to be human,
is not something involved with seeking out the trinkets of existence…
for those trinkets, while fun to play with, do nothing that helps us become
better human beings or be human beings with some value…
in fact, that search for the trinkets, stop us, prevent us from becoming
better human beings… for the focus is on the trinkets, not on
the improvement of the soul, or ‘‘ad melioria’’… and that is what we
must focus on… what allows us to move, toward the better?

this depersonalization that we practice, does nothing to move
us, ‘‘ad meliora’’… and in fact, I would argue that because we engage
in the pursuit of those trinkets and seek out the technology and goods
that allow us to ‘‘forget’’ what is important? which is ‘‘who are we’’
and ''what does it mean to be human?" answers best found in
our soul, not in the pursuit of trinkets…

Kropotkin

1 Like
6

Wait, now it’s ok to treat Heidegger as a philosopher?

1 Like
7

Always-Has-Been-Memes-5-1019x1024
Always-Has-Been-Memes-5-1019x10241019×1024 51.3 KB

always has been :laughing:

1 Like
8

So true.

Here’s a story, one of literal dozens. I worked at Walmart, unloading trucks, for a few years because it was conviently close to home and just paid enough for the bills so I could have free time, given time is a resource that cannot be bought.

I had a friend who had a seizure disorder. One day she had a seizure. The boss decided to use it as her standard fifteen minute break. She called corporate ethics with what happened, using the open door policy of the company. Corporate sided with the boss.