Jetsetting is now not the privilege of the elite so much as a veritiginous mundanity for a permanently dispossessed global workforce.
To be able to function in late capitalism without being a psychological wreck, it is necessary to accept the insane as standard.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that in a capitalist society, one must adapt to the chaotic and often irrational nature of the system to maintain mental stability.
Mark Fisher's quote highlights the psychological toll that late capitalism can impose on individuals. He argues that to successfully navigate this complex and often chaotic economic landscape, one must come to terms with and accept the 'insane' realities of this system as the norm. This acceptance is portrayed as a crucial mechanism for functioning without succumbing to psychological distress in a world where the demands and pressures of capitalism can feel overwhelming and irrational.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on economic reform, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for resilience in the face of systemic challenges.
More from Mark Fisher
All quotes βIf it is true, for instance, that depression is constituted by low serotonin levels, what still needs to be explained is why particular individuals have low levels of serotonin. This requires a social and political explanation.
The most powerful love songs always turn on the discrepancy between the act of declaring love and the knowledge that the ostensible addressee is no longer there, was never there, and could never be there.
Little Axe's records are wracked with collective grief. Spectral harmonicas resemble howling wolves; echoes linger like wounds that will never heal; the voices of the living harmonise with the voices of the dead in songs thick with reproach, recrimination and the hunger for redemption.
If people dying as a consequence of the implementation of measures cannot count as evidence that the legislation has detrimental effects, what would?
What many students most want from college, although they would never admit it, is an authority structure. There is a demand for an authority which they can then reject; they want to be told what to do, so they can disobey. It is a textbook case of bad faith, a flight from freedom.
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What they could do with 'round here is a good war. What else can you expect with peace running wild all over the place? You know what the trouble with peace is? No organization.
A fact is like a sack - it won't stand up if it's empty. To make it stand up, first you have to put in it all the reasons and feelings that caused it in the first place.
Under the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me--
If the work of our sanctification presents us with difficulties that appear insurmountable, it is because we do not look at it in the right way. In reality, holiness consists in one thing alone, namely, fidelity to God's plan. And this fidelity is equally within everyone's capacity in both its active and passive exercise.
Keep things at arm's length... If you let anything come too near you want to hold on to it. And there is nothing a man can hold on to.
If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the military, nothing is safe.