Jetsetting is now not the privilege of the elite so much as a veritiginous mundanity for a permanently dispossessed global workforce.
Mark FisherRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Students often seek guidance in their education to later assert their independence.
In this quote, Mark Fisher suggests that many students crave an authority figure in college, as it provides them with a framework within which they can operate. However, this desire for guidance is paradoxical; it reveals a wish to rebel against the very authority they seek, indicating a tension between the need for structure and the pursuit of personal freedom. Fisher argues that this behavior exemplifies 'bad faith,' where individuals escape from genuine freedom by adhering to a system, only to ultimately reject it.
Themes
AuthorityFreedomEducationRebellionStructure
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the educational system, this quote can highlight the paradox of student behavior.
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