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Friday, June 23, 2006 

Just the way things are

In the midst of a scathing look at Timothy Leary and the "Greatest Generation" in general, Louis Menand manages to slip in a precise and concise account of the force and problem of Capitalist Realism (emphasis mine):

Psychology in the nineteen-fifties played the role for many people that genetics does today. “It’s all in your head” has the same appeal as “It’s all in the genes”: an explanation for the way things are that does not threaten the way things are. Why should someone feel unhappy or engage in antisocial behavior when that person is living in the freest and most prosperous nation on earth? It can’t be the system! There must be a flaw in the wiring somewhere.



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Ian Mathers is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Stylus, the Village Voice, Resident Advisor, PopMatters, and elsewhere. He does stuff and it magically appears here.

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