Excess

Is there anything that counts as excessive in today's world?

Extreme hedonism-jouissance-that serves no purpose, has moved beyond the calculus of pleasure and utility. The useless, the superfluous, the pure symbol or surplus that is supposedly beyond material or social context: the luxurious, profuse, excessive, self-surpassing, extravagant and spectacular.

Extreme sports, extreme eating competitions, extreme displays of fabulous wealth. Aren't fashion and luxury premised on the idea of being frivolous, shocking, redundant (to question them is to be caught up in the old, closed world and its mentality of moral limits). Extreme noise, seven-star hotels, astronomical levels of wealth. What counts can't be counted. Is there anything such as extreme porn when porn has been normalized, extreme boredom when everyone is bored? When do drinking and gambling become excessive and when are they just an expression of one's preferences? Is there such a thing as an extreme preference?

The fetish for speed: hyper-speed traders, instant accessibility to everything. 

Trillions spent on space travel all so that we can have better frying pans! Ah, that marvel, the human spirit again! 

The news channels will report on massive religious rituals and people are amazed by the sheer size of them (the scale of the human crowds now itself the 'religious' thing). Massive online and open courses mean we can finally move away from the classroom, that old limited and antiquated thing. The Guinness Book of World Records is the book of books today. The cathedrals of the word impress us with their vast collections of works and will continue to do so even if no-one can actually read. I have 10,000 films on my hard drives. Excessive, moi?

Can one say that the Saudi "royal" family or the Republicans are excessively stupid or is that just the norm? Does the norm even mean anything any more? 

We're spellbound and in some ghastly way even awed by extreme violence (the Camps, the killing fields), as well as by depictions of the apocalypse on the cinema: what we want is for the world to end in a spectacular way, with a bang, not with a whimper. Religious groups are in a competition with one another to display acts of ever-increasing gruesome and gratuitous violence. The show must go on. For others, the civilized barbarians, it is shock and awe, infinite justice. 

The notion of a balanced life, a limited, quiet, uneventful and in some sense ordinary existence is something to be vehemently opposed and rejected. Everyone's a superstar now. Even the academy talks of its "stars". 

I have infinite desires/wants. That's what you learn in Econ 101. I can, therefore I must.  

What, today, is unimaginable? Hannah: the impossible has become possible.  

   
If you stand up against the system you will be defeated; if you go along with it, it will end up screwing you over. It follows that one is better off sticking to one's guns.

Talking of guns...is there anything more hilarious than the Republican party of goofs and imbeciles who spew out all that tosh? Aw, shucks, stuff happens! And (uncle) Ben Carson, such a charming and sensitive man! Remarkable! Anyone who wants to think about the strength of American "democracy", please do tune in to the show.