Hedonism Is Disgusting
A couple of memes came across my feed recently, add to that the seemingly endless number of people quoting Charles Bukowski, and I was getting fed up. Bukowski was not at all a deep thinker, but a callow cynic and hedonist. His “advice” should not only be disregarded, but mocked and ridiculed. Now, let’s look at those memes:
If we take the top one, we see commentary on how people don’t want to make the necessary life changes to get outcome changes. They just want an easy solution that someone else can give them and fix their problems. It’s absolutely childish. They want to chase momentary, hedonic pleasure. They value feeling something more than they fear the consequences of doing so. I have talked about how smoking is wholesale immoral before…
…and it is such a good example because it is a well studied phenomenon. Smoking provides absolutely zero benefit. It does zero good. So why do people do it? Because they’re fucking losers. Well, more specifically, because they associate it with something. The stimulant effect that nicotine has can be had for much lower cost if you really want it (it does have a shorter half life than caffeine, and may be of some utility in some circumstances) because they have isolated it in patches and gum, and other consumables. But that’s not the point here. The point is that there is a hedonistic drive to do it. They’re looking for a pacifier. They’re chasing a feeling that they have associated with the action (nicotine addiction notwithstanding). It is purely childish pleasure seeking. Zero benefit, massive consequences, and a perverse association.
Now take that, and extend it out to every pill, potion, and procedure that has a laundry list of side effects and risks in the name of maybe fixing one problem. Because people can’t be bothered to do things right, they’re willing to turn a blind eye to downstream problems for a “right now” solution that is typically temporary and requires chronic fixing. They make things much much harder to make something easier, and it becomes an ouroboros of problem>solution>problem.
Now the other meme: commentary on how sneaking about is a massive clue to why you shouldn’t be doing a thing. If you have to sneak, lie, cover up something, it is because it is not acceptable. You have decided to engage in something, knowing that your associates would think lesser of you, and treat you so. In some cases, the thing might be grounds for complete dismissal of your association.
Shame exists for a reason. It’s not something to overcome, it is a signal that you fucked up. It is self correcting psychology. Your fundamental operating system is trying to tell you that you need to pick a better path. And if that makes you angry and defensive, that means you have been seduced by the hedonic urge. You’re a whiny baby who’s decided that your pacifier is more important than growing up.
Growing up doesn’t mean being ascetic. And it doesn’t mean the abolition of pleasure, joy, and fun. But it does mean setting your priorities. It means taking care of business first, and playing after. And that means sacrificing things that “feel good” but produce harm. Being adult means your consequences are on you. You can’t offload them on anyone else. You don’t get to expect others to take care of you because you want to be a fuckup.
Hedonism is fucking disgusting.
~Good Journey