Andrew Mark Creighton
I am a big Jonathan Richman fan, and I’ve listened to his music continuously since I first heard the Modern Lovers’ recording of Road Runner when I was a teen. His music (along with the Modern Lovers) feels very sincere, rugged, or even unrefined. Listening to Richman feels like listening to a friend play around on his guitar at a summer night party, or while just hanging out during a rainy Autumn afternoon. I think these feelings, in large part, come from the relatively personal and idiosyncratic nature of his recordings and performances, they’re minimal, almost meek at times, which is powerful in its own way.
However, I think what really makes Richman and his music standout are his lyrics. They are wittily and cleverly written, silly, poetic, fun, and sympathetic, while discussing love, parties, getting old, childhood etc. One song’s lyrics has particularly stood out to me recently, When We Refuse to Suffer, from the 2008 album Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild. The song’s title encapsulates the meaning of the song, that we need to suffer, in numerous ways and at various levels, to really experience life. Some of my favourite lines are:
Well we’re gonna cheat the feeling
And think that’s alright
But mother nature’s gonna school us
And in the second version of the song, I especially like the lines:
When we refuse to suffer
When we refuse to feel
That’s when the air freshener wins
And the weeds, the wild weeds lose
[…]
That’s when the air conditioning wins
And the moon outside is the loser
Lyrics like this inspire me to try to appreciate life, and to try to explore my own experiences more thoroughly. However, they also have heavy significance for my views on technology and the contemporary world. I am not necessarily concerned with a specific piece of technology, nor whether or not the technology are physical objects, or organization methods, etc., I am concerned with what American sociologist George Ritzer refers to as nonhuman technology. According to the sociologist, rationalized societies are in part characterized by the increasing presence of nonhuman technology, and its replacement of human technology (Ritzer 1983). Nonhuman technology and human technology can be considered as opposed ideal types, with human technology being technology controllable by us, and nonhuman technology being technology that controls it’s user (Ritzer 1983).
How nonhuman technology has become, and is increasingly so, prevalent within ‘Western’ and increasingly most other societies can be related to the general cultural preference within society for rational systems, or more controlled, efficient, predictable, and calculable systems (Ritzer 2019). Rational systems have allowed the construction of our consumer society and the vast amounts of good we enjoy today, which includes in large part, increasing safety and shelter. Consequently, these systems they tend to be viewed positively, along with their nonhuman technology.
However, how much safety is too much safety? When do we become too sheltered? According to Richman, its when we refuse to suffer, when we’re schooled by mother nature, when we try to cheat our feelings. Richman presents air-conditioning and Prozac as two possible means to refuse our suffering. Air-conditioning and Prozac are both technology used to regulate a number of things in our lives and relate strongly to comfort, behavior, and health. Moreover, they both play an important role in regulating emotions and feelings, air-conditioning, as we all know, allows the cooling of houses, stores, work places etc. It has even proven important in maintaining healthy temperatures in heat waves, and allows better and more comfortable working conditions, but AC has also greatly contributed to the current climate crisis. Similar in kind, Prozac has proven important for those with OCD and anxiety disorders, but, those being treated with the drug have been known to become psychologically dependent on it. Likewise, people can become psychologically dependent to air-conditioning, becoming reliant on the conditions it creates, through a lack of acclimatization to the general summer heat; heat which in contexts without air-conditioning may have proven to be no obstacle at all. So perhaps we can say, that too much safety and shelter begins when we gain a dependency on an object, system, etc.; when the dependency strongly links us to the technology and when we are controlled by it.
Taking this rounded view on air-conditioning and Prozac, we can see AC has the possibilities to make our lives better, while it also has the potential of fostering dependence. It can then be human technology, or nonhuman technology, depending on the context. Air conditioning helps at risk people survive extreme heatwave, but it may also reduce out relationship with heat, which can possibly lead us to shunning activities in the heat due to discomfort, etc.
Such shunning is worrying, but what is perhaps even more worrying, is that many contemporary societies socialize and culturalize people to have emotional expressions, attachments, and views that encourage and prepare them for rational consumption and systems. According to American-Croatian sociologist Stjepan Meštrović (1997) we tend to be more other-directed, self-conscious, and shun negative emotions than ever before, while American sociologist Daniel Bell (1976) notes that consumer culture is one of hedonism free of worries. So, with this view in mind, when interacting with air-conditioning and Prozac we don’t only run the risk of dependency, but we’re driven towards it. Cultural and social means to reflect upon suffering and enjoyment are being transitioned to prefer enjoyment. I’ve noted this in the past regarding fan fiction websites using emotions associated with community to gain free labour (Creighton 2022). While Greek semiotician and media scholar, Eleni Alexandri (2023) hits a similar note focusing on the increasing isolation that characterizes many contemporary societies on a global scale. Isolation has further negative effects on psychological dependences, as it removes us from interacting with others, interaction which greatly regulates our everyday behaviour, including how we use technology. Isolation means we won’t be invited out for a hot evening walk (Richman has a song titled I love Hot Nights), and it also means we don’t have anyone to hug us, and connect on a physical level to help us alleviate our anxieties and depression. Consequently, we’re less likely to experience the wider world in our daily lives, and we are losing structures that help us deal with negative emotions in a positive and social way. Moreover, these are only two examples of potentially thousands that put us at risk of psychological dependency, and of ‘refusing to suffer’. Try thinking about your own life in these terms, how have you been isolated? How does that influence your interactions with technology?
Are we doomed to suffer by not suffering? Are we trapped by our own social contexts? It is hard to say, Ritzer (2020), and Meštrović (1997) for instance, are both pessimistic about the general rationalization of society. I am too, I do not see it letting up anytime soon, and I only see the near future as being more and more rationalized. Such systems prove too helpful for many people, and they think the benefits outweigh the negatives. But keep in mind that not all of us think this way, and not everyone who does always will. Moreover, I don’t think it is foolish to hope for a better world where we understand the value of suffering, and I think there are currently ways to personally adjust to the world, even while living within heavy rationalized systems. These ways are largely reliant on self-reflection, mainly ask yourself: how do you relate to technology? How does technology make your life better? How does it make it worse? Is it worth it? You probably already do this to an extent, have you ever been frustrated because you forgot your phone at home, only to find that your day felt more fulfilling and meaningful without its constant distractions? Take the time to explore your experiences and relationships with whatever you can think of, try to use these reflections to better understand your life and to gain the freedom back to structure it.
Openess is also important, to be open to new experiences, to challenge yourself to do new things, and to do things the hard way. This can be as easy as taking the long way to work, and seeing a new side of the city, or waiting a little longer for the cashier instead of using a self-checkout machine. Don’t be afraid to suffer, whether it’s waiting in line, or being sweaty at a hot summer party, or dealing with your anxiety and feelings for a night, suffering connects you to the world, to the moon and the wild weeds as Richman would say, which may connect you more with the people around you. Ultimately, accepting your pain and your feelings will help you to be independent and help you experience and see the world in a meaningful light.
References:
Alexandri, Eleni 2023. A spectacular world of modeled reality. In: Erik Kõvamees; Oscar Miyamoto; Anti Randviir (Ed.). Concepts for Semiotics II. Tartu: University of Tartu Press. (Tartu Semiotics Library; 24). Pp. 197-224.
Bell, Daniel 1976. The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. New York: Basic Books.
Creighton, Andrew Mark 2022. Postemotionalism, McDonaldization, and transmedial worlds as commodifying mechanisms in fan fiction communities. Hortus Semioticus, 9: 53-74. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7852993
Meštrović, Stjepan 1997. Postemotional Society. London: Sage Publications.
Ritzer, George 2020. The McDonaldization of Society: Tenth Edition. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Ritzer, George 1983. The “McDonaldization” of society. The Journal of American Culture 6(1): 100–107.
Photo by Marcelo Oliveira Gama
This text originally appeared on the author’s blog Rational Enchantment.