By: Shannon Chang
I didn’t shower this morning. Nor yesterday. And according to Freud, that is what I’m naturally inclined to do – bask in my slovenly glory. Apparently I don’t like being on time either or, for that matter, any other social restriction civilization imposes on me. I guess that means the less structure I have the better. But frankly, I find that hard to believe. I’m not working this semester. And it was fun at first – getting up late, hanging out, getting to do the things I wanted, but it’s fast losing the luster of novelty. I’m getting bored. And for Fromm, that can only lead to bad things because if someone doesn’t have the sense of a productive life, he runs the risk of becoming violent. Even worse, he’d be violent just for the pleasure of it. So, maybe Freud was wrong, or at least partially so – we don’t like the way civilization dictates our lives, but we certainly need it to avoid devolving into a mass of reckless beasts.
