This conundrum of self-control has occupied thinkers since the time of Socrates. (And we all know what happened then.) A remarkable confluence of freedom, affluence, and technology are sorely testing the limits of human willpower. Financial constraints, once a ready substitute for willpower, were swept away by surging affluence and the remarkable openhandedness of lenders. Tradition, ideology, and religion have lost their grip on many of us, while commonly accepted standards of attire, speech, and comportment in the public sphere have largely dissolved. While temptations have multiplied, many of the longstanding social constraints on behavior have eroded. We Have Met the Enemy examines overeating, overspending, procrastination, wayward sexual attraction, and other everyday transgressions that bedevil modern society. As America's bulging waistlines can attest, mealtime is no longer a discrete part of the day, and our struggles with weight have never been more desperate. Trying to work? If so, chances are you're also struggling to resist the siren call of the Internet-to say nothing of the snack machine. Pornography and gambling are now instantly and anonymously accessible to anyone with an Internet- connected computer. More calories, sex, and intoxicants are more readily and privately available than at any time in memory. An intelligent and irreverent investigation into the age-old problem of self-control finds that, in the modern world, solving it is the most important thing we can do.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |