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A feature of modernity and now calcified in postmodernity is that narcissism and psychopathy becomes enshrined. Truth becomes subjectivized into mere want and will, that is postmodern truth, which it twofacedly makes claims to but doesn't believe in. To get something we appeal to a person's ego. Advertisement works on this principle. You make people want a product because that product somehow appeals to you as a person. In the early 20th century, cigarettes were advertised to women as a symbol of freedom, of independence. Isn't it interesting that Ayn Rand would later wax lyrically on and on about how libertarian cigarettes are? The implication of this is that products, objects, make us who we are, that we can be identified by the things we have. That is the essence of consumerism. If these products, objects, make us who we are, then we are products, objects, ourselves. Therein lies the psychopathy. Many people complain about the objectification of people today. Feminists most prominently complain about the objectification of women. While their complaints are legitimate, the problem is that going from fundamental feminist doctrine, there is nothing wrong with objectification, the objectification of women in fact derives from feminism. When we see ourselves as objects, then that is true for others, too. We have become subject-objects, of some sort. We then see in others mere use, the core of objectification. We start to see only utility in women. They inspire sexual urges and such, that becomes their value. Men become a way to increase social status and a bank account on two legs—four legs in many places. You see it in this very thread and in this forum.
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