|
Love is not insignificant. How we love is who we are. We have power over how much love exists in the world through our attitude, our actions, and the consequences of said actions. In Pre-Nuptial (S1 Ep 9), Logan says, "And there's a mercilessness that I miss." about America to Gil when he's in Britain for Tom and Shiv's wedding. How do you argue with the urge to kill when you like the urge to kill? When that's all you are? My answer is: just because you have the urge to kill and like it, does not mean that is the only urge you should listen to. And you do have other urges, because you are a human being. The drive to love is part of what makes us human and everybody likes to love. Logan can't help but love his kids because at our core we are loving beings. Capable of love if treated with love, but when treated with abuse you don't learn how to treat others with love. It does take time to become okay again, but it's possible. Think about dogs who are rehabilitated after being abused; it takes patience, time, effort, care, commitment, and love. It takes love, but the right person with the right animal can lead to a beautiful, healthy, loving relationship. This is a principle that I believe can be applied to any relationship, but it's true that love is not enough sometimes. You could truly be fundamentally incompatible with other people. I just think that a lot more people could be with compatible with each other if they stopped loving in the way this society wants people to love and loved how they want to. They could be with whoever they want, doing whatever they want with each other-- even violent things-- given that these people truly love each other and are clear about consent and potential risks to themselves and others around them. What incentive do we have to treat others badly? Material goods and wealth and the power to influence even more of the world, yielding bigger gains. This view of society is just so reductive and outdated as we live in a world that grows increasingly interconnected day after day. I think it is time to move on from what we have, and take actions towards building the next world.
0 Comments
The story that Succession tells is that it’s abuse all the way down. Every action of capitalism forces… lures you to it by obscuring damage and offering reward. It’s based on the idea that abuse is bearable because you receive something in return. Money, status, security, material things… it’s worth whatever means it takes you to get there. It provides escape from suffering in real ways. Another benefit for a lot of people is the ability to damage others too. I suffered, so I deserve to hurt others. It’s my right, my due, my act of balancing the world. I went through so much, so others gotta go through so much too. This mentality can lead to thinking that suffering is the reality of the world. Damage is inevitable, so does it really matter who’s abusing you? You were always going to be abused anyways. There’s seemingly no reward in abstaining and no change to you either because the suffering is the same, so why don’t you at least get something?
The Roys live in a world completely separate to what most people live in. They are physically sheltered from most of it; here's a sense that their presence has global significance but they don't ever see the real world like walking on a sidewalk or driving a car to work. In between their beautiful palaces is a world made out of a thick net of social rules trying to fill in the gaps lovelessness has created. But what joy is there inside castles if a tyrant rules? It seems improbable that a tyrant could have loving relationships in his life, when he treats the world with no regard. Logan Roy creates a part of the world, especially the part his family lives in. He abuses indiscriminately even to other white supremacists. He stands alone, no matter how many bridges he says he's made. Love is always present. I think that’s why we have Tom and Greg together at the end of Succession. Love will always win, but it’s been thin. The system currently operating, dispensing abuse as love, has diluted the amount of true love that exists. I think society is designed to love all humanity, to an extent. Maybe those musty white founding fathers had the intention of true equality.... sure. But in reality, the white and rich, the top of the top live a life of unparalleled luxury and love (as this society defines it). The lowest of the low are treated beyond inhumanely. That is what we need to fix. What Succession shows us is that the top is terrible too. Of course it is. If you abuse the world, of course you are abusing the world directly around you as well. At its core, I think this abuse stems from untruthfulness. Lies about superiority and authority to other people, lies to yourself about how good of a person you are, and all the lies and fictional stories that stem off lying about your goodness. It’s the direct opposite of love-- honest and open communication. But love is always possible, I want to believe. Something that confuses humanity is that we love pain too. We need to, I think. It is part of the human condition. We feel both and are meant to feel both. Once we can love and appreciate that, we can move towards a society that provides hurt lovingly. Allows for healthy pain, manageable pain. People like Logan say that nature is ruthless. I think what life gives you is mostly what you put into it. Somebody can always strike first which inevitably leads to getting struck back. But being conscious of the urge to strike, but not doing so? That is what we need to do. Act with love, because we know we can abuse. We learn from pain as well from pleasure. It’s all a part of life. I gotta remember it’s good and bad, not only bad and not only good either. If your whole life is bad, unfree from abuse, it can be impossible to imagine life as good. I also think depression makes you only see how life is bad and not good, how all the experiences you have had in life led to this life where you’re nothing but damaged. Depression is a spiral and abuse compounds. If you’re experiencing it directly and then living in a society that abuses people, it’s no wonder to me that so many people are depressed. We’re all living in a society that hurts us, regardless of the personal mistreatment going on in our lives, but I have to say that familial abuse going on makes it so much harder to escape societal abuse. All of us seek escape from the pains of life. Addiction is fed by the abuse society inflicts upon people. It’s white supremacist capitalist patriarchal bullshit.
Watching Succession has given me a lot of thoughts on abuse, love, and capitalism as it was meant to. I agree with the view that it is an anti-capitalist piece of work which has been subject to capitalism itself, but I think Jesse Armstrong has able to keep much of its integrity. The cancellation of the show makes sense to me because if we were able to clearly see the ways the cycle of abuse keep going on and on (Tom, Shiv, Greg, Gerri, Mattson), too many people would actually start to see what our society looks like. |