Thom Hartmann: What happened with the notion of a ''The Leisure Society?''

[thomhartmann]

Run time: 07:21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1K9VpzmcSM   Posted on YouTube: December 02, 2011 By YouTube Member: TheBigPictureRT Views on YouTube: 164   Posted on DU: December 02, 2011 By DU Member: thomhartmann Views on DU: 1751

 
In the 1960's we were told that by the year 2000 - Americans would be living in a leisure society where our biggest problem would be how to manage all of our extra leisure time. So what went wrong?

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings

[saras]

1. A "leisure society" is intrinsically progressive, just like reality has a left-wing bias.

The same thing happened to it that happened to the idea of psychiatrists working for people and not the system, helping "healthy", "normal" people be happier and more functional. The neocons edited it out of our culture.

The postmodernist philosophers have pretty much discredited any possibility of human progress, other than minorities getting their fair share of the same old exploitation. So there's no academic theory - psychology, sociology - to support it.

The "leisure society" also assumed that we would retain the smarts to limit consumerism to the degree necessary to support industry, not replace all our other values and institutions with consumerism.

I don't want to let the secret out, but some of us actually managed to have it. It's a pretty damned nice life, compared to consumerism. The only MAJOR missing item is health care.

[ooglymoogly]

2. Kr for boiling what the pukes have made oooh so complicated

down to the simplicity it is.

[Newest Reality]

3. After my recent,

deeper examinations into neo-liberalism, it became apparent how this dominant ideology has shaped our current economic and cultural reality. When you compare it to, what is a relative, or even the other side of the very same coin, neo-conservative ideology, a relationship comes into light and reveals the more subtle, yet pervasive aspects of the shaping of society.

When you consider that transactions and profit are, at the heart of neo-liberalism, the highest ethic and the guiding light of the market, and that this ethic is considered to transcend all others and casts each of us as nothing more than a means, then leisure is really only a value afforded to those who matter most under this ideology.

We are all supposed to be entrepreneurs and transaction creators whose goal is to network, make every part of life an aspect of being worthy of the market and its fruits. Our wealth and importance are about increasing, (to infinity) the number of transactions and accelerating their execution. That's it.

Leisure, happiness and humanity are merely byproducts that have less value for the "human resources" that those of us who are unable to participate in that way may or may not acquire.

I am no longer surprised at our current results, nor do I expect better for most of us on this track until the firmly entrenched policies of ideologies like neo-liberalism are exposed in broad daylight and a matter of public knowledge and debate.

[Mosaic]

8. Well said

We all need to expose neoliberalism, not liberalism at all, to the masses. It is the key to understanding why we are hated around the world, why the 1% hoards all the money, and why we are all suffering.

[SheilaT]

4. Oh, yes, I recall very clearly

the promise in the 60's that by the turn of the 21st century our biggest problem would be what to do with all that leisure time.

Every so often I tell the young'uns about this (anyone under the age of 50) and they get goggle-eyed at the very thought that we once thought a twenty-hour week would become the norm.

[slay]

5. Pointless, endless wars for profit, a corrupt government bought by huge corporations, profit above

all else. that is what happened - or part of it. i'm afraid the problems are so extreme and so entrenched that only revolution will save us now. thanks a lot capitalist conservatives - your greed and hate and general lack of knowledge have brought this on us all!

[socialindependocrat]

6. Xactly!!!!!

[applegrove]

7. Richard Branson said on CNN last night that a full 25% of employed people would

like to job share...they were just too afraid to mention it to their bosses less they be branded as lazy.