The Nullarbor Actually Has Trees In It 1

Abstract

Mind, an even better argument would clamor for fully salaried unemployment for all, for that's what's needed if we are ever to bring a halt to the rampant overproduction that characterizes capitalism. Because the means of access to civic rights and power is, for most all of us, having a job. Constructed to eradicate the evils of pride and wealth, More's Utopia offers compulsory employment for all, towns of uniform size and custom, collective eating halls, clothing of uniform appearance, taboos against makeup, gambling, hunting, and hawking, no opportunities for the display of difference other than through virtue or intellect, and (my own personal favorite, because it reminds me of Canberra) suburbs "of equal size, each with its own shopping centre in the middle of it" (More 1961, 80). According to Jameson, addiction is not merely a private matter; indeed, commodity culture has raised it to a whole new level (think of Benjamin's collector, of "retail therapy," of the way people work so as to pay for holidays, alcohol, dining out, and other diversions to take their minds off work). [...]there is no need to see boredom as an unfortunate experience or a waste of time.