Tragic Pessimism

There is nothing innocuous left. The little pleasures, expressions of life that seemed exempt from the responsibility of thought, not only have an element of defiant silliness, of callous refusal to see, but directly serve their diametrical opposite. Even the blossoming tree lies the moment its bloom is seen without the shadow of terror; even the innocent 'How lovely!' becomes an excuse for an existence outrageously unlovely, and there is no longer beauty or consolation except in the gaze falling on horror, withstanding it, and in unalleviated consciousness of negativity holding fast to the possibility of what is better [. . .] It is the sufferings of men that should be shared; the smallest step towards their pleasures is one towards the hardening of their pains.

-Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, trans. Edmund Jephcott, pp. 25-26

There is something profoundly heroic in the refusal to be reconciled, in the insistence that one be allowed to remain inconsolable in the face of unspeakable horror. But the question that has been occupying me recently is whether this stance leaves any room for praxis, for emancipatory struggle. I fear that Adorno's stance is mere (if such a thing can be mere) dignified dying.

Going Camping

Consider for a moment the tragic arrangement of life: the necessity of working away one's youth in order to secure one's survival in old age. Surely the progress accomplished over thousands of years could do something to liberate human beings from the tyranny of nature, and allow them to do what they want - that dream of emancipation, whose continued failure to materialize constitutes the ultimate, unjustifiable failure of capitalism.

Now consider the possibility that people have contrived a partial remedy for this disappointment. They invented the modern university so that young people on the threshold of adulthood would be permitted four years of nearly unstructured enjoyment before relinquishing their agency and submitting themselves to the economy. College as vacation from the outside world, paid for with a lifetime of work. Each generation saves for a lifetime to give their progeny this gift. And the children, having enjoyed the fruits of their parents' labor must repay it for the next generation. Asking for more than this when your parents have given so much so that you could have your four years of idle fun - that is the height of immodesty. Small wonder that those who try to evade entry into the workforce by extending their tenure as students earn the contempt of others. Rather than celebrating the success of the few, the many condemn them for emphasizing the non-necessity of the majority's sacrifice.

The most satisfying part of this model is that it explains why college is so easy - why no one seems to mind (or admit) that even in the allegedly rigorous universities, dedicated students find ample time for enjoyment - far more than in the 'real world' of forty-hour work weeks. Everyone knows, and yet no one acknowledges, that college is one part work and three parts fun. It is a time for acceptable transgressions - even expected ones, in the manner of the Spartan youths.

There is the other side, of course - that by the arbitrary demands of its bureaucratic systems, the caprices of professors, the student learns to jump through hoops like a good white-collar worker. The college years are not a total loss for society.