In case anyone was scrolling by and is interested the quote is a bit misleading out of context, Marx isn’t saying we should do this, he is more saying that capitalism requires “us” to do this, while telling us if we just stop eating avocado toast we too could become part of the billionaire class. While of course they themselves would never live without these supposed needless things.
Read it in context here Need, Production and Division of Labor, this link is directly to the section the quote is from but in my opinion the formatting isn't as good.
I think "alienated" is a strong indicator of the negative perspective of the Author to the written text. I don't think people use "alienated" in a positive setting. So I don't think it is misleading at all, tbh
Marx was a very adroit writer, and not above dry sarcasm.
I think the point comes across pretty well. "Alienated" doesn't have a very positive connotation.
Joyless money-hoarding is why I'm currently able to joylessly pay rent during this terrifying bout of unemployment
Old time comic W. C. Fields was once asked how to become successful.
He said a man should castrate himself, burn out his taste buds, make himself as blind and deaf as possible, and then the only thing he could enjoy was money.
I guess the plethora of balls and fencing matches I was planning to attend are out now.
saving it for what and for how long? at what point does saving become hoarding?
I think the point is, the more you can find joy inside, the less you need to seek it outside.
No this is a criticism of capitalism that says capitalism reduces you to a producer/consumer on the market and then forces you into poverty so that consumerist asceticism becomes your form of actualization.
You might be wrong. In fact this might be parody https://reductress.com/post/how-to-save-money-by-eliminating-all-sources-of-joy-from-your-life/
I don't think the original caption is what he was getting at.
He was a capitalist. He even wrote a book Das Kapital /s
Haha. I had a sensible chuckle when reading this.
