The Scam of "Emotional Salary"
and the Loss of All Private Property
The 21st century seems to impose, with subtle cunning, a concept of property very different from what we have historically known, at least until the 20th century. Today, it seems that the idea of private property has shifted from ownership to use or occupancy.
A home ceases to be the property of its owner and becomes the property of whoever occupies it... Perhaps whoever inhabits it. We can call it many things.
A text ceases to be the property of its author and becomes public domain, even against the conventional laws of intellectual property, which no one on the internet seems to follow, whether in the name of free culture or in the name of digital piracy... Most academic researchers and university professors publish their works openly, on multiple websites and repositories.
This is perceived as a form of self-promotion, avoiding the obstacle of payment for the potential reader. But in reality, it hides something unconfessable: no one would pay a cent to read what is written because it is worthless. Proof of this is the current agony of digital journalism. Intelligent people read the news more out of hope than curiosity. And they don’t pay for it because they believe the news isn't worth what it reports, and they don't need the emotions of pseudo-information since they have other options. I'm talking about intelligent people, don't get confused.
The academic world has renounced the ownership of rights in exchange for the narcissism of seeing themselves in a public space, which is, in reality, a library without readers or passersby. A dead-end alley. There are only idle onlookers and malicious gossipers. The new researchers. Intellectual property has vanished in the university.
How many people write, without signing their own name, what they contribute to global online encyclopedias and multiple websites? How many of our colleagues, out of sterile narcissism, renounce the ownership of their intellectual property, and even their own name and surname, replacing their identity with the most absolute anonymity?
The social and communicative relationships of the 21st century have destroyed the sense of ownership in all aspects of human life: social and political, scientific and ideological, communicative and literary, artistic and even oral.
Today it is possible to clone anyone's voice and image freely, with impunity, and for amusement. What is dangerous is not only not perceived as such, but is exhibited and promoted as funny and libertine. Fools always play with fire... in the haystack of their own life. Without knowing it. In short, today it can be said that no one is the owner of their own voice, their own face, or their own image, which anyone can usurp, use, and flaunt quickly and easily.
The impotence of laws and those responsible for them is absolute. And unprecedented in the history we live in and the one that awaits us.
A musical work ceases to belong to the composer and becomes the property of whoever performs it publicly.
Crisis and consumption, with all kinds of economic urgencies and needs, dictate the outcome.
In the United States, the country of capitalism par excellence, many people have always shared washing machines and laundries in their condominiums and residences. In many cases, under conditions similar to those of the failed Soviet Union. Such a thing was unmentionable for decades, but not for that reason untrue. It was and is undeniable.
Today, these practices have reached the heart and urban life of European cities, the continent of the supposed middle classes. Today, "coliving" is sold as a triumph of progress. Undoubtedly, it is a triumph of the progress of misery, of inescapable needs, and of the lowest human dependencies. Today, people in every neighborhood already share washing machines and laundries.
The most recent generations have to share apartments. By force, not by pleasure or devotion. Soon, they will also share rooms. And it won’t be for pleasure either. This always happened in convents, barracks, and hospitals—three places where life is never normal but rather isolated, belligerent, or sick. However, such a thing had not been generalized before, as it is today, as it is now, in everyday and normalized life. At least, it had not been generalized as a mandate of the "friends of commerce."
Because 21st-century life, designed by the United States for the entire global world, ceases to be private and becomes more public every day, not just because of the childish narcissism of social networks and the internet. It starts with sharing a washing machine and ends with sharing an apartment, a room, and a bed. A shared bed, yes, but not with a partner, but with the enemy. That is the future fate of the younger generation: to share their insomnia with the enemy. And pretend that such a thing is beautiful and happy. And therapeutic.
The payroll of workers will no longer have the known compensatory bonuses but will include jokes and memes. The meme has a happy name, and it's called "emotional salary." What is the content of this foolishness called "emotional salary"? The usual: creativity, volunteering, connectivity, proactive leadership, mobility, emotional intelligence... and whatever other nonsense the actor hired to promote it can think of.
Let’s not forget that volunteering is a form of slavery, consented to in the name of moral supremacism, whereby one works for free for a stranger. Something like the "God will reward you" of times past, but with more cynicism and humor. On the other hand, talking about emotional intelligence is the same as talking about emotional ignorance, that is, nothing and the opposite, because one and the other are the same, simultaneously. Mobility really hides the worker's shuffling, reduced to a puppet or a plaything of the international republic of money.
The boundaries between what is mine and what is yours blur, legally or illegally, and the differences between mine and yours disappear. Everything belongs to everyone because nothing belongs to anyone. And when something belongs to everyone, it’s because no one has anything. Enjoy the globalization of nihilism. But don’t expect me to believe it.
