What Marx already told us...

Someone, e-mail me the Communist Manifesto quick! I know Marx states in far more sophisiticated terms what I'm about to say. Somehow, he predicted many of the problems of our modern (post-modern?) day. I really must read his book. We'd be two peas in a pod, Marx and I.

According to Marx, alienation is the keyword. My existence resounds with alienation. It's a little scary how much I am a product of my culture. Anyway, there are two aspects of my life that I think I can blame just about everything on, and they are caused by alienation, specifically alienation from society and alienation from the self. In my previous posting, I addressed how I am plagued by alienation from others because I am a selfish, white, high-achieiving, upper-middle class female without an activist bone in my body. Alright. The next type of alienation, alienation from the self, is at the core of why I enjoy thrashing around on this blog all the time. After being a consumer for 21 years, I'm dying to have physical, emotional, and intellectual ownership of something, ANYTHING. Alienation from the self: that's when you feel like a product off the assembly line, as I do. The pressing question is if any of it's reversible. Rousseau, with his whole "back to nature" philosophy, believed that once a man is spoiled by society he's, well, spoiled for good. Please, I'm begging with the heavens, may Rousseau not be right for once!