The Formula for Passivity
Let’s talk about Prozac. This “miracle drug” has been hailed as a way for the average American to not feel so sad about their lives. Last year, the government reported that antidepressants were the most prescribed drugs in the nation.
This is terrifying. Why? People have actual reasons to be depressed. Look at the state of the world and the nation: the “conflict” in Iraq, rising gas prices, a recession, catastrophic weather events, perpetual government corruption, rising economic disparity, etc. By eliminating depression, the desire to change these things is eliminated. Just read this story from CNN about a woman on anti-depressants:
Dr. Ronald Dworkin tells the story of a woman who didn’t like the way her husband was handling the family finances. She wanted to start keeping the books herself but didn’t want to insult her husband.
The doctor suggested she try an antidepressant to make herself feel better.
She got the antidepressant and she did feel better, said Dr. Dworkin, a Maryland anaesthesiologist and senior fellow at Washington’s Hudson Institute, who told the story in his book “Artificial Unhappiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class.” But in the meantime, Dworkin says, the woman’s husband led the family into financial ruin.
I’ve heard people on Prozac describe their state of being as “not feeling anything.” The more and more we take mood-altering drugs, the more and more we slip into a state of laziness, buying more products and ignoring the problems with the world around us. The above may be an isolated case, but the woman had a reason to be concerned, took pills to eliminate the concern rather than the REASON for it, and ended up in financial ruin. This is an indication of our culture’s trend to find a bandaid to fix a stab wound and then ignoring it because you can’t see the blood anymore.
Not only does this trend frighten me on a small scale but on a large as well. With so many people on these drugs, is it any wonder there aren’t protests against the Iraq War like there were for Vietnam? The trend of medically placating one’s anxieties and then the Bush Administration’s policies of non-conscription allows the citizens of this country to ignore the widespread injustices of this war (and sends soldiers on tour after tour after tour, even when they think they are getting out, see movie Stop Loss). News outlets don’t cover important stories like Iraq Veterans Against the War (just see my post “Barren Coverage on Winter Soldier” so not only does the public no longer care, they no longer are informed. The administration has done a fantastic job of lessening the effects of the war on the average American, therefore eliminating any aggressive opposition to the war. In my more paranoid moments, I imagine meetings between administrative officials and pharmaceutical companies where they push these drugs on us for that very reason.
So to summarize, here is the formula:
Prozac + propaganda + SUPPORT OUR TROOPS – conscription – media coverage = American citizen passivity.
Also, here’s a link to a medical professional’s blog as he describes why he hates Prozac. It’s an interesting read.
It seems like Americans have good reason to be depressed, but I am wondering if these circumstances are responsible for the depression per se. The relationship between undesirable circumstances (a struggling economy etc.) and depression rates don’t seem to add up in the larger view of history. That is, Americans have it really great compared to any nation (past or present) that has ever existed. From a personal level to the national scene, life seems pretty good for the American– no one is starving, we have freedom, and one couldn’t even tell that we are in two simultaneous wars etc. We should be happy but we are not. My point is that I don’t think these circumstances are the cause of depression, rather I think it’s the ideas that have shaped our culture.
The pop psychology tells us that happiness is some kind of feeling and found in people or things. Rather I would take the traditional route which says that happiness is found in virtue and ultimately the greatest good–God.
“Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
The secular world view cannot offer happiness, and is depressing itself. That is, we are mere pieces of biological matter that came to be by chance on a tiny planet in the universe where there is no inherent purpose or ultimate justice etc. I think that is a good reason to be depressed.
Please excuse the digression, but I think it’s important player in the discussion.
Best Regards
http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/2007/05/07/why-aren%e2%80%99t-americans-very-happy/
I definitely agree with your statement that we do not have as much to be depressed about as in some other nations completely torn apart by war, but I also think we should consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The primary needs are physiological, next comes safety, then love and belonging, esteem, and finally self-actualization. In countries torn apart by war, most people have to focus on just thier physiological or safety, leaving them very little time to dwell on thoughts of depression.
I do agree that spirituality is important in a person’s life and I would not limit that to a purely Christian spirit. I do not follow any particular world religion, but instead I believe in the innerconnectivity of life and the world around us. I find reprieve from depression through physical exertion as well as trying to have a positive impact on the world around me. I hope to influence others to think critically and be informed about the world around them. In this case, I guess you could say I believe in the values taught by Christianity, and all the major religions, but I use them more as a guideline than an absolute mandate.
That being said, there are plenty of religious people struggling with depression and my point in the blog is that most people are ignoring the CAUSE of the depression. I believe depression is a symptom of a greater problem and Prozac and other anti-depressants just serve in covering it up with an inadequate bandaid.
I would also like to submit a link here to a New York Times story about the increasing rate of female suicide bombers. The women featured in this story are deeply religious and have also gone through incredibly traumatic and depressing experiences. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/world/middleeast/05diyala.html?scp=1&sq=female+suicide+bombers&st=nyt
The article speculates on the reasons these women decide to blow themselves up, and one of the primary reasons is manipulation or force by the male members of their society. However, most of these women have lost important people in their lives so I also have to think that those traumas have influenced them in that way; just by saying they were manipulated into it takes away from the thought that they might actually believe they are DOING something for their cause. It takes away their own facilitation and their own power. (This being said, I do not advocate suicide bombing, but I do think the motivations behind it are fascinating from a psychological and sociological point of view and should not be dismissed as just “crazy”).
My main point is that drugs like Prozac combined with the current cultural climate where we are forced to ignore many of the injustices around us have resulted in a generation where mass citizen protest and unrest is extremely unlikely. In this story (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/washington/05bush.html?scp=2&sq=citizenship+bush&st=nyt) President Bush honors 72 new American citizens. There was a protest outside the ceremony, and the reporter mentions it, but does not report what the protest was about, who was protesting, etc. This should be important information conveyed to the American public, but our conglomerate media outlets have elected not to inform us about it.
My concern is that Prozac is being used as a tranquilizer for the American public and whether or not it is facilitated by “the man,” it is still a dangerous trend that should be observed before we all become chemically lobotomized.