The Feelgood Virus Rules the West

In Western society, feeling good has become a guide for how to behave and what to buy.  The criterion for whether or not a thing has value is whether it feels good to the person who interacts with it.  The opposite of this is that if something doesn’t feel good, it has no value. In our lives, apparently, we should only keep what makes us feel good. The problem with this belief is that nothing has ever happened or been invented that advanced the well-being of mankind without some struggle, and struggle doesn’t feel good. Schools often teach that correcting children might stifle and therefore damage their creative spirit, so we must always praise everything a child does. This is not to say that criticism and punishment should flourish, but a balance between praise and criticism helps children understand the reality of the world.  Participation trophies are more damaging than helpful.

It may be that the prosperous post-war society in which parents and society indulged their children by giving them “all the things I never had” spawned the “Me” generation. If you indulge a child too much, he will expect to be rewarded with everything he wants and that he is the center of the universe. He is disappointed when his adult experience tells him otherwise. The “Me” generation couldn’t come to terms with the fact that they were not the most important people on earth. Those born after the Second War were taught to follow their dreams at the expense of everyone and everything else. It's a hard lesson when they realize that following their dreams doesn't necessarily result in success, either financially or in personal fulfillment.  Sometimes those dreams are unrealistic and unachievable.  A child can dream of being an astronaut, but if he doesn't have the intelligence, physical qualities and skills to get there, he will be disappointed. An American astronaut is required to be no taller than 190 cm, and chopping off his feet will not get him into space.
  
The isolation of individuals in a “Me” society has been exacerbated by indulgent parents, a tolerant society, the media, and a culture of fear, until almost an entire society is composed of disconnected individuals who substitute their imaginary sense of belonging for the slings and arrows of real life. There are exceptions to this world of isolation, such as participation in team sports, but only for players, since a spectator retains their isolation.  Players are indoctrinated by coaches who tell them the motive for playing is that it “feels good to win”. Pep talks are dominated by the dream of feel-good victories.  If teams or athletes come in second, it is seen as having no value. People can convince themselves that they belong to something important when, as spectators, they join together with other sports fans.  They celebrate this form of virtual belonging because it makes them feel good, but they are not doing anything active.  They count on the actions of their team or sports hero to make them feel good.  By themselves, they contribute nothing except noise. 

Pop music and films are geared to sales and encourage fans to buy products to take home. People still go to concerts, clubs, and movies, but the driving force behind the production of these events is to sell products for people to feel good with a replica version of the original.  Music concerts are loss leaders and intended to sell merchandise.  Films may not make the most money in their original cinema runs, but they bank on income from future sales.
 
The experimental drug culture from the ‘60’s onward encouraged drug taking as a way of “feeling good”. Of course, taking a drug is a personal experience as the user is the only one who feels the effects. Observers might see the results, but the experience is personal. No two trips from taking LSD are identical.  Drugs are taken for escape and entertainment. Alcohol is the same.
In less affluent societies, people have more pressing needs than “feeling good,” so the idea that this “feeling” is a reason for making decisions is viewed as an obscene Americanism. Someone who must expend all of his energy to search for food to give him strength for the next day doesn’t jeopardize his life by basing his decisions on what feels good. Most other societies have a much more solid foundation for making decisions, such as whether an act is in harmony with the society they live in, and is harmful or helpful to their community. Western society’s soul has come detached from its moorings, so it searches for something to fill the gaps left by former anchors like religion.  Religion has taken a battering from science. Worship may make a believer feel good, but so many people these days are no longer satisfied with the answers offered by religious texts. 

If a man in a poor country has scraped together enough money to buy a product, his choices would probably be based on usefulness, reliability and price. He might base his decision on what might help himself or his family, but to choose something because it “feels good” would be the least of his reasons for making a choice. It is true that choosing something for its rightness (usefulness, reliability and price) makes the buyer feel good, but choosing a product based only on its wow factor would be considered a foolish purchase.

The western marketing colossus attempts to create needs where none previously existed by exploiting human characteristics such as pride, envy, and a desire to feel superior. Television, which is watched worldwide, is an ideal medium for insinuating these new needs into every level of society. Feeling good is an easy sell, but the downside to the pitch is that we think we need these things that make us feel good because they cover up the emptiness.  This is not to say that man doesn’t have a desire to feel good, but to believe that this desire is a philosophy, a way of life, or a reason for action, makes for an empty life spent travelling between one indulgence and another.  It is an existence without heart, spirit or soul.