«What a terrible life!» — almost all of us have heard this phrase, and more than once. And who pronounces it? The one whose life is full of hardships, who does not know if he will be alive tomorrow? More often these words belong to wealthy people, whose existence is not at all threatened.
«What a terrible life!» — almost all of us have heard this phrase, and more than once. And who pronounces it? The one whose life is full of hardships, who does not know if he will be alive tomorrow? More often these words belong to wealthy people, whose existence is not at all threatened. Paradox? Lars Svendsen, a forty-year-old professor of philosophy at the University of Bergen in Norway, says the reason is that danger has become a form of entertainment. Fear saves from the boredom that haunts a prosperous society. But besides that, it is also a great tool for manipulation! At airports, people resignedly go through a humiliating screening procedure because they are afraid of terrorism. While psychologists understand the mechanisms that make us endure restrictions on our freedom, they have already been adopted by politicians and … nutritionists. After all, the fears associated with food are among the most powerful. When do we respond to a real threat, and when to indoctrinated stereotypes? Svendsen’s book is about this.
PROGRESS-TRADITION, 288 p.