EXCESS OF DREAMS

Capitalism demands an excess of dreams. It crushes dreams, provokes others; it finds a use for dreams that are healthy as well as those that are dying.

Perhaps we are naturally over-productive of dreams. Then capitalism puts those dreams to use. A dream is something to work for, and is therefore also a reason that can be given for work that takes places. Dreams retrospectively account for what you are doing with your life.

The American Dream gives hope or comfort or an excuse. There is not, in the end, any way to tell whether it has been achieved. Yes a white picket fence, but the garage is falling apart. How much is enough? What was it that you really wanted anyway? Becoming wildly famous is a dream we’re interested in, although few are actually interested in working for it, we’re game for watching celebrity, contemplating it, smiling at its happy parts, and feeling torn apart by bad parts. We pay for pop music about pop stars, reality TV about people as random as those that populate our everyday world who can become famous, tabloids of celebrity gossip, and video games that tell the same stories of legendary heroes.

The dreams you choose not to pursue are dreams we enjoy in entertainment, and entertainment can be found in almost every consumer product. The dreams you choose, are they dreams of success, accomplishment, confidence, comfort, splendor, nobility, and kindness of the very best kind? These dreams can be put to work, and capitalism is the economic system that will put them to use.