Opinion (Renata Salecl, Slovenian social and legal theorist): “With freedom come choices. Every choice is an opportunity to select the best possible outcome, the one that would make us happiest. More choices lead to more happiness, right? Of course we find the opposite to be true. As choices increase, so does anxiety. In the latest installment of the RSA animated lecture series, Slovenian social and legal theorist Renata Salecl argues that this anxiety, coupled with the capitalist ideal of the self-made person, leads to a kind of social paralysis.

“’Today’s ideology of choice,’ says Salecl, ‘actually pacifies people and makes us constantly turn criticism to ourselves instead of organizing ourselves and making a critique of the society we live in.’” (Source: Open Culture)

“You are also ashamed of poverty. We are afraid that people will laugh at our choice; we recognize the need for public opinion in relation to yourself. We never make choices for ourselves, in isolation from society. We choose what others choose. Thus, choice is a social category, and specifically this feature brings a feeling of anxiety.

“Another reason is an attempt to make the right choice. As a result, people change mobile network operators or partners, but always remain unsatisfied.

“The third reason is that choice inevitably involves losses, the possibility of following a different path, which produces maximum discomfort today.

“The main loss, in which we have no choice, is death. But even in this case we are trying to plan, to delay it, to gain control over it. …

“The ideology of the modern world was based on the fact that anyone can succeed in anything. The idea of a self-realized man who had achieved everything himself was central to this ideology. Anyone can become a celebrity. ‘Everyone can succeed’— this credo dominates society. … In the past, people wanted to become famous in something: some invention, research, or a special talent. Now, they all want to become famous for the sake of fame, not for something, but just famous. …

“Why doesn’t social change happen? –A fear of change, a fear of loss.

“The defining features are self-criticism, a sense of guilt for one’s own failure, and anxiety in the face of choice. Thus we see that the ideology of choice is not optimistic and thus prevents social change.

“The fear of change is associated with the fear of loss. When you have little, you are afraid of losing even that and you prefer not to provoke social change. People become passive and criticize themselves instead of getting organized and taking a critical look at modern society in which we live.” (Source: theoryandpractice.ru)

My Comment: In fact, a person has no choice because the society is governed according to the plan of nature, and a person is completely subordinated to society, environment. The only choice is to choose the environment, and then he will be under the influence of this society against his will. But if a person picks the right environment that corresponds to the upper Nature (the Creator), then he secures for himself a quick and easy progress toward the goal of creation and thus avoids all kinds of problems.
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