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OBSESSED TO EXCESS
Our consuming passions say a lot about who we are. They reveal everything from our desires to our fears. Care to obsess on that for a while?.

Text: MANON CHEVALIER, PETER VERBURG

EVERYBODY HAS HIS OR HER OWN LITTLE OBSESSION. The guy at the gym stares at himself in the full-length mirror. Your business partner constantly checks her watch for fear of being late. Your sister-in-law goes into a state of ecstasy over the sight of her poodle decked out in its miniature Louis Vuitton coat.

The Western democracies of the 21st century are the most obsessive societies of all time. According to anthropologist and essayist Bernard Arcand, the roots of this mass phenomenon can be traced to the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism. These events fragmented our lives, providing fertile ground for the growth of all sorts of collective obsessions. "From that point on, the human experience began to be compartmentalized. Our goal, of course, was to make money, and lots of it. The end result is that we’ve become financial fundamentalists," he asserts. "And from that one obsession, all the others follow."

So what would head a Top 10 list of contemporary obsessions? Well, in addition to moneymania, the list would have to include the following:

The novelty fetish. Some of us just have to be the first to own the latest thing – be it a combination wristwatch-personal digital assistant-MP3 player or a Prada handbag. A related fixation might be termed technophilia: Think of all the people who feel they need to stay connected – so they can be reached, and informed, at all times. The next three should come as no surprise: the quest for a youthful, shapely and perfectly healthy body; the need to perform, whatever the discipline; and sex, sex, sex. Also making the grade is the need to compete, a.k.a. beat your neighbour. In Las Vegas, people have been known to go bankrupt trying to claim bragging rights to the greenest, most painstakingly manicured front lawn on the block. Last but not least on the list: the doctrine of happiness at all costs.

Anthropologist Valérie Beaumont has an interesting take on the obsession question. "We live in an age marked by an overabundance of ideological freedoms and material comforts" which she says "can be a source of incredible anxiety, and give rise to all sorts of obsessions." It’s an unusual trade-off. And we have no idea what tomorrow will bring in the way of obsessions. In the end, it’s not so much about our obsessions on an individual level. Rather, it’s about trying to imagine what the human race would be like without all our obsessions. Fixate on that. (M.C.)

MONEY
THE OBJECT OF LIFE IS TO GET MONEY. Money and the stuff it buys are the true source of human happiness. A bulging bank account warms the heart, soothes the soul and pacifies the mind. Forget God. Accumulating wealth is the path to personal security and contentment. Get enough, and we might even cheat death.

Hooey, right? And yet most of us live as though it were true. Money is Western civilization’s greatest obsession. "The entire essence of America," noted renowned economist Paul Erdman, "is the hope to first make money, then make money with money, then make lots of money with lots of money." In a spiritually bankrupt world, money defines who we are. Our success and status are measured against the size of our investment portfolios. "We say of a rich man that he is worth a great deal," wrote Adam Smith in the book Wealth of Nations (1776), "and of a poor man that he is worth very little."

The human obsession with money – or wealth in any form – is not purely Western, of course. Nor is it a recent phenomenon. The Tartars, a nation of shepherds, set out to conquer new lands so they could own more sheep. But it was Westerners who organized the pursuit and turned it into a sort of religion. The countries of Europe conquered new worlds hoping to find gold and silver. The fixation of the state was mimicked on an individual level by the aristocracy and nobility – the folks who had a little extra to throw around. Everyone else was preoccupied with the basics, like food and shelter.

But the rise of a middle class in the 20th century created a great mass of people with "surplus" cash. The impulse to hoard fit neatly with the Protestant work ethic, which held that waste is a vice, frugality a virtue and success a sure sign of God’s favour. We became a society of savers and spenders, and built the richest civilization in history. And yet our obsession with money grows stronger. The more we get, the more we want – so much so that we now rely on VISA to give us the semblance of wealth without the hard work. We’re happier for it, too, aren’t we? (P.V.)

SEX
TWICE A MONTH, A NEW YORK CITY ASSOCIATION CALLED CAKE ORGANIZES TORRID SOIRÉES DESIGNED TO "EXPLODE THE FRONTIERS OF FEMALE SEXUALITY." On a typical evening, a crowd of 700 women is packed into a Manhattan nightclub. In the 2 a.m. miasma, they carouse, compare notes on orgasms and enjoy the titillating spectacle of several well-muscled gentlemen lap dancers. So, is this a passing fad or a full-blown social phenomenon? Hard to say, but one thing is clear: Never in history have sex and sexuality been on such overt display as now. Advertising and the media in general are sexier. The Internet porn revolution is in full swing. Racy confessions of ex-call girls are popping up on bestseller lists. The sex trade is a burgeoning tourist attraction in some cities. Sex is still de rigueur in the cinema (with X-rated fare sneaking into "mainstream" films), and now network TV is getting pretty steamy as well. In short, sex is everywhere.

About 20 years back, Michel Foucault foresaw a world increasingly obsessed by sex, to the point that it would become the primary means of communication – and he saw it happening sooner rather than later. Those days would indeed seem to be upon us, but not for the reasons the French philosopher had in mind. Could it be that we’re more haunted by the uneasiness we feel toward sexuality than by sexuality itself? "When we talk about sex," says University of Toronto philosophy professor Ronald de Sousa, "we’re basically always talking about an anonymous sexuality, or other people’s sexuality. We’d rather keep quiet about our own sexuality, and the reason for that is pervasive hypocrisy." So much for the idea that we’re a society of libertines! But wait, it gets worse. "Take the fear of being accused of pedophilia," offers de Sousa. "We’re talking about a kind of mass hysteria that leads to profound inhibitions in some adults, and that in turn deprives their children of the displays of affection that are so necessary to their development. It’s a generalized malaise that results in repression and guilt, and can have grave social consequences." The same goes for the fear of being accused of sexual harassment over the most innocent of flirtatious remarks, or of being mistaken for a "professional" if we cast a desirous glance at someone we feel attracted to. No wonder so many people feel safer retreating into the realm of cybersex, or doing their cruising via phone-sex services rather than making the rounds of the bars.

Some say this leaves us projecting false facades beneath which we are jaded yet angst-ridden, eternally unsatisfied while chasing after pleasures that continuously escape us. That, in turn, is enough to make us believe that our obsession with sex stems much more from frustration than from satisfaction.

Therein lies the consolation, though, for frustration speaks to the very essence of desire. We can never entirely satiate desire; all we can do is renew it again and again – and this is a timeless, universal truth. It’s not as if our obsession with sex is likely to wane any time soon. (M.C.)

STATUS
WE’VE ALL BEEN TEMPTED TO COMPETE WITH OUR NEIGHBOURS IN SOME WAY, EITHER BY BUYING A MORE POWERFUL CAR, A BETTER SNOW BLOWER OR EVEN A MORE LUXURIOUS HOUSE. Don’t feel bad about it. Robert H. Frank, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Cornell University, says it’s not your fault. In his book Luxury Fever, he writes, "The concerns about relative position are indeed part of the evolved circuitry of the human brain and not just a cultural artifact." If back in the paleolithic era our ancestors had to compete with ingenuity and strength to ensure the means for their survival, then today we need to acquire and maintain our social status for survival. Which means it’s okay to want a nicer lawn than your neighbour’s.

The hitch is that in order to attain a higher social standing, you must possess something more than everyone else: a cottage on a lake, the latest in home entertainment systems, a diamond from Tiffany’s. To rise to the top, you’ve got to beat out your competition. "Imagine two neighbours who earn the same salary and both drive a Honda," says Joseph Heath, Professor of Philosophy and Canadian Research Chair in Ethics and Political Economy at the Université de Montréal. "One of them decides to work harder to buy a BMW. To avoid humiliation, the other one puts in the necessary overtime and also buys a BMW. Not only will the two neighbours end up driving the same car (say goodbye to that higher status), they will also have to work harder than before… and pay $95 for an oil change!" All to avoid looking like a loser.

The good news? You don’t have to revert to the "simple life," destroy your credit cards or renounce the Holt Renfrews of the world to avoid this scenario. Instead, close your curtains and stop spying on your neighbours. You’ll avoid envy, excessive debt, burnout, divorce… and, as a bonus, you’ll prevent the escalation of a "domestic arms race" in your neighbourhood. And this is the real secret to keeping peace with the Joneses. (M.C.)