It’s too late to get an affluenza shot

In Charlotte Square Gardens in Edinburgh, enclosed behind the ornate spiked fence, stands a temporary complex of white tents. These tents are joined by a series of covered wooden walkways that surround the grassy centre of the garden where a monument to Prince Albert stands.
It was unveiled in 1876 by Queen Victoria. The temporary modern construct that surrounds it has appeared in the last two weeks and is the home of the annual Edinburgh International Book Festival. From August 14 and until August 30, noted names from the world of literature and thought have been speaking, reading, arguing and discussing their own works and the world in general.
For those seeking debate and intellectual stimulation, it is the equivalent of Willy Wonka’s factory for the chocolate lover.
It was there last week that I went with my parents, who were over for a welcome visit, to see a debate on the topic of the Big Society and what it will look like. To discuss the topic were Sir Menzies Campbell, QC, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Oliver James, the author and psychologist and David Aaronovitch a columnist with The Times.
The Big Society, which David Cameron speaks of so regularly in Britain, is his vision of the nation he wishes to construct from the ashes of budget cuts. It will be a society run by volunteers with little or no support from the state compared to what is now offered. It is his solution to the problem he calls “Broken Britain”.
Though Ireland is inflicting similar, if not more stringent, cuts on its population, there has not been a sound bite equivalent in terms of the government’s vision. This is perhaps because there has not been a general election recently. It must be said this is not a positive thing. Similar economic action will lead to a similar situation in terms of public services but the Irish government has not even suggested that the gap should be filled by volunteers. This is, no doubt, because they are aware that the concept would most likely be laughed off by the population. The voluntary sector in Ireland is already stretched to the very limit to fill the gaps in public provision of services.
The discussion between the three panelists was lively and entertaining but one man in particular spoke on a topic which is as relevant to Ireland as it is to Britain, Australia and America: “affluenza”.
This malady, coined through the combination of affluence and influenza, is defined as “a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more”. Others say it is “The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Jones’”. Either, in my opinion, neatly define the culture that has been built in Ireland, Britain and America during the boom years and has resulted in our current depression.
The main speaker on “affluenza” was Oliver James who has written a book on the topic. He cites higher rates of mental illness in English speaking Western countries, of which Ireland is one, which is twice that of our mainland European neighbours, 23% of the population as opposed to 11.5%. He blames this on the brand of “selfish capitalism” pursued by the governments of the affected countries in the years of supposed plenty. These are the economic policies which unleashed the money men to do as they pleased and take the kinds of risks which brought Britain and Ireland’s banks to within hours of shutting completely. Only when the memoirs of the current batch of politicians are published will we fully realise how close we came to ATMs ceasing to function and credit cards being useless pieces of plastic in our cashless wallets.
Desperate measures have been taken in the aftermath of the crisis but as with the invasion of Iraq, there seems to be little by way of planned reconstruction when the recovery is achieved. Another important consideration in this is that the recovery will be achieved through the same economic policies that led to the problems in the first place. Although the government has not stated it, Ireland is following a similar set of policies to Britain in downsizing the state. These policies will have one guaranteed effect and that is to increase the gap between rich and poor and social inequality thus increasing the prevalence of “affluenza” in our societies.
Despite a massive jump in the number of house repossessions and growing numbers in the dole queues, TV, radio and newspaper advertising still tells us that we need to own products in order to be happy, fulfilled human beings.
If we are not consuming, we are not thriving and certainly cannot be happy is the message leering down at us from billboards every day. If we are not consuming we are failures, more importantly if we do not have the money to purchase these items, we are failures.
Such messages hidden in gaudy, expensive, slick advertisements with catchy tunes and slogans do not take long to impose themselves on the psyche and cause damage.
As might be expected, there was little by way of concrete answers in the debate we enjoyed last week.
Each member of the audience took what they agreed with and held it up as a justification for their particular beliefs, myself included. What was stark was the scientific evidence quoted on the day and in his book, by Oliver James. It is clear from his figures that the current system of “selfish capitalism” is a negative rather than positive thing in society.
His solution to the problem is for people to “remove the negative consumerist effects by pursuing real needs over perceived wants and by defining themselves as having value independent of their material possessions”. Many read this as placing family, friends and contentment above the acquisition of vast amounts of money. This is idealistic and if people were to try it might negatively affect the “recovery” being chased by the British and Irish governments at the moment. In the societies they are aiming to construct, such concepts will make you a bad citizen.