Satisfied slave syndrome: appreciating the lashes

[...] the main problem of the slave is not in themselves the various calamities that he has to endure day after day for his condition as a slave (...) but is, rather, the matrix of thought that does not allow him to question his slavery. [...]

The syndrome of the satisfied slave is not a term collected by the DSM nor by any other psychiatric diagnostic manual.

By this new concept, I mean the set of symptoms that some people present who, despite living an objectively miserable life, they seem to be not only resigned but grateful for their existence. In this article I will try to explain some cases in which this occurs Defense mechanism, its causes and its social and cultural context.

Physical or mental chains?

In the yes of a given society, we could ask ourselves the following: What is the worst thing that can happen to a slave?

One might answer that, without a doubt, the worst thing about slave life is, of course, the constant humiliation and degrading treatment that his slave status entails. However, there would be another possible answer:

The worst thing that can happen to a slave is to feel satisfied and even grateful for the life he has had to live and the treatment he receives.

A society of adapted neurotics

This paradoxical satisfaction of the adapted neurotic, does not reflect on the future and reduces the complexity of life to the immediate satisfaction of the daily routine. Although many contemplate this philosophy of life of the Carpe Diem as a laudable display of adaptation and optimism, the truth is that it is one more form of self-deception. The cognitive trap is that the satisfied slave progressively increases his resigned acceptance of his slave status; a condition that, based on hic et nunc, ends up going unnoticed by the individual himself.

What defines a slave is not his physical ties and his null freedom of movement without the express authorization of his master. He doesn't even define the whipping he receives.

Assuming the ideology of power

The problem of the slave satisfied with the blows and lashes is not the physical pain they cause him, but the psychological predisposition to receive them and to naturalize the cruelty of the powerful against him.

Consequently, the misfortune of the slave is not so much the situational forms that he suffers in his daily life in terms of physical abuse, but the assumption of the mighty thought, which prevents him from considering and therefore questioning his state of submission. This implies that he uncritically accepts the conditions of life with a resigned passivity and without a hint of determination to be able to reverse his life. If we also add a perception of satisfaction for the treatment offered as a slave, the individual is condemned to live a miserable life. In this case, chains do not hold the body, but the mind.

The satisfied slave in today's society

It is true that, in today's societies, the struggles for social and civil rights have been cementing some laws that protect us from flagrant abuses such as chain and whip slavery. However, we still carry some vestiges of the slave system.

The current socio-economic and cultural system imposes certain values ​​and exerts a continuous manipulation on the way we think, leading to the acceptance of some practices that fully conflict with the basic right to think critically and autonomously.

The modern slavery It consists in that we attend without prior reflection to a series of family, work and social routines. In this hectic day-to-day, the ability to take initiative on extremely important issues such as consumption (what do we buy and for what), the fashion (closely related to the image of ourselves that we want to project to the world) and the morality (those reflections that should guide our actions towards concrete ends).

Between uncriticism, passivity and Carpe Diem misunderstood, our mind stops considering certain things, which ultimately means a passive resignation before the vicissitudes of life. In this way, just as a slave would act and by the learned helplessness that supposes the null confidence in our possibilities, we end up being mere spectators of a status quo that we believe ubiquitous and, therefore, by itself legitimate.

Depressed and anesthetized youth

Just as he wrote Alvaro Saval in your article "Depressed youth or anesthetized youth?", the manipulation of our thoughts is shaping a fertile culture for power: ties us to prejudices, slogans and stereotypes that paralyze young people in a hopeless present.

Although the 15-M movement woke up a large part of these anesthetized youths under the yoke of the uniform thought of technocracy and presentism, the other half continues to inhabit a scenario in which uniformity of thought, precarious jobs and leisure time follow a pattern identical.

Without critical thinking there is no freedom

In these circles any hint of independent thinking or criticism of certain customs and customs is systematically vilified and excluded. Thus, fear of thinking for oneself and self-censorship are obstacles to escaping the chains and lashes of modern slavery. Of course, the system profits from this kind of thinking, propping up highly compliant individuals: precarious workers but productive, consumerists without criteria and, of course, not at all critical of society or with the injustices they suffer even without realizing it.

Adolescence is not only the stage in which our personality is consolidated, but also It is the time our thoughts are structured and draw certain master lines of our perception of the world around us. The influence of the group on the adolescent is always a relevant factor when it comes to presuming the influence on uniform thinking or, conversely, on critical thinking.

Without a critical culture, individuals are unable to think reality for themselves. In this sense, existence is no longer a journey in search of good, truth and happiness., to become an unreason of mirages and stereotypes whose appearance is covered with the well-being that we provides an imposed and assimilated thought: all for not having the courage to overcome the chains of slave.

Bibliographic references:

• Triglia, Adrián; Regader, Bertrand; García-Allen, Jonathan (2016). Psychologically speaking. Paidos.
• Ardila, R. (2004). Psychology in the Future. Madrid: Pyramid. 2002.