Modern conditions have atrophied the faculty of genuine gift-giving
Evidence
Real giving had its joy in imagining the joy of the receiver. It means choosing, expending time, going out of one’s way, thinking of the other as a subject: the opposite of distraction. Just this hardly anyone is now able to do. At the best they give what they would have liked themselves, only a few degrees worse. — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 37
Categorization
- CANDY: The image of people giving ‘what they would have liked themselves, only a few degrees worse’ is a sharp, quotable little observation in itself.
- XREF: connects to: Giver-centered charity derails the recipient’s interests and even harms them — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 409; China’s historical gift-giving reflects in its modern diplomatic practices. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 567; Modern efficiency erases the ceremonious generosity that once defined luxury travel (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Modern efficiency erases the ceremonious generosity that once defined luxury travel
#exemplifies(0.85) - Giver-centered charity derails the recipient’s interests and even harms them
#expands(0.82) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 409 - Generosity is a disguised mode of destruction and appropriation
#complicates(0.78) - Gifts given to a kept woman function as instruments of continued control
#exemplifies(0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1687 - China’s historical gift-giving reflects in its modern diplomatic practices.
#exemplifies(0.72) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 567