3 ms·

"Soma", ladies & gentlemen

• motohagiography 5y ago
  Searched comments for this. Found at bottom, battered and faded, but yes, that is exactly what it would be, I agree. However, I also accepted that being glib about it and calling it soma ignores what it's like to live with clinical, total physiological depression and that this is real hope. I'm not scolding either, I literally laughed at this myself and came here to say something along those lines, but giving a generous sop to some people I fundamentally disagree with - it was a laugh that signalled an opportunity to empathize with the subject of it. Feels gross even saying that, and I believe the soma thing is a legit question, but even at the risk of arming enemies, it's worth elevating the commentary a bit because of what is on the other side of it. We don't make b-movie zombie references whenever there is a new chemo treatment with promise against cancer, and if someone depressed said to me, "hey thanks and f-you for making my need for the first viable treatment just as stigmatized as the disease," I would have earned the criticism honestly. I also realize this is what only a truly master soma propagandist would say as part of a campaign for the coming change, but my realization was sincere, and anyway, there's also no way they're this good.
• donkarma 5y ago
  I wonder how many of these people are depressed because of their environment instead of chemical imbalances
• eru 5y ago
  'Soma' makes you happy. We have drugs that make you happy. This is something to snap people out of depression.
• ciphol 5y ago
  Soma, in Brave New World, made you more passive (as well as happier). Curing/alleviating depression makes you more active. It gives more meaning to life, not less.