"The joke of our time is the suicide of intention"
- Theodor Adorno
About this Quote
Theodor Adorno's quote "The joke of our time is the suicide of objective" is a commentary on the state of modern-day society. He is recommending that in our existing period, people have actually ended up being so concentrated on the instant gratification of their desires that they have lost sight of their long-lasting goals and ambitions. This absence of intent has led to an absence of meaningful progress and a lack of significant relationships. Adorno is suggesting that this lack of objective has become a joke, as it has become so prevalent that it is no longer seen as an issue. He is cautioning that if we continue to ignore our intents, we will be not able to make significant progress and will be not able to build significant relationships. He is advising us to take our intents seriously and to pursue significant progress and relationships.
"I think suicide is sort of like cancer was 50 years ago. People don't want to talk about it, they don't want to know about it. People are frightened of it, and they don't understand, when actually these issues are medically treatable"
"I think about death a lot, like I think we all do. I don't think of suicide as an option, but as fun. It's an interesting idea that you can control how you go. It's this thing that's looming, and you can control it"
"As history since Hiroshima shows, the best, perhaps the only, way to curb war is to deter it with such overwhelming force as to turn it from a struggle into suicide"
