"What an occupation! To sit and flay your fellow men and then offer their skins for sale and expect them to buy them"
- August Strindberg
About this Quote
This quote by August Strindberg speaks with the paradoxical and frequently hypocritical nature of particular human habits, particularly in social, financial, and interpersonal interactions. At its core, it provides a metaphor of exploitation and control, with the imagery of "flaying your fellow guys" suggesting a brutal and invasive act. This can be translated as making the most of others, removing them of self-respect, resources, or emotional wellness for one's gain.
The idea of "providing their skins for sale and expecting them to buy them" includes another layer of irony and critique. It recommends that after making use of people, the perpetrator not just gain from this exploitation but also expects the exploited individuals to support or endorse the very system that oppressed them. This might be reflective of social structures where people are persuaded into taking part in their exploitation, often thinking they have no other choice or seeing no alternative.
In another interpretative angle, this quote might likewise signify the customer culture and industrialism, where people are often both the made use of and the customer of their exploitation. Business might exploit workers by paying them minimal salaries (symbolic of the 'flaying'), producing goods that these very same employees can not manage, developing a cycle of inequality. Yet, these employees are at the same time the consumers who perpetuate the system by acquiring products, often without recognizing the full degree of their entrapment.
At a mental or moral level, Strindberg's words might reflect the internal dispute within people: a critique of human nature's tendency toward self-serving habits at the expense of communal consistency. The expectation for the oppressed to 'redeem their skins' also recommends a require awareness and resistance against such cycles of manipulation. It underscores the requirement for examining the fairness and ethicality of our interactions-- both at micro and macro levels-- and motivates pursuing systems and relationships built upon mutual regard and equitable treatment.
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