Pop culture bloggings

In today’s society one’s own health, life failures/successes and the responsibility to help, at least by donation (and generally enacted by consumerism) is placed entirely on the person due to individualism. While having responsibility for yourself and those around you is not a bad thing, neoliberalism has taken it to a problematic extreme. People are told to maintain their good health and balanced life style, not to take unnecessary drugs (while pharmaceutical companies are making more and more of these drugs “necessary”) despite the fact there are many factors in the environment that can still cause problems. People with cancer are now asked ‘what had you done’ and ‘what will you do about it?’. People also feel more and more pressure to control all aspects they can possibly get their hands on, as if they alone should be able to fix the droughts in Africa.
With the amount of outside responsibilities placed on the individual it’s not surprising how many people are suffering from anxiety and depression. One cannot simply wake up and decide ‘today I will not be depressed’ nor can many take medications without serious side effects (including more depression) without society and the medical system bearing down on them as having not taken care of themselves properly. The death of Robin Williams, while tragic and unfortunate has at least opened up the discussion on mental health. The most interesting observation is that media often blames depression and suicide on substance abuse, assuming the person must have done something to alter their perception to kill themselves. Depression and other mental issues are just as debilitating as physical diseases, but there is even more emphasis on the responsibility of the person as we are meant to be in control of our own minds. Individualistic societies need to learn that moderation is key, many things are a person’s responsibility and in their control – but health (physical and mental) is effected by many outside forces as well.