Nordic Ideology: A Metamodern Guide to Politics, Book Two

by Hanzi Freinacht

This economy can be productive, or corrupted, have great ecological fallout (the joy of one being the misery of another); it can be lean or heavy-going, fair or unequal, effective or ineffective—just like the conventional economy of goods and services. In this sense, our emotions have an inescapably transactional side. Negative emotions targeting me often cost me something. And which negative emotions you have towards me also make a great difference: If you disdain and shame me, it’s after all more manageable than if you’re in a hateful frenzy against me and threaten my physical safety. Hence the collective emotional reactions of my surroundings largely determine the severity of my shackles—or conversely, the heights of my freedom. Since we avoid the negative emotions, since we avoid different forms of judgment by self and others, we are always being steered by an emotional regime, a regime present in every interaction—hidden in plain sight.