In so far as the culture industry arouses a feeling of well-being that the world is precisely in that order suggested by the culture industry, the substitute gratification which it prepares for human beings cheats them out of the same happiness which it deceitfully projects.

Theodor W. Adorno
About This Quote

The culture industry is the entertainment industry. It creates products that people can consume and be entertained by. People spend hours watching movies, listening to music, playing video games, etc. Well-being is created when people are entertained by the culture industry.

The problem with this is that it creates a substitute gratification, rather than receiving the true happiness which comes from doing something for oneself. Instead of working hard to create something themselves, people are now focused on what someone else has done for them. If you want to be happy, work hard to create something yourself.

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  1. What can oppose the decline of the west is not a resurrected culture but the utopia that is silently contained in the image of its decline.
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  3. The darkening of the world makes the irrationality of art rational: radically darkened art.
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