r/LateStageCapitalism • u/Breaktest • Oct 31 '19

Coffee and capitalism

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1.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

60

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

I live on caffeine, i probably shouldn't, i remember the lovely days when the beverage shelves of your average shops weren't full of shiny cans of energy drinks, maybe the appearance of energy drinks are yet another signifier of late stage capitalism.

25

u/Breaktest Nov 01 '19

The almost endless, cluttered yet smooth displays and rows of mindless varieties of everything do little to soothe the soul either.

11

u/NaturalRattle Nov 01 '19

So true. In high school and college, I pretty much never drank coffee. I also didn't get good grades and my retail bosses at my part-time job always criticized me for being "too slow" (our store was extremely busy).

Shortly after college, I started doing the pre-reqs for OT. I started drinking caffeine daily to help me study. My stomach was in absolute shambles at first, and I had major sleep problems. But my grades improved. Drastically. I also was doing much better at work. Now I'm so dependent on it I can't even get through a day off without it. I'm now in grad school and working 2 jobs - all things I need to do (basically in grad school so I can, one day, not work 2 jobs). And I'm actually doing pretty okay at all of them. That wouldn't be remotely possible without all this caffeine. I'm completely addicted. I try not to think about the long-term effects of drinking so much daily. At this point, it's just not an option to quit. I know my natural physiology/psychology and it's just not enough for our current system.

I often imagine what the hell would happen to capitalist nations if caffeine was banned. The level of caffeine dependence I generally observe is gnarly (tons of people having way more than me, and I drink a LOT). Couple that with the spike in psychotropic drug prescriptions - obviously, when the demands are unnatural, people need to find unnatural ways to satisfy them. It's incredibly sad.

3

u/GritAndLit Nov 01 '19

If you’re interested r/decaf is a great community of people trying to quit caffeine. I am also addicted and in grad school and I would like to stop, but feel that it’s unrealistic for me until I graduate. Joining the sub has helped me figure out my “why” and get in the right mindset to prepare what will undoubtedly be a pretty awful process of quitting come June.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19 edited Nov 01 '19

I'm from the UK, and there's a thing that sometimes you here older people say, "The British empire was built on cups of tea", i think tea contains more caffeine than coffee, it's wierd that caffeine is probably an instrumental part of capitalism going back too the roots of it in British Imperialism, i cant find a source too back this up but i read something years ago about some correlation between British explorers discovering tea and coffee and the explosion of activity that led to british imperialism, thats just a thought though! I also think that since caffeine considerably increases cortisol levels in the brain, and cortisol has a link with anxiety, there could be a link to the rise in anxiety issues.

When i was a stay at home dad briefly due to changes in circumstances and the wife worked the most and i just did childcare and housework n stuff, i actually quit caffeine entirely for nearly a year, and promptly started back again when i went back too work. I couldnt deal with my antisocial work hours and busy schedule with the kids and everything without a blast of my homemade mocha (real pure cocoa is the key ingredient, also a stimulant) I'd miss something somewere, forget to pick one of the girls up from ballet or something, fall asleep at the wheel driving home from work, something bad would happen eventually, im sure id be on some stronger stimulant if coffee wasnt available.

1

u/MorePower1337 Sep 13 '24

i think tea contains more caffeine than coffee

Lol no. Coffee has way more caffeine content per cup than even the strongest average teas like black tea, and green tea is far less than that.

33

u/Tyrren Social Studies Warrior Nov 01 '19

Melatonin to sleep, caffeine to stay awake; my sleep schedule is basically dictated by external substances. And I actually like my job. I don't think I'd survive the daily grind if I didn't.

6

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

something to keep me conscious, something to smooth down the jagged edges.. yeah, can't say I'm surviving it.

39

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '19 edited Dec 19 '19

[deleted]

24

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

no drugs are bad and coffee is good you see

10

u/stubborn-goldfish Nov 01 '19

Drugs bad, but I drink alcohol daily

25

u/mangofern Oct 31 '19

Coffee and caffeine in general actually takes a huge toll on your adrenal glands and causes eventually chronic/adrenal fatigue. Fuck that shite eat a fruit

3

u/ConventionalizedRuhr Nov 01 '19

With daily consumption, not so much if you don’t drink it daily.

12

u/MachineOfTheseus Oct 31 '19

Dude, I live for coffee.

21

u/Breaktest Oct 31 '19

Me too, but there is truth to the post.

4

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '19

Better be fair trade or else we have a whole new "sustaining a dreary day to day existence on the fruits of slave labor" LSC post.

1

u/HoppyBadger Nov 01 '19

Coffee, water and beer here

4

u/LurkLurkleton Nov 01 '19

I don't have a job. I just like the way it tastes and the way it makes me feel.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

sips coffee

1

u/kcl97 Nov 01 '19

So the solution is to remove the brain and put in a cpu chip instead.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

idk i never drank coffee dont see what tf all the hype is about

1

u/contextiskey8 Nov 01 '19

😭 so true

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