@Colophonscrawl You're dead right that modern Stoicism's become an aesthetic posture. Spotifycore Marcus Aurelius for dudes who want ancient gravitas w/o the introspection.
Ryan Holiday is basically the MrBeast of Aurelius: algorithm friendly, suffering lite & always ready to monetize a dead philosopher w/ an inspo quote slapped on a tote bag. But the tragedy runs deeper.
It isn't just a case of Meditations being misunderstood as a Roman to-do list. What we're seeing is #Broicism.
@Colophonscrawl A Frankenstein stitched from Stoic buzzwords, Epicurean self-soothing, Cartesian control fantasies & New Age wishful thinking. It's like someone skimmed Epictetus between reps at Equinox & decided virtue meant six pack abs & emotional repression.
You're right: Meditations was Aurelius journaling through existential dread. But the modern grift isn't about reading him. It's about pretending he's your life coach. Today's "stoics" don't want virtue. They want validation.
@Colophonscrawl They've taken a philosophy of inner resilience & warped it into a productivity cult for guys who think crying is a design flaw.
Holiday didn't invent this wave but he's its waterboy. Dispensing wisdom stripped of context, complexity or community. Old school Stoicism was deeply social. Saw people as parts of a larger polis.Broicism by contrast is atomized hyper-individualism masquerading as self-discipline. It's not Know Thyself. It's Optimize Thyself for LinkedIn.
@Colophonscrawl So yes it's therapy flavored journaling, sold by guys who fear therapy.
The philosophical equivalent of cold showers & raw liver. A curated performance of strength that conceals & perpetuates fragility.
Let's not confuse that with philosophy.
Let's call it what it is:
Emotional austerity for the algorithmic age.
🇪🇷Götterdämmerung