Matters of Habit
Habits are the very stuff our identities are made of. In them we enact and thus define what we effectively are as social beings, often in contrast with our perception of what we are. In their very transparency they are the medium of social violence.
My notions—of good and evil, of pleasant and unpleasant, of funny and serious, of ugly and beautiful— are essentially middle class notions; my taste in books and food and clothes, my sense of honor, my table manners, my turns of phrase, my accent, even the characteristic movements of my body, are all matters of habit.
Smell could helpfully be added to this series.
I am ready to love my neighbors…..provided they don’t smell too bad.
(That is why today deodorants and soaps are crucial—they make neighbors at least minimally tolerable)
—excerpt from Violence by Slavoj Zizek
