The Spirits Tell Me That Essay

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2. The main analysis of the article is The Spirits Tell Me That..

3. An overview of the author’s main arguments (Approximately 3 or more pages)

  • What overall argument is the author making? What specific examples does the author focus on in the reading?
  • How is this argument being made? (e.g., What kind of data is being used by the author to support her argument?)
  • How does this argument support or refute arguments made by other authors in the section?

4.   Your personal critical response to the reading (Approximately 2 pages)

  • What, if anything, do you find convincing about the argument being made?
  • What problems and/or oversights do you see in the reading?
  • What, specifically, do you think this article contributes to broader discussions of the topic?

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Writing Guidelines: 11 or 12 point Times New Roman or Calibri font only Double-spaced One-inch margins on all sides Numbered pages in upper right corner Proper Citations Required (You may use footnotes, endnotes, and in-text citations) Your name, course number, and date on a separate cover sheet. Separate works cited page (Response papers that do not meet these guidelines will be penalized) Format: This paper should not merely be a summary of the reading itself. Rather, the paper will be graded based on the following inclusions: 1. An overview of the author’s main arguments (Approximately 3 or more pages) ⚫ What overall argument is the author making? What specific examples does the author focus on in the reading? ⚫ How is this argument being made? (e.g., What kind of data is being used by the author to support her argument?) ⚫ How does this argument support or refute arguments made by other authors in the section? 2. Your personal critical response to the reading (Approximately 2 pages) ⚫ What, if anything, do you find convincing about the argument being made? ⚫ What problems and/or oversights do you see in the reading? ⚫ What, specifically, do you think this article contributes to broader discussions of the topic? Your essay should include: 1) an introductory paragraph providing a general overview (preview) of the main body of your essay and your conclusions 2) main body (summary and critical response) 3) concluding paragraph Grading Rubric: Response papers will be graded according to the following criteria: 1. Content and Development (Total points: 80) 1. Paper addresses the main arguments and issue(s) raised: 50 Points 1. Critical response is substantive: 30 Points (Well-formed, thoughtful, and detailed responses to the reading. Minimum total of 5 double-spaced pages per paper.) 2. Mechanics (Total points: 10) 1. Rules of spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation are followed: 10 Points 3. Readability and Style (Total points: 10) 1. Sentences are complete, clear, and concise, and the tone is appropriate to the content and assignment: 10 Points 100 points total per paper " I Ill ~ \l'lltll \ 1' 1:11 1\11 : lilA I YOIIItH \1 :1:1\INC 111;1.1' " I II 6 "THE SPIRITS TELL ME THAT YOU'RE SEEKING HELP" Fortune-Telling in Late Capitalism L. M UZZATTI EMMA M. SMITH STEPHEN n contemporary America people are inundated with mediated images of dizzying hyperwealth, a proliferation of rags-to-riches narratives, and relentless inducements to gamble on weekly lotteries with prizes in the tens of millions of dollars. Yet daily we are also confronted with the harsh realities of endless corporate cost cutting, the growing precariousness of work, an inadequate infrastructure, and a quickly eroding social safety net. Anxieties about employment and financial stability, health and wellness, personal safety, and international peace and security abound. At the mercy of global structural forces that few understand and even fewer can control, people desperately strive to bring a sense of order and tranquility to their lives. Thus, a growing number of people seek allies and answers in the supernatural world of fortune-telling and spiritual advising. This upsurge is reflected in IBISWorld's Psychic Services Market Research Report (2016), which outlines a 2.4 percent annual increase in revenue in the fortune-telling industry between 2011 and 2016. This chapter examines the resurgence and expansion of fortune-telling as a supernatural industry under the prevailing conditions of late capitalism. Particular attention is paid to the role of the fortune-teller as a source of support, guidance, and aid in the context of liquid modernity. This chapter seeks to neither validate nor debunk the practice of fortune-telling. Rather, we contextualize fortune-telling, its practitioners, and those who seek their guidance within the framework of late capitalism in twenty-first-century America. To accomplish this, we begin with a brief overview of fortune- I telling before turning w the MKinunt~· teller. Particular arremion is paid to the Anglo-American sphere bee W{'t'll 1he mid-late nineteenth and the late twcnrieth centuries. Our focus rhen ~>h if'c ~ lo the intersecting worlds of work and consumption under Iare capitalism, wic h due consideration given to the instability and anxiety of liquid modernity and how this fuels the demand for certainties about the future. This include' an exploration of consumer practices as the entry point to a critical evaluac ion of the positions of the fortune-teller as service provider and the seeker a\ o1 consumer. LIQUID DREAMS AND UNCERTAIN FUTURES Although incarnations of the capitalist economic system have existed for a few hundred years, the final decades of the twentieth century marked the true globalization of capitalism and the transformation of social life. This stage, termed "late capitalism" by Fredric Jameson (1991), saw new forms of transnational business and the mediatization of culture across the globe. Jt also brought with it doubt and uncertainty, as instability-economic, political, and social-ironically became one of the few remaining constants in life. Building on Jameson's work, with a heavy emphasis on the impact of these economic and cultural shifts on the everyday worlds of ordinary people, Zygmunt Bauman (2000) coined the term "liquid modernity" to describe the unsettled character of life in the new millel).nium. According to Bauman (2000), modern life shifts so quickly that organization and stability are difficult to achieve and virtually impossible to sustain. This malaise of liquid modernity is characterized by feelings of uncertainty and insecurity about our daily interactions and future existence Qock Young 2007). Liquid mo dernity offers little on which people can moor themselves. Our examination of the fortune-telling industry is informed by this societal reality, as people search for assurance and verification on the state of their lives. Dreams of prosperity are liquefying and becoming less tangible. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that real wages for people near the top of the income distribution in the United States increased 9.7 percent in 2014, whereas wages for the lowest earners continued to fall, by 3 percent (DeSilver 2014). In fact, for most workers, real wages have hardly increased for decades. The decline in living wage jobs, the precariousness of work and growing economic inequality over the past thirty years have reversed many of the economic and social gains made by ordinary Americans during the twentieth century. In many respects, as America charges through the second decade of the twenty-first century, its social, cultural, economic, and .. ~nr-r-r.Tr~ political conditions resemble the dangerous and uncertain landscape of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Alvaredo et al. 2013). Given these conditions, it is not surprising that our levels of collective uncertainty and social angst rival those of that earlier time, which equally saw a rise in the supernatural industry (Bauman 2007; Jock Young 2007). THE FORTUNE-TELLER: A GUIDING VOICE Fortune-telling involves the practices of prediction and counseling in areas of importance, concern, and uncertainty in a person's life. Although these services are not officially recognized as accredited mental health or social service initiatives, they do attempt to appease career, familial, and relationship woes as well as other fears about general well-being. The fortune-teller functions as an outlet for people to voice their most significant anxieties in exchange for immediate comfort. Practitioners and clients often subscribe to supernatural beliefs about mystic and spiritual powers, including communicating with the dead and predictive readings (Johnstone 2004). Those who seek the services of fortune-tellers are not unusual in this regard, as more than six in ten adults (65 percent) in the United States believe in the supernatural or have had experiences of engaging with psychic practices (Pew Research Center 2009). Themes from conventional religious traditions (e.g., Judea-Christian) are not necessarily incorporated into fortune-telling, as practitioners can conduct their readings in multiple venues, such as in private residences, at carnivals, or at public events. The channeling of future projections can be exercised in forms including astrology, dream analysis, numerology, palmistry, and phrenology (Johnstone 2004). Depending on the client's needs, multiple methods of prediction can be performed during one sitting. Spirit boards, crystal balls, cups, and tarot cards (see Chapter 7) are traditional tools used in fortune-telling. As we soon address more fully, fortune-telling is commonly associated with the practices of the Roma people and the resurgence of Renaissance magic. Labeled as a pastime for the lower class, fortune-telling's many practitioners would adopt occult knowledge as a guiding principle in their daily lives. Over the centuries, fortune-telling methods have continued to expand and embrace cultural influences from Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. Tasseography (reading the leaves), conducted for thousands of years in China, and voodoo (a spiritual observance common in West Africa, the Caribbean, and Louisiana; see Chapter 8) are examples of global predictive and mystical practices that are common among U.S. fortune-tellers (Johnstone 2004). During their fieldwork, in a large Western city, Danny Jorgensen and Lin Jorgensen encountered what they termed an "esoteric community" (1982: 0 "11111 \1'1111"1\ I' II.I.MI: "I' II."i Yllll.lll \JJ~INt.JJI ' II• " I //M 373) of diverse occult seeker~. diems, and praccitioners cncornpassin~ an array of beliefs and practices. Their study alone identified approxim;lldy" hundred groups involving as many as fifteen thousand people (Jorgenst•n and Jorgensen 1982). The intervening decades since Jorgensen and Jorgcm~:n's research have seen a significant professionalization of fortune-telling ~ervin·' and service providers. This professionalization has included formalization through the creation of professional associations, complete with codes of ethics, in-service training programs, and pro bono outreach. One exampl~: of this formalization is the Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers (AIRR). Convened in 2006, the AIRR consists of individuals who practice African American folk magic (hoodoo, conjure, rootwork, etc.). All members are required to graduate from a rootwork course and have two years of experience practicing in the field (AIRR 2017). Like the National Association of Psychic Practitioners, the American Association of Psychics and Psychic Mediums, and similar associations, the AIRR (2017) works to uphold an ethical standard within their profession and spread blessings, healings, and cleansings through different types of readings. Similar to law firms, the AIRR (2017) has established a Pro Bono Fund that distributes spiritual supplies (such as natural and handmade herbal teas, sprays, and oils) and services (free psychic readings) to low-income populations. FORTUNE-TELLING IN HISTORY The mysterious but wise fortune-teller, equipped with ancient knowledge, the gift of foresight, and magical healing powers-complete with a silky head covering and peculiar foreign accent-is a common trope of popular culture. Fortune-tellers are regularly caricatured in feature films (e.g., Sherlock Holmes: A Game ofShadows [2013], Drag Me to Hell [2009]), television programs (e.g., Game ofThrones, Gotham), comics and graphic novels (e.g., Madame Xanadu, Starman), and videogames (e.g., Final Fantasy VII [2013]). Common representations include the old, haggard, ambiguously Eastern European woman; the youthful, exotic beauty with highly problematic allusions to Gypsies (i.e., the Roma); or conversely, the middle-aged, vaguely racialized man with clipped-English speech, kind eyes, and other traits liberally borrowed from the plethora of stereotypes about servile colonial subjects from the Middle East or South Asia (Leland 2007). Irrespective of gender and ethnicity, seers are almost uniformly presented as marginal, both socially and economically, precariously earning their living through occult powers or stagecraft and sometimes both. Distinctly unsavory and borderline disreputable, the fortune-tellers of popular culture are frequently presented as playing on the fears of those who seek their counsel and providing deliberate misdirection. ln other, somewhat more benign representations, fortunetellers are portrayed as good-hearted and genuine-but ultimately unreliable-allies whose aid comes in the form of opaque half-truths and barely decipherable riddles. While the fortune-teller character occasionally features prominently in the media's myriad fictionalized lifeworlds, as seen in Disney's The Hunchback ofNotre Dame (1996) and The Princess and the Frog (2009), her or his presence is typically ancillary. In popular culture's storytelling the soothsayer is usually little more than a plot device, serving as a foreshadowing source within a predictive narrative of conflict and resolution. In these representations, seers are conventionally located either in carnivalesque environments or in eerie, isolated settings requiring the lead character to trespass into surreal and possibly dangerous territories. These cartoonish figures are stock characters in popular culture, but their circumstances and locations bear little resemblance to the diverse realities of traditional or contemporary fortune-telling practices. Indeed, these representations draw on a long history of popular misconception and distrust of fortune-tellers that began to emerge in the 1600s. As Jane Duran (1990) contends, the systematic discrediting of fortune-tellers and other supernatural practitioners by secular and religious authorities in the seventeenth century was integral to the process of rationalizing the newly emerging social order and its ideological justifications. For example, although the practice of fortune-telling was broadly linked to the cultural traditions and routines of the Roma diaspora in Scotland since the fourteenth century, it was not until the sixteenth century that fortune-telling and other forms of clairvoyance began to be labeled as the devil's work by both religious and secular authorities (Cressy 2016). Christian churches throughout Europe condemned the Roma people and their spiritual practices. The religious establishment was concerned that Roma fortune-tellers would lead parishioners astray-ultimately threatening its authority and influence. In Book of Vagabonds, German Protestant reformer Martin Luther refers to the Roma as "fake friars, wandering Jews and rogues" (Duna 2014). Swedish archbishop Laurentius Petri decreed that Roma children were not to be baptized and the Roma dead not buried in sacred ground (Kenrick and Puxon 1972). French Catholics who had their palms read faced the threat of excommunication, and the Catholic clergy in several European countries declared that even people who sheltered or otherwise aided the Roma were themselves subject to sanction (Kenrick and Puxon 1972). As they did in many Continental nations, the Roma resided near the bottom of England's social hierarchy and were deemed suspect for a host of reasons. Although they h;ld lived and traveled throughout what later bctamc Great Britain for generations, their language and cultural practiccs- panicu larly their piecemeal laboring and nomadic lifestyle- were markedly different from those of the Britons and violated vagrancy laws dating back to the fourteenth century (Chambliss 1964). In addition to accusations of kidnap ping and murder, the Roma endured charges of heresy, deception, and theft for their fortune-telling. Believing that the Roma's supernatural practices were filled with deceit and trickery, the British Parliament relentlessly produced legislation that forced punishments of deportation, exile, or death on these spiritual practitioners (Cressy 2016). Fears of religious belief cessation and the collapse of social order served as the primary motivation behind the persecution of the Roma and the forbidding of fortune-telling practices. Indeed, constructing and reifying the distinctions between the natural and the supernatural was a prerequisite for new ways of knowing (such as rationality and the physical sciences) to establish themselves as value-free and universal touchstones of truth (Duran 1990). The secularization of the European mind, perhaps a victim of its own success, reached a crisis stage in England during the Victorian era. Although the place of Christianity in England's cultural fabric had been less than secure for some time, the approaching millennium exacerbated religious uncertainty and cultural angst (Oppenheim 1988). In an effort to allay their fears and counter anxiety, people turned to the supernatural. By this time, magic and superstition were supposed to have been left behind in favor of empirical evidence and scientific methodology. However, "instead of superstition being expunged from the world, it maintained its hold on human emotions, where kinds of knowledge other than the theological or scientific were welcome" (Braudy 2016: 61). Fortune-telling, spiritualism, and psychical research promised answers that conventional science and religion could not or would not provide. As Janet Oppenheim's (1988) comprehensive survey of the Victorian and Edwardian periods illustrates, people from all walks of life turned to the supernatural for evidence of a cosmic balance and purpose in life. Hence, like that of Dennis Waskul and Marc Eaton (see the Introduction), Oppenheim's (1988) research challenges the earlier claims by some psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists that it was marginalized groups such as women, the poor, and those with low educational attainment who disproportionately sought out-or provided-fortune-telling and related supernatural services. Supernatural beliefs and practices were never monopolized by any one social class or gender. Both men and women, ranging from the landed gentry to lawyers and teachers, to factory workers and miners sought out trance speakers to communicate with the dead and fortune-tellers to divine the furure (Oppenheim 1988). In fact, even President Abraham Lincoln sought advice and guidance from spiritualists after the untimely death of his son, Willie (Maynard 1891). Rumors have also circulated that even Queen Victoria herself sought to communicate with the spirit of her late husband, Prince Albert (Oppenheim 1988). In contrast to the view of fortune-tellers and other supernatural practitioners in early twentieth-century England, their treatment in Australia in the first decades of the twentieth century reflected deep-seated class tensions, gender biases, and animosity. Foreshadowing some of what can be observed in the contemporary American context, fortune-tellers in Australia during the early 1900s were characterized as, at best, misguided cranks and, at worst, coldhearted con artists. Typically seen as the purview of lower-class women, fortune-telling was considered a national blight (Piper 2014). These underprivileged laborers were quickly categorized as sources of entertainment and amusement for the elite. Popular news publications, such as Western Mail and Queenslander, also adopted this perspective by publishing jokes and editorial cartoons that mocked the validity of fortune-telling and ridiculed its adherents and practitioners. Because the women conducting psychic readings were not upholding traditional gendered duties associated with a proper home life, they were often exaggeratedly depicted as sideshow performers or sinners. The mediated portrayals of women fortune-tellers as an evil menace dearly contributed to the selective enforcement of long-dormant laws against the practice (including those of criminal status and vagrancy), as well as the creation of new ones. For example, the 1901 Post and Telegraph Act forbade the practice of fortune-telling conducted through the mail system (Piper 2014). In the United States, predictive practices were the subject of much scrutiny over matters of dishonesty and lack of transparency. The chicaneries of Eusapia Palladino's (1854-1918) nonexistent powers to connect with the dead and the career hoax of the Fox sisters (Maggie, Kate, and Leah; 1830s-1890s) from New York served as ample fuel for public distrust. The inexorable testimony of Harry Houdini, the famed illusionist, during the 1926 Fortune Telling Hearing in Congress also worked to ignite disputes about the validity of spiritual practices and gender roles in the post-World War I years. This hearing centered on the introduction of bill H.R. 8989, in the winter of 1926, which proposed the criminalization of predictive practices. Identifying Houdini's perspective as a threat to gender values and asserting their function within society, women spiritualists successfully defended their position at this hearing and secured a congressional decision to protect their profession (Jeremy Young 2014). This historical event illuminates the tensions affiliated with gender and performance surrounding the observance of the supernatural, a theme widely emphasized throughout the media over time. Fortune-telling began co develop inro irs current form in America during the economic boom and cultural transformations char occurred in the decades following World War II. Demographic changes resulting in shifting immigration patterns contributed to this transformation. As immigrantsfirst from Europe but then from throughout the world-began to populate the American landscape, they brought with them supernatural beliefs and practices. Assimilating over time, the Americanization of these immigrant groups included both their adoption of American values and practices and the integration of some immigrant beliefs into America's transforming cultural fabric. A critical element in the evolution of fortune-telling in America was the growth and expansion of the culture industries, particularly the proliferation of television and advances in communications technologies. For example, in 1962 American audiences watched as upper-middle-class housewife Donna Stone (actor Donna Reid) played at fortune-telling in a town festival (The Donna Reed Show, season 4, episode 31). Likewise, though not explicitly portraying fortune-tellers, two popular TV sitcoms from the mid-1960s, Bewitched (1964-1972) and I Dream ofjeannie (1965-1970), played on similar supernatural themes. The former featured actor Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha (a witch), and the latter cast actor Barbara Eden as Jeannie (a genie). Both women lived in relative domestic bliss as seemingly normal middle-class suburban housewives. Last, the changing nature of work and increased consumer spending also contributed to the transformation in the practices of fortune-telling. As in previous centuries, scientific advances in industry and public faith in better living through technology drove a new wave of secularization in America. This shift altered the perception and practice of fortune-telling, which was increasingly seen as a type of service profession or a form of popular entertainment. These changes affected who told fortunes and how they did it, as well as who patronized fortune-tellers and how the public and the authorities responded to it. Fortune-telling was no longer seen as the exclusive purview of suspect foreigners in scary rural or gritty urban settings. Instead, fortunetelling and those who practiced it experienced an image makeover. It was seen as less ethnic, marginal, and suspect. While not yet at the level of apple pie, baseball, and cookouts, fortune-telling was becoming safe, suburban, and ultimately more American. Probably best described as a period of scientific-spiritual-legal detente, the decades of the 1950s through the 1970s saw gradual but ultimately significant changes in the practices of fortune-telling and the discourses surrounding it. At this time, some state laws and city ordinances still prohibited fortune-telling and what the legislation referred to as occult or crafty sciences, but these laws were all but ignored. Ontological debates about the legitimacy of fortune-telling continued to some degree but were waged with far less inrensity and frequency than in the past. When these debates occurred, rhe stakes-such as incelleccual accolades or the moral high ground-were considerably lower. There were no major public debates over fortune-telling, let alone congressional hearings. Instead, as detailed elsewhere in this volume, along with other supernatural beliefs and practices such as crystal power, faith healing, and psychic surgery, fortune-telling-from alectromancy through xylomancy-became far more commonplace (Goode 2000). In the middle of the twentieth century a larger paradigm shift began occurring in the United States. According to Robert Wuthnow (1998), during the latter half of the century Americans shifted away from institutionalized religious practice toward a more individualized spirituality. As a conseq.uence of this shift, more people found that the old intermediaries between themselves and the divine-such as priests-were no longer part of their lives. Instead, they found the divine within themselves or, alternatively, turned to noninstitutionalized intermediaries like shamans and fortune-tellers. Indeed, fortune-tellers played to the spiritual eclecticism of this New Age seeker crowd (Wuthnow 1998) by drawing from diverse ethnocultural traditions, including aboriginal and indigenous spirituality, Greek mythology, Indian mysticism, paganism, and a host of Eastern belief systems. By the end of the 1970s, fortune-telling was no longer seen as a milieu of weirdoes and fraudsters. It had become mainstream in the form of horoscopes in daily newspapers, psychic readings available in storefronts across the country, New Age reading rooms, and shops selling crystal balls, tarot cards, and other ephemera of the fortune-telling practice. By the early 1980s, fortune-telling was solidly middle class. Most fortune-tellers presented themselves as professionals who borrowed language not only from the "esoteric cultic milieu" but also from the worlds of smallbusiness entrepreneurship, psychological counseling, and traditional religious ministering (Jorgenson and Jorgenson 1982: 377). This professionalization prompted respected scientist Carl Sagan to quip that by 1980 the country had more professional astrologers than professional astronomers (Goode 2000). In some respects, the transformation of these practices marked the "whitening" of fortune-telling. Constructed as creepy and suspicious when it was the sole purview of Eastern European immigrants, fortune-telling's appropriation by the baby boomer hippie counterculture and the New Age movement normalized the practice. Its transformation was facilitated by its legitimation by young, predominancly white, middle-class (or above), largely college-educated Americans who had the purchasing power and cultural dominance to make their preferences mainstream (Jorgenson and Jorgenson 1982). This quarter-century-long process of recuperating fortune-tellers culminated with the creation of professional a~~o
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I.

Introduction

II.

Paragraph I


III.

Paragraph II


IV.

The fortune-teller: a guiding voice
Paragraph III


V.

Fortune-telling in history
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VI.

Work in late modernity and the supernatural industry
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VII.

The consumer and supernatural consumption
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VIII.

Liquid dreams and uncertain futures

A machine of the future
Conclusion


Running head: ARTICLE ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL RESPONSE

Article Analysis and Critical Response
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date

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ARTICLE ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL RESPONSE

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Article Analysis and Critical Response
Introduction
The wrong conception of wealth acquisition, tremendous growth in the gambling industry
each day, and dangling imaginations of hyper-wealth in America is a common aspect. What has
not been clarified in this context is the true picture of what the successful face daily, particularly,
costs, infrastructural inadequacy, and a general decline in the level of social security. With all these
fa tors existing in this era of late capitalism, the people are now more uncertain about the future
and much desiring to achieve stability. This has increased the rate at which the fortune telling
industry has grown into popularity compared to the 19th and late 20th century.
Particularly the revolution of capitalism ideology has lasted for a very long time. According
to the author, she exudes that this may have lasted for about five hundred years. The ideology
might have been concentrated in some areas, but as time runs, there is tremendous globalization
of these ideas as well as mediatization of culture. The author points these two aspects as a way of
emphasizing how the inception of instability in this era, as capitalism and mediatization of culture
became globalized. Ideally, the author incepts the idea of the popularity of the fortune-telling
industry due to liquid modernity, a concept that is defined as the swaying feature of life. His
argument supports the ideology of Bauman that life is changing so quickly such that it now
impossible to organized and be stable as well as sustenance is impossible to achieve the goal
(Bauman, 2013). This new character of life creates a strong feeling of uncertainty about what life
is at current and life in the future. This is because more people see dreams to be wealth are
becoming unachievable and intangible as each day passes. Conversely, the ideal problem o...


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