The tram was usually full for that time of day. Late afternoon, middle of the week, for many it is the time of return from work. I rode the line of public city transport that ends at the tram interchange and the bus stop in the west of the city. Most of those who were crowded in the tram, soon changed their means of transport and headed to their suburban settlements in the vicinity of Zagreb on some of the buses from Črnomerac.
But somehow the guy somehow managed to comfortably sit on a chair in an uncomfortably full tram, not caring at all about the old traditional rules of etiquette in public transport. I'm thinking of those customs where a young man - the one I'm referring to is in his late twenties or early thirties - gives up his seat in the tram to one of the many older people who were standing and struggling to keep their balance.
He provided himself with modern gadgets and closed himself in only his mental bubble. The laptop was on in his lap, he was holding and caressing what appeared to be an expensive smartphone in his hands, and large headphones were on his ears. I felt a strong pressure on my back, I was hanging on the handrails dangling over him and I had to notice some details of the scene in front of me. On his laptop screen, on the home screen, was a visual collage of a series of square thumbnails. Some showed furious cars, others expensive jewelry, and on at least one there was a motif of a man's elegant suit with a matching bow tie, a representation of glamor typical of, say, old James Bond movies.
Most interestingly, in the middle of the screen, in large letters, it was written: success is decision. So, success is simply a matter of decision. It is not a consequence or result of social circumstances and context, success needs to be provoked by proactive personal decisions, they claim in numerous books manuals and literature that promotes a capitalist business-life culture. It reminded me of that well-known scandalous definition of poverty from the arsenal of contemporary American neoconservative ideology, supported by theses new age psychology: nothing of social-class and economic-political conditioning, poverty is a matter of personal state of consciousness.
Such catechism has spread to numerous peripheries, across countries and societies that are still in a relatively young historical period of restoration of capitalism. It functions as a battle cry and ideological persuasion: dare, decide and move, provoke success. Money, fame, glamor and beautiful women are there, just waiting for you. It doesn't matter that the objective indicators of your real social and life situation are on one side and the created imaginary on the other side, in a deep split.
Towards the starry world of success, you are trucking along in an overcrowded city tram, on old rails, at a snail's pace. When you return from work where you were exhausted and underpaid.
Bonus video:
