If Life Gives You Lemons, Ask Yourself Who Could Be Profiting From It

Everyone has heard, at least once in their life, the clichéd motivational phrase: ‘If life gives you lemons, make lemonade’. Harmless, optimistic and almost naive. This phrase is ‘shoved down our throats’ as if it were an infallible philosophy of life.

Since the dawn of humanity, we've had the strange habit of turning defeats into catchphrases. Which is understandable in a way - who likes the idea that things might be happening for no reason, right?

But between you and me, have you ever wondered: who is profiting from all this citrus abundance? Who really gains from the idea that you should accept challenges and turn them into an ‘opportunity’? Because, let's face it: life doesn't hand out lemons for free, and if they're dumping a whole load on us, there's someone taking advantage of it.

The Existential Lemons Market

 

Pain has always been a valuable commodity. If you think that all the difficulties we face are just random misfortunes that are part of chance or ‘fate’, then you'd better rethink that. Human suffering has always been a gold mine for those who know how to capitalise on it. 

The misunderstood philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that ‘Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs man's torment’. And what do they do with our suffering? They package it in self-help books, turn it into productivity courses, sell it as miracle pills. 

Exaggeration? Want an example?

The self-help market is a billion-dollar industry. There is a veritable empire built on the idea of the ‘millionairemindset ’. While we're out there trying to ‘win at life’, someone is selling the secret to success for just 997.00 or 12X 83.08 without interest. But don't worry, if you act now, you'll get a free e-book! Of course, because all we need to thrive is a video webinar and a 50-page e-book. 

What they don't tell us is that the real game is to get us to keep buying, after all, we only bought Volume I. Dependence, addiction, habit, need... call it what you like. 

But don't get me wrong. I'm not belittling the knowledge and work of those who have developed their expertise and offer it to others - I'd be being hypocritical if I did. The issue here is the conscious USE of our pain in order to achieve greater profit. 

This article is about those who want only one thing: to benefit at our expense. And believe me, you'd be amazed at how ‘in your face’ this is. We're the ones who don't even realise it. Unfortunately, this isn't a conspiracy theory - it used to be.

The System Doesn't Want You Healthy or Dead: It Wants You Sick (and Exhausted)

Jean Baudrillard alerted us to the fact that we live in a distorted reality, a kind of ‘simulation’ carefully designed through narratives that keep us running like productive cogs. But Byung-Chul Han went further and described our time as the era of self-exploitation: ‘The neoliberal subject exploits himself and believes that this fulfils him.’. In other words, we no longer need a boss shouting orders. The system has made us torture ourselves. We believe that all we have to do is try harder, sleep less, work longer hours, produce more and if we don't succeed, it's because we didn't try hard enough.

And so we continue on the hamster wheel, without realising that the game has been set up so that only a few win. While some reap the rewards, others are exhausted trying to make lemonade out of lemons they didn't ask for. 

It's important to emphasise that this is also where the myth of meritocracy comes in, which is part of these distortions. ‘Work hard and you will win’, “Work while others sleep” are slogans created to make us accept exploitation as if it were a virtue. 

Capitalism doesn't want you to discover that your neighbour's oranges are irrigated with government subsidies. It prefers that you continue to believe that everything can be solved with more effort and a positive mindset. No wonder the machine keeps churning out content about ‘resilience’ and ‘millionairemindset ’ while the owners of the game keep multiplying their wealth.

The Economics of Toxic Optimism

‘Optimism is the opium of the people,’ Karl Marx might have said, if he had lived long enough to see industry flourish - and also to see his ideas practised and fail in equal measure.

An interesting thing would be: instead of blindly embracing these narratives, let's decide to question the system that bombards us with these lemons. As the brilliant philosopher Simone de Beauvoir suggested, ‘One is not born a woman, one becomes one.’. Which, taking poetic licence, could also mean: ‘You're not born an optimist, you become one’. And, apparently, we become optimistic by buying an endless series of products to deal with life's lemons.

Do the Ends Justify the Means?

Machiavelli, if he were alive, would probably say that the power dynamics behind this system are indeed brilliant. He had already taught that ‘the end justifies the means’, and this philosophy has been taken to a new level by modern capitalism. Artificial problems are created and then solutions are sold at ‘gold-plated banana’ prices.

The idea that ‘all you have to do is try hard enough’ is a good decoy. Not because effort is irrelevant, but because ignoring structural inequalities is convenient for those at the top. The neighbour's oranges are irrigated with subsidies, while we struggle to grow our lemons in the desert. In other words, the genius of modern exploitation is to make you think that it's all your fault.

The Metaphysics of Bitterness

Let's think for a moment: what are these ‘lemons’ that life is supposed to give us? Problems at work? Failed relationships? A shortage of money? Bills to pay? Or are they merely social constructs, designed to keep us eternally dissatisfied and therefore eternally consuming?

As Nietzsche might have said (if he had an obsession with citrus fruits): ‘When you look at the lemon, the lemon also looks at you.’ Profound, no? Or maybe it's just the citric acid eating away at my metaphorical retina.

The Squeezer Paradox

Here's a question to get your brain in a sailor's knot: if we make lemonade out of all the lemons life gives us, aren't we actually perpetuating the cycle? The more efficient we become at dealing with problems, the more problems ‘the universe’ seems to throw in our lap. It's as if the cosmos were a sadistic barman, always ready to refill our glass with challenges.

With this in mind, what would it be like if instead of passively accepting lemons or turning them into lemonade, we decided to change things a little? Imagine a society where, on receiving a lemon, people asked: ‘Who planted this tree? Who picked this fruit? How much pesticide was used? Are you sure this can be eaten? And why the hell am I getting this now?’

The Great Citrus Scam

Maybe - just maybe - all this talk of lemons is just an elaborate distraction. While we're busy making lemonade, the real players are trading orange futures, monopolising limes and creating genetically modified grapefruit hybrids. 

Edward Bernays, considered the father of public relations, was one of the first - and certainly the most famous - to realise that human emotions could be manipulated to drive consumption. Inspired by the psychoanalytic theories of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, Bernays helped create the modern consumer society, where people don't just buy products, but narratives and feelings (Brands). 

The market for selling and exploiting pain is a direct reflection of Bernays' ideas: first, discomfort or insecurity is created (whether through the media, advertising or influencers), then a solution is sold that promises to relieve the anguish. In this way, the system not only profits from the problems, but becomes the very creator of them, guaranteeing an endless cycle of consumption. Well, now that you know this, open up your social networks and analyse how products, courses and so on are sold. 

So the solution is not just to ‘make more lemonade’ or ‘throw the lemons away’, but to understand the system that puts the lemons on our table. Ask yourself. Who is winning? How can you play the game without being just a pawn? Instead of swallowing forced optimism, learn to negotiate your own terms. If possible, stop buying ready-made lemonades, grow your own orchard and learn to sell your own apples. 

Note that the aim of this article is to uncover these ‘moves’. So that when you decide to consume/buy something, it is in fact your conscious choice and not through a feeling of need that has actually been ‘planted’ in your mind. Human emotions are easily manipulated and the vast majority of the population has no idea what ‘using your head’ actually means. 

A Sip of Reality Juice

In my humble opinion as a writer - who has spent far too much time thinking about lemons - I believe it's time we changed this saying. Instead of ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’, how about: ‘When life gives you lemons, question the agricultural, economic and social system that brought those lemons to you and then consciously decide what to do with them.’

The idea of turning difficulties into opportunities is seductive, in some cases it helps and makes sense, but it's also dangerous. Not everything is a ‘learning experience’ or a ‘life lesson’; sometimes it's just exploitation and/or self-sabotage in disguise. So before you accept the next dose of toxic positivity, ask the essential question: who is profiting from this? 

Understand, life is not a fairy tale and the economy of misfortune is real. While many are still trying to turn difficulties into opportunities, there are those who are packaging them up and selling them as a product. 

The real power lies in seeing the system and not just playing the game they've created for you. 

"We're all puppets Laurie. I'm just the puppet who can see the strings." - Dr Manhattan.

Now tell me: are you just drinking the lemonade or have you started to wonder who's bottling it? 

Whether you liked the text or not, explore more articles here on the blog and keep questioning. Leave a comment, suggest topics, share. And if you want access to the backstage of critical thinking, visit the UN4RT website. Because while some are drinking juice, others are writing the menu. Thanks for your confidence and see you next time for a dose of intellectual vitamin C!

‘Illusion crumbles when we question reality.’ - UN4RT

Go and do some more research. It's good for you! The sources, inspirations and references are there.

• Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human and Beyond Good and Evil.

• Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation.

• Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society.

• Karl Marx, Capital.

• Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex and The Ethics of Ambiguity.

• Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince.

• Edward Bernays, publicist and communication theorist who revolutionised marketing and advertising by applying concepts from psychoanalysis to mass behaviour. Freud's nephew, he used ideas from the work ‘Psychology of the Masses and Analysis of the Self’, where Freud explores how individuals lose their rationality when inserted into groups. Bernays transformed this knowledge into strategies for manipulating desires and emotions that still characterise (and have enabled) consumer society today, as described in his book ‘Propaganda’.

• Michael Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit and Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?

• Dr Manhattan, character from Watchmen. Portrayed as a divine being who transcends time and space.

• Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish.