This inverted totalitarian mirrors that of the United States and other countries upon which it has imposed its version of so-called 'free market capitalism'.
The modern zeitgeist is competitively ruthless, systematically unsympathetic, and aesthetically impoverished. It is the crest of the wave that took shape in the industrial revolution. The wave that has been consistently deplored by poets, philosophers, and humanists alike. The modern zeitgeist is obsessed with technical efficiency, testing, and specialization. It is these obsessions which lead to the inability of appreciating leisure. Leisure is not a vice, it is a period where the things we do are not motivated by future gain, pleasure, or convenience. To do that we require the practice art; one of the virtues of art is sensitivity. Being able to detect the sublime in the most mundane of sceneries. To contemplate what direction one's life is taking, and in what form. While language is intricate and wide, there are a wealth of expressions that it still cannot express and thus the human race has invented and embraced the arts of painting, poetry, and music. Notice that the temper of art runs contrary to our modern world, and things in which it places value. Art provides sensitivity, whereas competition for promotion require insensitivity. The contemplative mind broods and fulfills one's life with purpose and meaning. The working environment demands efficiency and consistency. There is hardly any room for self-actualization in a multinational corporation. It is a case of too much action without purpose and values, things which are only immaculately conceived when one is still and sensitive.
The modern zeitgeist is not conducive to leisure; indeed it cannot be. Leisure, which ought to be, when done correctly, the enjoyment of the present, has become the escape from the present. The demands of today's society are stressful and taxing and so it follows that leisure becomes a tool for escape.
