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Fuck Capitalism

Name: blindpig 2011-08-23 10:03

Capitalism, capitalism. How do I loath thee? Let me count the ways….

Few would argue with the conclusion that greed, selfishness, ruthlessness, and egocentrism are qualities that all of us humans possess, to varying degrees of course. Equally compelling is the argument that nearly all of us are capable of acting with kindness, compassion, justice, honesty, generosity, and empathy. Yet despite the sweeping epidemic of unnecessary suffering caused by torrential waves of avarice, self-centeredness, and brutality, our filthy moneyed elite, their well-compensated sycophants, and countless millions of deeply inculcated members of the working class defend the sacred cow of capitalism with the zeal of the Sicarii. What a brilliant way to conduct human affairs and organize ourselves socioeconomically! Not only do we embrace the inevitability of our human frailties; we willfully and perpetually embrace a system that ensures that the worst elements of the human psyche will predominate AND which amply rewards those who act the most reprehensibly.

One of the idiocies advanced as a logical argument to justify the continued existence of the abomination of capitalism is that while it may be flawed, it is still better than any alternative. If capitalism is the best humanity can do, it's time to cash in our chips and leave Earth to our non-human animal counter-parts. They may not have opposable thumbs and formidably sized frontal lobes, but at least they don't engage in the systematic destruction of themselves and the rest of the planet. However, before we act too hastily and engage in mass seppuku, perhaps it would make more sense to implement a mass reorganization of our socioeconomic structure, basing the new paradigm on far more egalitarian, sustainable, democratic, just, and rational principles. Or we could just keep destroying each other and the fucking planet….

Perhaps most disturbing of all is the way in which capitalism's relentless advocates have managed to bamboozle billions of people into equating it with democracy. Diabolical to its core, but sheer genius nonetheless. Concluding that capitalism and democracy are somehow synonymous is a bit like saying that Dick Cheney and the milk of human kindness relate to one another in even a very remote fashion. (Have you seen the myriad pictures of his evil grimaces floating around the Internet? Despicable creature that he is, he doesn't even attempt to mask his malevolence). Capitalism is naturally hierarchical, authoritarian, and brutal. Corporations, the legal vehicles for the plutocracy to maximize their profits while minimizing liability, are structured as tyrannies. What the hell is democratic about dog eat dog, law of the jungle, and every man for himself? Besides, if we uber-capitalists here in the United States are truly "democratic," and we "elected" a depraved idiot like W. to what is ostensibly the most powerful position in the world, what does that say about us?

Name: Anonymous 2011-09-20 15:48

>>128
Well personally i dont see anything wrong with "child labor" as long as its voluntary, now you can make the case that it is coercive because they need it to buy resources but if thats the case then you should really blame the state who claims vast portions of unused land for itself and does not allow for those children and their families to settle and be self sufficient.
There are environmental factors that largely prevent that from happening. The world population as it stands cannot be sustained without modern agriculture. And with the world as globalized as it is, the US will not likely be an agrarian nation again (unless peak oil affects the world as much as they claim it will).
You seem to imply that the goal of anti statism is to recede all of the technological and cultural advancements, which is not the case, all the things you desire of a society can and will be provided to you in a stateless society, the only difference is that there wont be a group of people with the monopolistic presumed legal right to use violence in a geographical area.
Like Marxism, this sounds like a wonderful theory. THEORY, of course, being the key word.
Meh i guess Iceland was a better example but nonetheless i believe the people there would have eventually outgrown the monarchy.
Well, of course, the southern portion is now a republic.
I can kinda agree with you on communism but the fundamental principle of market anarchy/ anti statism and many other forms of it is that it is how all humans organize naturally when in non-coercive situations and it works in practice every single day.
Doesn't seem like it would quite work well as it scales up. In more modern times, I've only seen stateless societies work in little communes and such. You'd probably have a better time convincing people of that.
explain further because im not sure which ones you are talking about
Wages aren't up to prices. And don't tell me it's because of minimum wage (it's not). Wages should be double than what they are now.
People who are perfectly healthy are defined as "obese" look at this for more...http://www.hulu.com/watch/196879/fat-head
Well, it's not just McDonald's that helps it along, but also the fact that junk food is generally quite cheap. It's a good example of how loosely-regulated supermarkets, fast food chains, etc. really are. Multinationals are strong enough to where they will exert their force wherever they may do so, state or no state.

I agree and this is because of state intervention and forced attendance.
I would disagree. Other governments and countries spend much less of a percentage on their education systems and their students come out with much better results in literacy, numeracy, etc. Finland, for example, usually comes out on top in the world for education, in the 1970s, their education was shit. They've eliminated their standardized testing, and reformed the system, and now it's one of the best in the world. Japan, also comes out top in education, as well as one of our anglosphere neighbors, Australia. They also are all compulsory (meaning forced attendance). None of these countries' education systems are free market in any sense of the word, either. If the free market is the cure-all for everything, how is it that these countries largely outpace the US in education with their non-market based education systems?
When you have a system that in its inception used religious and ideological justification it should be no surprise that people who already are indoctrinated would seek to gain power over it when threatened with the possibility of its collapse.
Well, it's cultural as well (I see you selectively quoted what I wrote). If they cannot gain power through government, they'll just find some other way.
But really as big as the religious majority is you cant deny the steady rise of atheism throughout the last century.
This has pretty much been happening in the western world for quite a while, the US is just playing catch-up for the most part.

I'm against libertarianism, and what you're advocating because most western countries and the US have been going in more market-orientated directions as of the past few decades (as their governments have been moving further to the right). Even UK's Labour party (now pretty much a right-wing party) which claims to uphold social democratic principles, has pretty much abandoned most of them in favor of a more neo-liberal approach, going further in that direction, will exacerbate the problems we're seeing now, not solve them, or at the very least, keep them to a minimum.

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