Capitalism is a misanthropic, dystopian religion. By “capitalism” I mean this or any other possible system wherein mass-scale human behavior is driven by the pursuit of capital. By “religion” I mean organized collective faith-based belief system.
In times past the dominant religions had names like “Christianity” or “Islam”, which were used to promote doctrines that shaped societies, dominated civilizations, and built entire empires. Theocratic institutions labored on behalf of the powerful to bend entire continents to their will, using narratives about beneficent invisible deities as cover. Nowadays the dominant religion is called capitalism, and the theocratic institutions are called governments, and the beneficent deity is called the invisible hand of the market.
In the old religions, people would gather once a week in a building to be indoctrinated by clergymen. In the new religion the clergymen come to indoctrinate you right in the comfort of your own home on screens showing news, TV shows, and Hollywood movies.
And capitalism, like most other religions, has a very bleak view of humanity. Its most vocal zealots talk a lot about “human nature”, which they insist is greedy, self-centered, and competitive.
This belief, like other religious beliefs, is based entirely on blind faith, and it is false. The belief that humans are inherently greedy, self-centered and competitive only feels true to someone who is greedy, self-centered and competitive. As EW Howe said, a thief believes everybody steals.
They claim to be describing “human nature”, but in reality they are only describing their own nature.
The Problem Isn't Human Nature, The Problem Is A Few Manipulative Sociopaths
"This is an important distinction, because it means we're not up against some intrinsic aspect of our being here."https://t.co/AKZ2O899PC
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) March 30, 2021
Human nature is not inherently greedy, self-centered and competitive. I look within myself and find an abundance of kindness, caring, and an eagerness to collaborate, and the same is true for many of us. The problem is that some people are greedy, self-centered and competitive, and the very worst of them have succeeded in indoctrinating the rest of us into a religion which upholds these things as virtues instead of severe character flaws. You’re not an exploitative predator, you’re an industrious job creator. You’re not a manipulative sociopath, you’re a senior fellow at an esteemed Washington think tank.
So this religious belief about “human nature” is false. But it’s also a self-fulfilling prophecy which creates the world it describes.
Because capitalist doctrine insists that humans are inherently greedy, self-centered and competitive, its believers cannot imagine any solution to our problems that isn’t driven by greed, selfishness and competition. The idea that we can transcend our propagandized conditioning, our cultural mind viruses and our egoic thought patterns enough to move from our competition-based system into a collaboration-based one looks ridiculous to them, because they believe our nature can only ever be at war. At war with each other, and at war with our ecosystem.
To a thoroughly capitalism-indoctrinated mind, the idea that we can transcend our self-destructive, exploitative, ecocidal patterning and move into collaboration with each other and with our ecosystem to create a healthy, harmonious world looks like childish nonsense. So instead they promote the far more mature and realistic idea that our world will be saved by greedy, union-busting tech oligarchs like Elon Musk. We consumed our way into this mess, surely we can consume our way out of it!
The Unspoken Premise Of Modern Capitalism Is That The World Will Be Saved By Greedy Tech Oligarchs
"The plutocratic class are not good custodians of our world. They are not good people. They are not wise. They are not even particularly intelligent."https://t.co/df8gxTjwHy
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) December 29, 2020
So now here we are, with the dominant narratives of our age driving us toward nuclear war and climate collapse via the self-fulfilling prophecy that to do otherwise is impossible. The paranoid, misanthropic, eat-or-be-eaten worldview that the capitalist religion has indoctrinated us into espousing has us scrambling over each other for table scraps, stepping on our neighbor’s head to keep our own head above water, saying “If I don’t steal it, someone else will,” and killing the ecosystem we depend on for survival just to make a few bucks, instead of escaping this dystopian death cult and moving toward health.
They are lying to us when they tell us it needs to be this way. The economists are lying. The pundits are lying. The TV shows are lying. The Hollywood movies are lying. Lord of the Flies was lying.
Lord of the Flies came out in 1954, smack-dab in the middle of probably the most culturally dead decade in living memory, a work of fiction which insisted that even innocent children would terrorize and murder each other if left uncommanded by civilizing adult discipline. In 1965 a group of British schoolboys were marooned for 15 months on an island considered uninhabitable, and by the time they were discovered “the boys had set up a small commune with food garden, hollowed-out tree trunks to store rainwater, a gymnasium with curious weights, a badminton court, chicken pens and a permanent fire, all from handiwork, an old knife blade and much determination.” The fiction could not have been more different from the reality.
It does not need to be this way. We do not need to remain locked in this vicious, competition-driven model until we kill ourselves off praying that Daddy Elon will save us and send us to Mars. The rules are all made up, and we can change them whenever we want if enough of us decide that a better world is possible. Money is a conceptual construct. Governments only exist to the extent that we all collectively agree they do. Our entire society is made of narrative. Our world is the product of human imagination.
And we are free to re-imagine it if we want to.
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104 responses to “Capitalism Is A Misanthropic, Dystopian Religion”
Yet, he never held a job in his entire life. Kind of like Marx. Get it?
Capitalism is not the problem. It’s so rich (sorry, lol) an idea, that it can solve anything. Of course, it must have intelligent even wise people running it but it doesn’t. Instead it has thieves and cowards running it.
A big shout out to Caitlin breathing new life into the “Heartless, Rapacious Capitalism” mantra. Create straw man, knock down. Repeat ad inf.
Capitalism is not the problem. It’s so rich (sorry, lol) an idea, that it can solve anything. Of course, it must have intelligent even wise people running it but it doesn’t. Instead it has thieves and cowards running it.
Capitalism was enabled by a misanthropic, dystopian religion whose fundamental world view is that some human beings are of greater value than others. It started out as the Chosen versus the Gentile, easily morphed into the saved versus the unsaved. From this naturally evolved capitalism’s basic assumption, that it is moral and proper for one class of people to exploit another. Its most extreme manifestation, southern US chattel slavery, is now gone, but wage slavery remains the norm, where workers “earn” a small percentage of the wealth their labor creates while the owner class gets to pocket the lion’s share.
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St. Paul obligingly reminds us “the human heart is desperately wicked”, but it was only his that was. The enduring appeal of the religion he invented is that its doctrines and practices are so contrived as to encourage the faithful to indulge the deadliest of their character defects – cruelty, intolerance, arrogance, among others – while allowing them to imagine themselves to be decent, worthwhile human beings.
Great comment. But Paul did not create Christianity, the New Testament was composed by Josephus, a pharisee who became a Roman when he saw that the Hebrew rebellion against Rome (70 AD)was doomed to fail. It was made to create a slave and submissive mentality on the people to make them easy to rule over. Notice that the United States, the Christian nation, is the imperialist and militaristic bully of the world. THe NT promotes the idea that slaves should obey wicked masters, be obedient to masters as if the masters were Jesus himself, to honor and to obey governors, and to rejoice when persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Being sheeplike is a positive attribute, to be a follower trusting in shepherds whom the sheep are ignorant will fleece them and slaughter them. Sheep are dumb, and Christians still havent figured all this out yet. I made it all very clear in my book THE UNTOLD NATURE OF CHRISTIANITY, but they still believe the bible as the wonderful gift from god to live by. Sheep are super dumb.
A big shout out to Historicus breathing new life into the “Misanthropic, Dystopian Christian So-called Religion” mantra. Create straw man, knock down. Repeat ad inf.
Given the chance, honest capitalism (not an oxymoron) is the best of any system. Problem is, we are so far removed from honest capitalism it would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.
Crony capitalism – and all the other flavors, more than all the linux flavors you can count – is what we see and is a distortion of how things could and should work.
It takes a while for this to sink in after all the operation mockingbird inculcation we’ve been tortured with our entire lives.
If you haven’t already read Thorstein Veblen’s The Theory of the Leisure Class, I beg you to read it!
He said everything that you just said, in 1898, AND he explained why we ended up with the system that we have.
I’m impressed that you figured out what he said so long ago. Please, please please read it!
Yet he never held a job in his entire life. Kind of like Marx.
Caitlyn . . . Gratitude for your
“Shining Big and Bright ”
again and again . . . again
Capitalism works successfully when operated, applied and enforced by honest, generous, responsible, intelligent, fair-minded people. But we do not have too many of them around. Therefore, a crisis is coming and it includes escalation of wars, rebellions, famine, plagues, anxiety, extreme weather and earthquakes. This is necessary to drastically decrease population growth which has been depleting natural resources and polluting the world. Read more of this here: http://www.wisdompage.com/2013%20Articles/Molyneaux%20essay.pdf
Well said. Statists cannot admit of the possibility that there can be a healthy capitalism run by honest, generous, responsible, intelligent, fair-minded people in a framework of honest, restrained oversight. All that they criticize about “capitalism” is nothing but the bastard love child of capitalism taken over by grifters, billionaires, corporatists, and skanks.
Their “solution,” of course, is to hand total government power to honest, generous, responsible, intelligent, fair-minded people who will lovingly and intelligently administer “socialism” and never ever be tempted by the siren song of unchallengeable state power and repression. Not OUR guys. No way! What are you thinking.
Yes! Many people who claim to have ‘no’ religion are actually devout capitalists.
Yes, agreed. But most of those folks with whom I am acquainted will deny that their version of capitalism is a faith-based system.
Oh. That’s just brilliant!
The enemies are power and excess. Most westerners think their system is the promoter of freedom and have no idea that it is and has been the primary force undermining true collaborative freedom. There are no voices of moderation. All the church parking lots are filled with shiny expensive vehicles and the members boast on social media about their latest shiny amazing things…with a mission trip or food pantry photo-op thrown in of course. People are brainwashed into thinking it is the right thing to do to strive for the best in all things: housing, auto, appearance, living spaces, etc. It’s insane. If people could just realize indulging the impulse to constantly improve is the root of the problem. If less instead of more would become the socially preferred mindset the world would change. Why wouldn’t I want what’s best? Am I not worth it? Change that mindset and change the world.
Less is more? Whoa. Sign me up!!
To capitalists, money is god. More is always good. Need new things, modern things, shiny glittery things. Sharing is illegal, greed is modeled and admired. Cut-throat is the agenda. America is fascist and the people think that it is defined as totalitarianism like Hitler and communist countries, but they don’t get that it means “governed by corporations” – capitalism promotes that.,
Officer Tatum is worth sharing on this topic
Michelle Obama SAYS HER DAUGHTERS WILL BE PROFILED BY COPS
Read my blogs regarding this video on the video comment section. I show who TAtum is again, I posted scores of comments on an interview that he did a year ago.
Capitalism will always have the support of the “winners”…competent, charismatic, wealthy, socially connected, etc. because it’s the best system for keeping the winners from being constrained by the losers and it also has the support of freedom lovers who don’t want to be beholden to the infinite “have-to” whims of others. However, I am frustrated by like minded freedom loving libertarians who won’t call out crony capitalism or the obvious systemic failures all around us. Integrity and stewardship go hand in hand with freedom. Truth\honesty has to be the bedrock and then non-coercion freedom. I wouldn’t want to be part of any overly compulsive system…Hunter\Gatherer: I helped you hunt and clean the animals but I’m not coming to the prayer gathering…Amish: How many barns do we have to raise? I’ll do one a month max… Communal: I get we need the necessities but now you guys are doing a bunch of nice-to-haves and I just want to walk around in the woods.
XXXXXXXXXX is a misanthropic, dystopian religion. By “XXXXXXXXX” I mean this or any other possible system wherein mass-scale human behavior is driven by the pursuit of ZZZZZZZ. By “religion” I mean organized collective faith-based belief system.
Replace the X’s and Z’s with what ever system you want.
The human race is filled with all kinds of drives and needs to distort any system or belief system. It’s one of the things we humans do best.
True and boldly inspiring.
“We find that genes involved in skeletal morphology have changed more in the lineage leading to Neandertals than in the ancestral lineage common to archaic and modern humans, whereas genes involved in behavior and pigmentation have changed more on the modern human lineage.”
Patterns of coding variation in the complete exomes of three Neandertals, Sergi Castellano, PNAS, 2014. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1405138111
Above mentioned. Meaning then that it is quite possible that as some say, ‘the lack of pigmentation also caused negative behavior in pale skinned blacks’?
Interesting, because these really mean ugly human beings, keep fancying themselves as originating from the three areas that introduced whiteness into Europe.
That behavior (or belief) of course would be caused by modern racist beliefs, which of course would be a sort of self- fulfilling lie or truth.
Unbeknownst to them of course is that their own psychopathy would blind them from recognizing that it is them that are genetically inferior.
Unless of course they redefine good as bad, and bad as good, which in fact is exactly what they do.
That was a great essay Caitlin; I usually have something minor to quibble about, if only in my mind, but not this time.
I was so sad to hear about Bill and Melinda separating, and now I think I understand why God created covid-19; the NWO deserves a new Adam and Eve; why should they both be made to suffer a 50% cut in their resources? Anyway, as you know the 16th, 17th and 18th of this month is a religious holiday celebration of the coming Judgement Day. Isn’t that fun?
Just saying Hi King Von and sharing … appreciate your comments
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izcq72BnPLw
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Officer Tatum:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOfficerTatum/videos
Funny that you would put a kissass bought Uncle Tatus to tell us how good the fuckin cops are. I have soundly debunked his whole agenda a year ago, and you support this guy who likes to tickle white conservative ears. And the first video- he is another shill. I was brought up in white suburban America, and put in state prison for writing EXPOSING THE MONEY MACHINE, and moved to the ghetto after living with the brothers there. I now live in a poor all-black neighborhood. That oreo telling you how dangerous the streets are is full of shit. I have been assaulted 30 times the past seven years, but have survived and have no fear. run from the hood they say.. and somehow are all on the media, while all those who love the neighborhoods and who have a different outlook are silenced.
Nothing wrong with Capitalism. The problem is with the greedy, dishonest, callous, cheating people who operate the system and break all the rules.
Seems to me that our environment keeps getting worse and worse and fixing it isn’t profitable. If capitalism has rules that preserve the environment at the expense of profit, nobody is following them. Like feudalism in it’s time, capitalism just isn’t working.
Capitalism only works successfully when operated, applied and enforced by honest, generous, responsible fair-minded people. But when uncontrolled population growth starts depleting natural resources, only a global crisis will solve the problem and this crisis is coming. It includes escalation of wars, rebellions, famine, plagues, anxiety, extreme weather and earthquakes.
..and the inevitable failure of usurious [imaginary] money plus depopulation moves via political covid measures deliberately attacking public health…
Your right, scientists have even studied the ability of cats, dogs, birds, etcetera to be able to understand the basic concept of capitalism, that we wish to believe liars that money is anything other than a symbolic exchange of goods or services is all on us. Unless we are all totally stupid the rich got that way via theft, murder, blackmail etcetera. Our sin of praise for the wealthy, when instead they should be despised, is our down fall.
ARe you christian KIng Von? You belong in a circus fun house with the distorted mirrors to laugh at and mimic. Try going to the sections where hot air comes out of the floor and makes your dress hike up to your waste so we can all see what should be covered, like Marilyn. I see some worth in your criticisms, but you are also like the damn Christians who love to make people who are a hundred times their superior to feel humble. Just an impression of you, having been in such a “fun” house-Christianity is for the dum fools who believe the bible and do not refuse the sex offered them. I think that you are one of them. Go lift up your skirt or pull down your pants for somebody, but leave me out of it. Your illiteracy is the hot air. Nobody, after passing third grade, writes like you do. And I don’t for a minute think that you are truly black.
King von. I did not see your video until after I posted the other comment. My apologies. You are black and giving some good input.
Caitlin,
There are people for whom capitalism is a religion. You will find them in multi-level marketing organisations. Their faith is touching and naive.
Apart from that, you need to distinguish between free markets and corruption. A free market is apt to be called capitalism by those who, for one reason or another, don’t like it. Governments interfere in markets for various reasons, usually bad. The word “capitalism” tends to convey the idea that free markets are just another “ism,” like communism and fascism, which is a mistake. A free market is what develops naturally when honest people trade with each other.
I see you are repeating your idea that people are not naturally competitive, and you look inside yourself and see no competitiveness. It isn’t easy to look inside yourself. As someone who would have liked to have been enough of a writer to command an audience myself, I see a great deal of competitiveness in you.
However, ‘free’ is nearly always interpreted as free to do whatever the marketeers like, regardless of consequences.
This includes abusing the earth’s natural resources, polluting, exploitation of labour, anti-competitive and monopolistic practices, and other behaviours that harm customers, suppliers and others.
This is why government regulation is needed, to ensure ‘fair’ and ‘honest’ behaviour – something which is sorely lacking in most countries.
Capitalism has earned itself a bad name for very good reason.
There are different kinds of competitiveness – there is a healthy good for all involved kind, and there are others, some of them deadly.
People starve, suffer and die in your free marketism because they don’t have enough ism to cover a loaf of bread. And that is absolutely sickening.
I’ll address your essay directly in a bit.
No doubt that for the same reason Cosby and Michael were thrown under the bus, and why Black politicians throw Blacks under the bus, and why black rappers are considered dangerous, the narrative of this video will also be thrown under the bus, along with everything the Black Panthers fought for, MLK Jr., Malcolm X,
Why my comments are constantly being deleted from the internet, but comments that lead to more rappers being killed, supposedly by other blacks are very much welcome.
As to the under handed nature of the sale of affordable housing, this was my comment, undoubtedly it will be quickly removed, we have an unequivocal opportunity at this time as the racist beasts that control the Anglo-Saxon empire prepare to annihilate all other races in the great reset, to stop them dead in their tracks. You don’t have to take on the Anglos directly, but please support your soldiers on the stage.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qa_AHLWAjBQ
I’m no attorney, but I believe that the residents of O’ block or their designated association was supposed to have been given first crack at purchasing those units, in the least this deal stinks of impropriety, but most likely in violation of State and Federal fraud statutes, that in all probability serious felonies have been committed here. Therefore, the sale itself is null and void, and I would suggest that those who engaged in this criminal act make use of their other passport or face decades sharing the same prison block with the survivors of these sort of land lords. Check the Federal rules here;
https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/centers/sac/homeownership/
King Von – what are you getting at? It is hard for me to tell or am I missing something?
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Can you summarize your sentiment succinctly or do I have to watch the video. I like videos, but I prefer to know where I’m going when I go there and if it is a mystery my inclination is not to go, so can you succinctly summarize what it is you are trying to say? What is your point of view? What is the sentiment you are trying to share. Don’t make it a mystery please, just blurt it out and it will resonate or it won’t.
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Humor us and do that if you don’t mind.
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Now, if what you are saying is that we should all have affordable housing, then know this. I agree with that. 100%. It makes so much sense for everyone to have a roof over their heads and it makes economic profit for those who provide the shelter as well. So, it is a no-brainer. If there are those who are trying to take advantage of public goodwill to provide housing for those who need somewhere to stay, then I say lets convict them if they are harming public goodwill. There must be a price to be paid for causing harm.
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It makes so much sense for everyone to have a home to go to and it could be done so easily it bogs the mind what is holding things up. I think I know and I think I know what must be done. I hope you know as well.
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Best to you,
BK
chimneys this time all on the right 3 panels out of 9
LOL, don’t worry you won’t get jumped physically on the internet, but if you go there physically, I can’t vouch for safety. You probably don’t watch much rap music because I think you’re a rather mature white man, which in America is as the edge of the narrative matrix, is often discussed, we are played against ourselves, nowhere is this more true than in the places where my friends live where until recently I also lived. Some of the most dangerous streets in the world, including war zones. All because of poverty and lies from we know who and why they do it. Who controls the narrative and they play these young men in there desperate attempts to escape that narrative as though it were a video game for fun and profit. I don’t want to get carried away these are my family; “as you do onto the least of me, you do onto me,” otherwise stated as, “don’t thred on me,” and “together we stand, divided we fall,” This is all about Jim Crow and Red Lining”, fighting the Imperialistic empire. Song is poetry, poetry is speech, and killing rappers is a way of silencing free speech. That is why protecting these kids is like giving them body armour, because the oligarchs are waging a war on us and these rappers are on the front lines fighting the predominant narrative that is being employed against us as bullies always do, against the weakest of us, we stand up for them, because like it or not we are all brothers and sisters in this fight against the NWO.
I’m sorry, I should have explained that I had sent the 1st post to blm.org and bar.org, the rappers entertain their fans, but the real entertainment for the racist empire is killing the performers. It’s an extremely sick sport that these oligarchs engage in and what most of us will also soon be facing the Holocaust in Eastern Europe should have informed us of that, but of course they lied and said it was us who did it, just as they do to these entertainers, and it is so sick we refuse to believe that anyone can be that sick, but that is our future .
If Mother Nature functioned like capitalism we would not exist.
Mutual Aid IS evolution.
Thank You Johnny!
I suppose if soberly look at “mother nature” (sic) – we see the majority of organisms live short & brutal lives. Most animals do not exist for very long at all and the broad majority are simply performing a mundane chase game.
On this truly beautiful planet, the vast majority of organisms are eaten alive.
No soil microorganisms : no Life.
No plankton: no Life.
No fungi : no Life
etc etc ad infinitum.
Getting the drift Simon?
I think it makes good common sense for local communities to trade amongst themselves.
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So obvious wonder why it even needs to be said, but what the hell I’ll say it.
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As for global trade, except for special items, such as jewelry, why can’t we all just make our own shit that we need to live.
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So, I am all for local trade and local traders who know how to make that happen. Along with that should the basic needs of sustenance and shelter be of no concern for all of the local population – every single member of said population. Plenty of funds to go around for that and it is a no-brainer if you want to make the big money that can be had in a globe of fruit and bounty.
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Imagine that!
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BK
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OK you effing captcha – what you got?
easy posting is where it is at…
If any of the billionaires out there really cared about the People in general, they could with the tip of a touch make it so easy for so many to have the basic needs of sustenance and shelter satisfied.
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BUT, I don’t want charity. Do you?
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I just think any system that hopes to be sustainable takes care of the basic needs of each and every member in the community so that the community can strive to be the best it could possibly be. Think about it – if you don’t have to worry about your next meal or whether there is a roof over your head, then think about how much more energy could be spent making things better for everybody?
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Call it a pipe dream if you want, but seems to make common sense to me, cause if you flip the coin and so many are suffering just to meet their daily needs then all the fences and guards and walls you can put up will make no effing difference when the starving zombies come for the flesh of those who have so much more than they deserve.
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I don’t know what the hell is gonna happen and I ain’t a robot and I know I ain’t gonna get a free pass this time, but I’ll report back on the reCAPTCHA algorithm that I think I basically have figured out……
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Ahp. Free pass after all. Maybe later.
Yes, Capitalism is a religion, which is why poor, struggling people still believe that one day they, too, can be millionaires. It is why the people do not rise up against the wealthy, greedy narcissistic psychopaths who rule them. And the God of this religion is MONEY. MONEY is what the people worship.
Caity, please watch this video by Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman is originally in Russian, but they have translated all of his videos into English. This is very deep, dark, Russian humor.
Money is GOD:
OMG! [ItiaG] sometimes you nail it so hard and true i nearly cry.
1954…as a boy i was just finishing my childhood hero stories, GI JOE and Marvel i guess, and the nightly news/gore about the !st Cav and the heroes of Inchon. And hoping Willie Mays would be nice to my Cubbies…as i gradually decied i would never ever go anywhere to defend my country. unless it was in Chicago.
so BINGO!
then the religion thing: all the way from Melbourne: hope lives! the internet is alive and well! they hate us for having it…i get that. but we still have it.
got to keep it free! unify, and give to humanity.
you vacuumed my and others’ brains to put this one out: i wrote a poem about 20 years ago, or less, here it goes–love it or leave it:
from DA SYSTEM IS DA PROBLEM
“A class war takes up our attention, but it’s not as advertised—right and left have merged in an attack —in Medieval Memorium—
Promulgated by the Undead Past upon the Unborn Future.
Religion has become a business, Government has morphed into Economics (it’s the economy, stupid!) and Economics has become Religious by various dueling Beliefs in this disunited US epoch of “The Market” uber alles….
Soooo…
if we can imagine Heaven, why not imagine it here…on Earth
where we can use it >>>
Not one you have to die for >>>but,
one you simply enter at your birth?
etc.
keep on keepin’ on.
I would say much of what passes for religion, including the Capital Religion, today is more ‘belief-based’ than ‘faith-based.’ I base this on what Alan Watts had noted about the two:
“We must here make a clear distinction between belief and faith, because, in general practice, belief has come to mean a state of mind which is almost the opposite of faith. Belief, as I use the word here, is the insistence that the truth is what one would “lief” or wish it to be. The believer will open his mind to the truth on the condition that it fits in with his preconceived ideas and wishes. Faith, on the other hand, is an unreserved opening of the mind to the truth, whatever it may turn out to be. Faith has no preconceptions; it is a plunge into the unknown. Belief clings, but faith lets go. In this sense of the word, faith is the essential virtue of science, and likewise of any religion that is not self-deception.”
Alan Watts made a useful distinction, but not everyone uses the two words that way. Richard Dawkins uses the word faith to mean much the same as Alan Watts does with belief. For him, faith is irrational belief that ignores evidence, especially evidence to the contrary – not far off accepting ideas providing they fit preconceived ideas and wishes.
Howard – don’t you think that is why it is said: “Faith can move mountains”.
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I for one believe it. I imagine it is true.
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Now, just because I imagine faith could move a mountain, if I set my sights on a big mountain of dirt just around the corner at any give moment and think my faith is gonna move it, do you think that faith will succeed?
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It is unlikely. But don’t give up hope.
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Words like faith and belief sound good sometimes when talking amongst friends, and they can have value in this regard, but at the end of the day, actions speak louder than words.
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I’m such a proponent of direct action and the ideas of Kropotkin and the knowledge he had more than a freaking century ago, that I know the time of reckoning is upon us. The reckoning is here. I have faith in the human spirit and our collective instinct to work together. I think the time is now or it is never, but I know I could be wrong. It is a matter of faith.
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Anyhow, you wouldn’t believe the sweet river rock I literally have in my hand just now as I type this. OK, it is out of my hand now, but it was smooth and it fit nice in the hand. If need be, I could take that rock and throw it at somebody coming towards me with bad intent and if my aim was true, as I would have faith it would be, then they would be dead after the rock hit them in the head right between their eyes!
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How you like them apples?
BK
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talk about faith and talk about belief and talk about this and talk about that but too much talking leads to nothing changing and………I’m not a robot.
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One more free pass, but probably that is the last one.
Why, in the first instance is mind susceptible to false narrative???
I guess the mistaken belief about education is that it is to teach us to think critically for ourselves!
If we know that human nature is a part of the false narrative of religious indoctrination, then a much deeper understanding of how a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ actually comes about is very urgently necessary. Or is it simply the magic of miracle?
NO! What is left out is simply that “the person believes it will and the person’s resulting behaviors align to fulfill the (unprovable/false) belief”. Humanity has been blindly obeying church dogmas for millennia now! A huge majority, still believing that this life is but a dress rehearsal for the promised bliss of heaven, so long as we blindly trust this mind manufactured notion of an overarching overseer, named god.
If we, the biological form, are created in the image of this god, then what does this say about this god’s awareness of overall creation, given that the highest evolved animal on the planet has not yet consciously discovered the depth of his own ignorance, of his inner presence, beyond the mere non-stop thinking in his head.
Like all else in nature, human nature lies on a binary continuum, between its two opposite poles, birth and death, ego and altruism – diametrically opposed perpetual enemies.
Why should the blind faith believers in capitalist doctrine be any less irrational, than any others, who blindly believe in manufactured dogmas? After all, we are all of the same sapiens’ species.
What is it about aspects of this ‘human nature’ that sees itself as above and beyond its own nature, while at the same time permits itself to be constantly brainwashed?
How is it, that as one and the same species, some of us, long ago – precapitalist modes of exchange, seem to have permitted ourselves to succumb to menticide. If it’s only the powerless who succumb; and we are the vast majority – the 99%, then we have some idea of the extent of the challenge to become better critical thinkers.
We have not yet begun to scratch the surface of the full extent of our essence, if we ever do discover that our biological form is not all there is to being fully alive. It seems appropriate to say, we are looking for ourselves in all the wrong places; as if an assist through the ingenuity of mind made Artificial Intelligence will bring us closer.
“And we are free to re-imagine it if we want to”. Long stretch of imagination, between wanting to, and able to.
Sadly, inhumane history is the proof of the difficulty.
> “And capitalism, like most other religions, has a very bleak view of humanity. Its most vocal zealots talk a lot about “human nature”, which they insist is greedy, self-centered, and competitive.”
.. my guess is that the Capitalism model for humanity is the ideal Capitalist leader .. ie the psychopath. And from this is the presumption that humanity is greedy, self-centered and competitive.
For all those that defend capitalism by putting all evil exclusively at the feet of goverments, I want to say this:
If you take a look at history, you will see that you are making a useless distinction.
There was never any time when their was any form of capitalism or proto capitalism that was not propped up by powerful, despotic goverments.
Goverments/Empires created markets, invented money, invented private property.
No Empire, no monetary economy, no private accumulation of riches.
There existed historic Empires that were not capitalist, like the Incan Empire, and Pharaonic Egypt, but they were very rare.
There was never any capitalist adjacent economy not created by an imperial state, none.
The Romans invented our concept of private property, and the right to it, codified by law.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, private property in land ceased to exist Europe, only the massive increase in state power in the modern era, led to the revival Roman Law and private property rights.
Modern capitalism was created in highly militarized and imperialistic italian City states, ruled over by a ruthless, war mongering merchant aristocracy, and spread from there.
From the 1700s pretty much all Western states were firmly controlled by capitalist, who designed exactly the goverments they wanted, and standing armies, fleets and police forces were always at the top of their lists.
Well, armies and fleets to terrorize the rest of humanity into submitting to capitalism came slightly earlier in various countries, because in many places capitalists at first used only private goons to murder disobedient workers, but they all quickly realized that having the oppressed pay for their own oppression was cheaper and more efficient.
Only centuries of bloody terror got people to submit to capitalist wage slavery.
And of course, the Army was absolutely essential.
All industrialists in Europe insisted on standing armies and mandatory military Service, not only because the military cowed non capitalist countries into allowing capitalists to take over their economies and societies, no, at least originally it was even more Importamt that military service was the perfect way to break and cow the capitalist countries own population.
The Army, with endless cruelty and barely imaginable brutality, taught the citizens the discipline and total obedience that capitalists wanted, needed and demanded for factory work.
European nations until the twentieth century, after the world wars, existed basically for no other purpose, every institution in society, every part of the vast social machinery, was carefully calibrated to serve the purpose of capitalism and nothing else.
Capitalism has been the one and only true religion of the west for centuries, most of Christian theology was it’s obedient handmaiden too, the churches wholly owned subsidiaries of the true church of mammon.
All that modern neoliberalism really did was to stop pretending.
I don’t quite agree with this. Although psychopaths rise to the top in capitalism, ordinary people are very susceptible to greed and corruption. Ask anyone the question, “What will you do for a billion dollars” and actually have the money to give them and see what happens. And it’s worse than that. Corruption usually doesn’t happen all at once. It is little compromises, small crossings of the moral lines for big payoffs. And this happens slowly and over and over until you’ve lost your soul completely. It takes enormous moral fortitude to handle wealth and power well. It is a rare person who can do it.
Did you know that the word ‘Belsebub’ in Hebrew, translated to English means ‘Lord of the flies’.
Every one of the many sources of evil you list were of little consequence until Psychopaths took over their operation. I will repeat my oft repeated mantra, all economies are capitalist. If you own anything, you are a capitalist, even if its just a toothbrush. That being said, a free market only offers success if one produces a product or service people want or need, can afford, and are agreeable to the price, quality, and any other factors they may choose, such as environmental impact. In other words, by serving their fellow man. Once the psychopaths put guns to people’s heads to enforce any aspect of any economy, and you get what we have. Their insanity, and our collective insanity in following their lead, is the issue. Your boogie man you call “capitalism” is just another one of their several methods of obfuscation and deceit. Distracting you from their inherent evil. There are evil people in the world, and they often gain advantage. What “narrative” are you building?
What’s capitalist about a hunter-gatherer economy? If you’re saying they’re capitalists for ‘owning’ their clothes and tools, you’re just saying all humans are capitalists, so the word no longer means anything that human doesn’t.
They have tools or weapons, capital, to gather and hunt with. They invest that capital, their effort and time in the acquisition of food. Which obviously is an improvement in their lives.
There are truly destitute people in the world, usually through no fault of their own, and quite often because it was taken by one or the other Gang of Psychopaths In Charge. I would correct myself, not “own anything”, but own anything that can be used to improve or maintain their lives, like a toothbrush.
Then you’re using words in a very idiosyncratic way. Perhaps you’ll tell us next that hunter-gatherer economies are consumerist because they consume food.
The problem with the logic here is that 7 billion people cannot all be hunter gather’s. For that to happen, our natural resources would have been extinct years ago. And for every ism, there is ALWAYS a top who live better than the rest. This is true even in Nature. In every pack there is always a leader who lives better than the rest.
The problem isn’t capitalism or any other ism for that matter. Its simply a function of livable land, resources and people.
The real question is what is the optimum number of people this planet can sustainable support? 1B, 5B, 10B, 20B
I could write an essay, but it’s Caitlin’s website, not mine, so,
Consumerist, or consumerism, in my opinion, is consumption for the sake of it, as an end goal, rather than a means of sustenance. Likely an attempt to replace spirituality or consciousness. It however is perhaps a logical result of evolution. Throughout most of our history, famine has been quite common. By natural disaster, climate change (which has been going on since there was such a thing), or human action. The natural response would be to acquire ever more, just in case. Which I consciously suppress, keeping my footprint small. Not because it’s cheaper, which it is, but because it’s far simpler, and less distracting.
do you consider a toothbrush a mean of production?
Yes! Toothbrushes cause gum disease and, combined with the right toothpaste, help remove tooth enamel thus producing tremendous wealth for dentists (though they do actually work for it).
hmm, kinda fits this definition?: “Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.”, except the owner is not operating it for his/her own profit, it seems.
No. I don’t consider a toothbrush a mean of production.
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A toothbrush is an outcome of production and it might be a beneficial product if you want to keep your teeth clean. I think doing that is advisable.
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Myself, I like to brush daily and I floss as well. Do that and take some listerine mouthwash and you are ahead of the game against them dastardly viruses that are trying to do us in. Oh those viruses are so “scary”. Ain’t you afraid?
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Get you some vitamin D, preferably the natural way, keep your teeth clean, wash your mouth out regularly, and wipe your butt vigorously for the sake of cleanliness, and then odds are your life will be healthy. No doctors or medical professionals needed for this bit of common sense.
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Now, having a serious energy infrastructure does go a long way towards having the means of production. If you have the energy to utilize the good ideas and you use the energy wisely, minimizing waste, and you trade locally, making local goods, then who is gonna eff with you? Who wants to eff with any community that is self-sufficient? A self-sufficient community knows the value of defense if they understand history. History says defend yourself or you will be dead, but if you do, and then somebody tries to encroach upon your home, then you know how to make them pay the ultimate price. You know how to kill them off with justice because if you are defending your home from an aggressor, then a bullet twixt the eyes of each soldier is so justified and it will send a message that says: leave my home alone!
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We don’t need no more martyrs…..we have all had enough of them. We need better ideas to take hold and we need a roof over our head and our basic sustenance needs satisfied and then we will produce so much that everybody will have what they need and it could be done working less than 5 hours a day 6 days a week or maybe less. Spend the rest of the time making things better for your family and your own personal home or for the sake of artistry if that appeals to you. Do with your time as you will and respect all others. Imagine that possibility?
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Well, just like so many other things it has already been imagined. So, let me ask. What is the hold up?
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What is keeping this simple living where we all have our basic needs met from occurring? What is the hold up? Who is keeping it from happening and why would they do this? Who do they think they are?
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What will it take to move them out of the way of humanity’s progress?
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BK
It is used in combination with time and effort to produce and improvement, or to maintain one’s health. A capital investment in ones dental health.
A tool, used in conjunction with time and effort to improve or maintain dental health. One that you invested in, deciding it was a good return on investment to keep your teeth.
do you think the socialists want to confiscate your toothbrush?
@JWK — you can say all economies are capitalist but then you are making up your own definition of capitalism. Capitalism is a system, which IS the problem. People working within the system are encouraged or forced to act certain ways.
Capitalism has only been around for 2-3 centuries. It involves borrowing capital (which is paid back with interest) to start or expand a business, it involves private ownership of the factors of production, it involves wage labour, it requires private property rights, aomong other things.
Buying and selling things is not the definition of capitalism — that’s been happening for thousands of years. You can have a free market without capitalism.
As Evo Morales said recently in Bolivia, on Earth Day: Either capitalism dies, or Mother Earth dies.
Friend, if you are defining capitalism as raising capital at interest for the purpose of creating productive enterprises, then you too are making up your own definition of capitalism. I think what most people who use the term mean by it is simply the system of private property. People who have worked hard and saved for what they have are usually very keen on the idea of private property. People who like to live for the day don’t care so much for it.
If you think that pooling capital in various ways isn’t necessary for the production of large pieces of equipment such as ships and factories, then you don’t know much about modern industry.
The fact that large organisations and interest groups are able to buy government power is one of the worse features of capitalism, or free enterprise or whatever you want to call it.
I know it is possible to decry poverty and go on about how terrible and inexcusable it is that the system doesn’t provide free goodies for everybody, but the fact is that the institution of private property is the ONLY system that effectively provides much of anything for anybody. There is in fact only ONE other system (leaving aside small-scale production in atomised societies), and that is the command system, however it is dressed up. Under the command system, the government decides who gets what, and there isn’t much for anybody except those who have the power.
Quoting Ludwig von Mises, the public see the businessman giving orders. They don’t see that he is doing this as a proxy for the consumer, who will buy his product. He will ONLY enjoy a high income if he is good at serving the consumer.
i think most people agree with the wikipedia definition of capitalism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism
i also think that ludwig very much knew that the businessman’s objective is not providing service to the customer but to make a profit at all costs (customers be damned).
Yes. However, I find ‘Financial Capitalism’ to be the very worst form. This is the fraud of usury, i.e., the lending of [imaginary] money at interest, when the interest-money is never created. When fiat money is created out of thin air it is also ‘lent’ to us at interest. This means the loan + interest cannot ever be paid back at the societal level and we plunge evermore into exponentially rising debt and we have to borrow more to stay afloat. This is like drinking sea water to quench thirst. It must lead to madness and death. https://commodity.com/data/debt-clock/ The distinction is down to the fact that money lacks fecundity. It is not fertile of itself. If A lends B a bag of seeds and wants 1½ bags of seeds for the discharge of the debt then that, however immoral, is at least possible.
it’s pretty much the same as the other capitalisms, imo. if A lends B a bag of money and B buys a bag of seeds with the money, … interest is gamble money extraction from the future. wage-workers that get paid at the end of the week or the month after they completed the work, should be charging interests. power dynamics let them assume your ‘promise’ to pay back is a ‘risk’ to be compensated, while their ‘promise’ to pay you when the job is done is a matter of ‘trust’ that is free.
Yes, a twisted view of Christianity can compare it to evils of capitalism with an atheistic flare (as was done) – even though Christ’s actual teachings and standings did/do not support capitalism’s hearts. Along those lines (without any support for Russia/Soviet-gate Psy-ops), could there also be an extreme twisted view of atheism that promoted a present society based on Stalin’s “anti-religious campaigns,” where, instead of people who were religious being shot or sent to labor camps (like then), they are now forced into modern reeducation camps (to rid them of any remaining spirit)? Yes again. But, true (progressive) Christians rarely stoop to such levels. In further relation, it is wondered (often), with woke atheists (comedians, actors, journalists, etc.) so bold as to pervasively/publicly demean and degrade Jesus Christ (Christianity) and Mohammed (Islam), why don’t they do the same with Moses (Jews/Judaism)? Is it because the backlash would be so severe as to ruin/”Cancel” their stages, permanently? What else would it be? If they are so fulfilled in their boldness, why not go the final mile? With that question, “[they] are free to re-imagine [the truth] if [they] want to.” Finally, believing is not always based on “blind faith.” Many times (as many have experienced throughout history), certain (Godly) occurrences are bestowed as gifts – which are then beyond questions, and are known going forward as indisputable Facts.
https://seaclearly.com/2021/04/04/infallible-proofs-as-scribed/
you can give these people a call: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCprs0DXUS-refN1i8FkQkdg, and yes anti-anti-semitism is used in politics (cfr. corbyn uk).
Thank you for the link- i will call into their show next week or sometime soon. Appreciate the exposure.
Shrewd as serpents, innocent as doves. Being a serpent is opposite of a dove, which knows no guile or scheming. The Christians are all phonies pretending to be oh so innocent. But let me make it clear. I do come against Judaism also, but not so much, as they don’t go around thumping their chests with national pride and pride of their evil faith as Christians do, so there is not so much reason to come against them. But my book THE UNTOLD NATURE OF CHRISTIANITY debunks the Bible, all of it, including the Old Testament. I show the evil in all three faiths, and also come against Israel often. It is Christians who point at Jews and call them evil, while supporting Israeli leadership in its apartheid. glass houses?
And out goes the baby with the bathwater. True, there are monumental piles of male bovine fecal matter in most all religions, because they’ve been around a LONG time and so have accumulated even more of it than they started with, and have been used as a weapon by psychopaths who have taken control of them. On the other hand, they are the source of a great deal of the moral principals we operate under, at least those of us who do. Much of it is survival instruction. Thou shalt not kill, steal, eat pork (which wasn’t particularly safe at the time written), etc. It fails when it gets organized enough that a psychopath CAN take it over and weaponize it.
‘ they are the source of a great deal of the moral principals we operate under’
Dont consider me stupid please. We should not have to be told to not murder, to not commit adultery or thievery or such. We should not have to be bribed with heaven or threatened with hell to follow what we already know from infancy to do. if you need those incentives, you are not good, you are a sociopath on a leash. The concepts in the NT are NOT good ones, such as turning the other cheek and loving your enemies, it just allows them to continue to abuse you. IF a book (the bible) supports slavery (it does), it is disqualified as a standard for moral code. The baby SHOULD be thrown out with the bath water because it is a baby viper. From Horus to Jehovah to Jesus to Allah, Satan’s names have represented evil incarnate, and have been disguised as moral codes while really being avenues to rule over others in hell. Romans 13 and 1Peter chapter 2 tell you to honor and obey your governors which we are told have been placed there by God to do good. Which ONE governor of ANY nation is good?
Old Testament- by following god, you win wars, acquire slaves, and get wealthy.
New Testament=be a good slave
Caitlin, I agree. I also think there are historical “what to do” examples for the kind of situation we are in. I humbly recommend the case of 1932:
risingtidefoundation.net/2021/02/06/how-to-overcome-todays-crisis-a-lesson-from-fdr/
We are very much nearing something like a Great Depression and the Too-Big-To-Fail banks are also essentially zombie banks, only being kept alive by infinite money printing.
This has been dealt with before, and I think the bankers and company have put a lot of work into making us forget that.
Much of the sociopathic behaviour coming from the oligarchy is hinged on them trying to preserve their now bankrupt banking system. The city of London and wall street is sitting on hundreds of trillions of dollars of worthless derivatives debt. This is what the infinite money printing has been used to try to support. That’s all the bailouts are for, keeping these banks and their unplayable illiquid monopoly money system going.
Glass-Steagall would force that whole system into bankruptcy. Why not call for a debt jubilee and bankruptcy reorganization?
“ Breaking from a tradition of bailing out Wall Street gamblers and austerity which characterized the previous Hoover administration, FDR, threw down the gauntlet in his inaugural speech on March 4th saying: “The money-changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit”. His full address can be listened to here:”
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/risingtidefoundation.net/2021/02/06/how-to-overcome-todays-crisis-a-lesson-from-fdr/amp/
And then he proceeded to start a war in two theaters, confiscate Gold to keep those banks in business, incarcerate thousands of Japanese , German, and Italian citizens, and put many of the very same corporations in permanent business that we now suffer from to this very day. He was NOT a saint, or even a serious departure from previous POTUS. He accumulated more power in the office than we had ever thought possible. He was an excellent salesman though.
Mme. Caitlin; this consistent ferocity in denouncing what you label “capitalism” seems to have its own religious overtones with an implied moral superiority for the socialist camp. As I have noted in other articles: a) there are flavors and scales of capitalism and socialism as implemented. b) either one seems to work as long as the scale is tolerable and force is not involved.
But the examples of socialism we have before us in the recent centuries: the Nazis, USSR, N. Korea, China, Cambodia, Cuba, Venezuela, and the USSA (with corporate $ocialism) do not seem to make your point with any cogency.
Alex, you are one of those selfsame greedy collaborators with capitalism that are described in this article. I am a Marxist and regard capitalism as one of the most evil, anti-human, inefficient, cruel, and vicious death doctrines ever devised by humankind. I work for its overthrow. If it is not overthrown, our planet and all life upon it are doomed to destruction.
The “examples of socialism” that you cite are not examples of socialism at all. First of all, your beginning the list of “socialism” with the Nazis is pure ignorance. Nazism was fascism, not socialism. Just because Hitler put the word “socialism” into the name of his party of murderers doesn’t make them socialists.
The USSR after Lenin’s death and under Stalin was not socialism, either. It was a cult of personality. Stalin proved to be the gravedigger of the Revolution just as Leon Trotsky predicted he would be. Stalin stuffed Lenin’s corpse and put it into a glass box to try and convince people he venerated Lenin’s legacy. It was a lie, of course.
As for the other countries you list, they are not socialist, either. They do not practice Marxism. I think you need to study the history of socialism and educate yourself before making snotty comments to Caitlin when you don’t know what you’re talking about. In fact, your misstatements are the same old cliches spouted by all enemies of socialism down the years.
I work for the overthrow of capitalism because if it is allowed to continue, all life on earth will be destroyed.
It matters not what form of economy one has, if everyone agrees with it. The very instant you put goons with guns putting those guns to peoples heads to FORCE them to agree, you get the very same results we now have. Psychopaths In Charge.
imo the time psychopaths put guns to peoples heads has long passed.
Carolyn, Your ferocity confirms me in my anti-globalism!
But you err in thinking that the “socialism” in the nazis’ original name should be dismissed! The nazis’ and most contemporary uses of the “socialism” tag is clearly salesmens’ bait and switch; a lure for the unwary en route to the post-modern sefdoms that “socialism” (an algebra of envy) has actually delivered.
This worn lament that various regimes didn’t implement/ practice ‘~real’ socialism is neither a comfort nor an assurance. The consistent, savage use of force and falsehoods to inflict a tenuous ideology seems to distinguish it and its practicioners!
American celebrities’ Wikipedia entries, in all walks of life, typically mention very often how they performed, during their formative years, in competitive structures, even if it has nothing to do with their later claims to fame. You’ll find an endless list of dudes who were quarterbacks for the Tortilla Flat Motherfuckers or the Cannery Row Sardine Punchers and a list of equal length of Hollywood actors who served in the military. And not only because they were drafted.
https://stacker.com/stories/2324/100-actors-who-served-military
This competitive culture kinda creates a perfect breed for the rat race unaware that, as Lily Tomlin famously remarked, “the trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat” :o)
Once again you model my thinking and world view completely and express it in a way I can’t. When I read your works I get a level of validation and solidarity my normal every day associations leave me wanting.
People naturally want to connect, they naturally want to contribute. Open source software is my real world model for how a gift economy can be. Linux and open source software is competitive with the two largest capitalist desktop computer companies. The servers that the majority of our web is displayed by is on open source Linux computers. The model of open source software is based on 100% transparency and a gift economy. People share and contribute from their natural desire to contribute. There is no money involved. I enjoy the use of computing for free on the level of the best that capitalism can charge for. That is with only being a small percentage of adoption. If open source were as popular as the profit centered offerings it would likely be far superior in all measures.
Many commenters advocate boycotting Google, but that isn’t always practical. For example, we often want to link to videos on Youtube, and for some of us – myself included – Google Docs and Sheets are part of our jobs.
Linux, on the other hand, is free and easy to install and use, and unless you use some specialist programs, does everything Windows and Mac OS do. I changed to Linux Mint around three years ago, and there’s no way I’d go back to Windows – nothing I miss, and a whole lot I’m glad to see the back of.
And as VAYU says, the more people use such things, the better they’ll get!
Here’s an interesting piece about money in Bronze Age western Eurasia. It looks like pieces of bronze, in multiples of a basic and standard weight, were used for trade from around three thousand years ago.
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“Researchers from the Universities of Göttingen and Rome have discovered that bronze scrap found in hoards in Europe circulated as a currency. These pieces of scrap—which might include swords, axes, and jewelry broken into pieces—were used as cash in the late Bronze Age (1350-800 BC), and in fact complied with a weight system used across Europe. This research suggests that something very similar to our ‘global market’ evolved across Western Eurasia from the everyday use of scrap for cash by ordinary people some 1000 years before the beginning of classical civilizations.”
https://phys.org/news/2021-05-scrap-cash-bronze-age-witnessed.html
Thanks! I’m a sucker for the Bronze Age …
Of course, bronze was an excellent commodity with many uses, not all of them pacific.
Generally speaking, modern global markets don’t require utility as a characteristic of the exchange medium. In fact, the material correlative, digital or analogue, cannot even be used to maintain basic hygiene.
Utility often comes into play in unusual circumstances. Cigarettes and canned fish are common prison currencies, and rice was widely used for trade in Cambodia in the years following the fall of Democratic Kampuchea.
Buddha said, and I believe him, that humans are born with the “three afflictions”, greed, anger, and ignorance, but, also with the ability to overcome them.
He assumed of course that people would want to overcome them.
“Our entire society is made of narrative.” No truer words were ever spoken.
And it is the narrative which has led us here. As you often say.
The messages in the narrative, and the gigantic scale of the all-pervasive, maximally intrusive mechanisms of dissemination, begin corroding the human spirit almost from birth. The outcome is to be expected. Clearly it is unsustainable. And, inevitably human society will realize that. Sooner, or later.
Thank you for changing the narrative.
We need you on prime time networked television with sub-titles if necessary. Your own show would drag in *millions* upon *millions* of viewers. On it you could let the TV channel advertise [for sound goods & services] a little & use their money greed in this way to break into a mass audience ultimately provoking a change in the reaction of people to the official sociopathic narrative. Whatever happens, please keep on doing what you do.
PS. Would you arrange for a UK publisher for your literature, pretty please?
I am counting on you being correct, despite all evidence otherwise. Mankind’s workplace is full of bought people who are willing to cheat, poison, lie and exploit for their own benefit. I hope and pray that you are correct, or we are all doomed> In addition, most of us have to take heroic measures for humanity to survive this evil that has been planned and is being executed. The media and universities have programmed and indoctrinated the masses into capitalism and competition, teaching them to repeat and memorize rather than to think and analyze. Repeat what we say or fail. Religion-believe as we tell you or go to hell. Police-do as we say or go to jail. People are made into greedy sheep by the establishment, and I can only hope that they can come out of it virtuous.
Under capitalism, man exploits man; while under socialism just the reverse is true.
John Kenneth Galbraith
I believe the original quote was communism rather than socialism. Those are two entirely different things.
Dear Caitlin, please take a look at “The Market as God” by Harvey Cox (ISBN 9780674659681). It goes very deep down this rabbit hole, and is a masterpiece.