I went on a 4am rant on Facebook last night, which resulted in the following:
It's infuriating that big business is able to get away with manipulating the public in the name of free market capitalism, while behaving in a manner so directly opposed to free market capitalism's main tenant: competition. See: the logging industry's success in criminalizing marijuana because they know hemp is threatening to their profits, and the constant push for more oil-based products.
Deception in the name of profit is disgusting and is directly opposed to democracy, choice, and everything that everyone who wants to be loyal to the Unites States basic philosophy of free will, freedom, and equality continues to champion.
It is inherently immoral to use profit, propaganda, and widespread manipulation as a way to maintain the flow of pieces of green paper to one's bank account.
Also noting the fact that it's easy to see how other, non-economic-based inequalities are maintained under this pretend, yet highly-populaized, version of free-market economics. Women and ethnic minorites continue to be systemicallly oppressed as a direct result of the accepted belief that exploitation is a natural byproduct of innovation, and because the US has a history of making systemic oppression profitable (see: slavery, Jim Crow laws, & gender-based expectations & stereotypes), large entites continue to find ways to convince vulnerable people that maintaining that status quo is beneficial-- usually by exploiting said populations' community-based religious beliefs, when in fact those religious beliefs, & the claim that any politician or pundit shares them, is completely irrelevant to any practical issue that affects every single average American.
Again, it comes down to manipulation via rhetoric, deception, & propaganda. Undemocratic, plutocratic, xenophobic, misogynist, racist bullshit. Everything we pretend to be against that we actively support via engaging in the very lifestyle that perpetuates it.
It's not that I believe that capitalism is inherently evil. It's that allowing the pursuit of profit to dictate society is inherently flawed. Capitalism can produce amazing innovation, but the unregulated freedom to prioritize profit breedscorruption & deception, which is naturally in opposition to HUMANS having free will and choice to democratically reward & punish good and bad behavior. Adam Smith himself noted the inherent flaws in this system & championed regulation & check & balances, which is what the so-called free-market capitalists are currently fighting so vehemently against. & it's transparently all about greed, not actual economic stability, which is what's causing the labor resurgence & the so-called "class wars."
And: sustainability is key for long-term profitability, if you're concerned with such things as "profit." Not logging, not petroleum, not other unsustainable and un-renewable resources. DUH. The fact that those in power are so concerned with unsustainable EVERYTHING makes their intentions completely transparent. Anyone ACTUALLY interested and concerned with long-term success will abandon petroleum-based products and other un-renewable interests with those that will be sustained over the long terms, like wind and solar power, or hemp over wood-based production for paper-based products and clothing. IT'S OBVIOUS, and infuriating that it's apparently so easy to ignore reality or accept propaganda and bullshit rhetoric claiming exactly the opposite of reality. WAKE THE FUCK UP.
And while I appreciate organizations like NOW, the ACLU, and others, they're merely a Band-Aid on the huge, chronic problem that continues to plague our country. They're a response to the problem, but they're not the solution. They valiantly and respectably do what they can to help those negatively affected by the system, WITHIN the system, but they don't solve the underlying problem, which is unregulated greed and profit-chasing. And it's not their fault. They are staffed by committed activists and people passionate about this exact kind of change and progress; they do exactly what they can.
This is what is fucked up about our system, that makes us actually nearly powerless and fucked as a society. We like to think that, as Americans, we are freer and better in most all ways than everyone else on this little planet in the vast universe that we reside in, but really, we're not only not better than many places, we're also far worse. What the fuck is "life," anyway? The pursuit of profit? The thrill of the fight between you and giant, profit-earning entities? How is that helpful to you? Do you LIKE the idea that humans are supposedly naturally inclined to kill each other over some berries? Don't you think that, regardless of your philosophical or religious beliefs, that humans might be capable of MORE than that? We've been granted (or evolved into) the ability to reason and contemplate morality; shouldn't this mean that we have a responsibility to see it all the way through, then? If we can, then we MUST, if you ask me.
Conservative ideology fights for the continued support of stagnancy. Stagnancy ONLY causes a halt in our human evolution, progress, and responsibility-- personally and communally. Progress, in ALL FORMS, is THE ONLY way to ensure human survival, prosperity, and freedom. Conservatism IN ALL FORMS, PERIOD, is ALWAYS a stumbling block to true humanity, because it promotes stagnancy. Stagnancy IS ALWAYS bad. ALWAYS. GROWTH is the only goal worth pursuing.
Stagnancy, coincidentally, is championed in evangelical Christian circles, as a natural byproduct of remembering that, someday, apparently Jesus will float down to Earth and declare that some people get to live in the clouds and others get to literally burn in actual fire "below" the Earth. Interesting how these same propagandists are some of the biggest supporters of right-wing politics and continue to have so much political influence. HILAR, RIGHT?!! LOL!!
(Despite my ranting getting progressively drunker over the evening, the responses I got were surprisingly not hostile, with lots of "read Marx!" recommendations. And hey, no one called me a troop-hating anti-American this time!)
