Leftists, you hate "capitalism" and excess. Why do you need the latest iphone? Why not just get whatever works and redistribute the saved money?
31-35, M
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ViciDraco · 41-45, M
To argue that leftists hate capitalism and excess is an exercise in stereotypes. As a leftist, I don't intrinsically hate capitalism. I believe capitalism was an important tool in the process we have made. I do not argue against capitalism now because I hate it, but simply because we have a reached a point where we must start using a different tool to make progress and that the continued use of capitalism is now detrimental.
Think of a woodworker with a handsaw. Once he's finished cutting to size, he needs to put the saw down and move on to the next tool. No matter how much he loves using the saw, if he continues cutting with he's going to hinder his project at this point.
Our project is the management of resource distribution among humanity. Capitalism has been a tool towards that end, especially with regards to managing scarcity. However, we have reached the point many years ago where we are now manufacturing scarcity in order to protect capitalism. We are hindering our project to protect our tool. To me, that seems backwards and foolish.
Think of a woodworker with a handsaw. Once he's finished cutting to size, he needs to put the saw down and move on to the next tool. No matter how much he loves using the saw, if he continues cutting with he's going to hinder his project at this point.
Our project is the management of resource distribution among humanity. Capitalism has been a tool towards that end, especially with regards to managing scarcity. However, we have reached the point many years ago where we are now manufacturing scarcity in order to protect capitalism. We are hindering our project to protect our tool. To me, that seems backwards and foolish.
PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M
@ViciDraco I agree with you on some points as a fellow leftist. But it is a bit more than just capitalism outliving it's usefulness. It has also effectively reproduced the aristocracy and royalty. They just have acronyms instead of fancy titles.
And we might be the first civilization in history to wipe itself out because doing something about it was not profitable.
And we might be the first civilization in history to wipe itself out because doing something about it was not profitable.
ViciDraco · 41-45, M
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Part of the point I was trying to make was that by trying to keep using the tool past its usefulness we are causing damage. In the analogy, anymore use of the saw is going to make some wood unusable for the project. I mentioned the creation of artificial scarcity as an example, but yes the effective creation of a new political ruling class based purely on wealth is also a step backwards. So I think we are effectively saying the same thing.