The Dirty Little Secret of Capitalism is this...Profit Has To Come From Somewhere!
And if that means someone has to be under-paid, or over-charged, or a weaker nation has to sell their goods for pennies, well so be it. That's Capitalism. And as Capitalists, which has made us the biggest, baddest Empire on the planet, we have to take into account that, as of right now, we're the bad guys.
The Alphas...the ones who have to dominate in order to remain on "top".
"Survival of the fittest" is generally seen as the way "nature intended" for us to behave. Alphas rise up, have their day, then as old regimes decline, others rise up to take their place.
But we are Human. We have free-will. We have the ability to think, plan, cooperate and share new groundbreaking ideas. And there are a growing number of people who believe we can do better than mindless, animal, instinct-driven, domination-hierarchical thinking.
So, why isn't a new Global Model for economic and social justice widely discussed? Why is the call for a "new way of thinking" silenced through violence, or marginalized by deliberately misrepresenting the message?
Because the biggest, baddest Empire on the planet always has a full-scale propaganda machine running over-time and at full-tilt boogie - supplemented heavily by distraction in the form of scandal, reality television, violent games and mindless movies that neither illuminate, nor grow the Human.
Every day, whether we call it nationalism or patriotism, "fighting evil" or "national security" chances are we are invading some country to bring them their much needed "freedom". By which, we really mean
neoliberalism - turning vulnerable people into slave labor and stealing their natural resources with the help of a puppet government that we install in the name of "stability".
This is not the image we are given of ourselves. But in today's world, with a camera in every corner of the globe, we can no longer ignore the consequences of Capitalism.
And, by we, I don't just mean the gullible or willfully-blind citizens of Empire (we can't handle the truth, so we're careful not to ask too many questions). I also mean the ruling-class, the managers and planners of our destiny. Rich or poor, we must not continue to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, or ignore the destruction of our planet for capital gain.
There is a great deal of upheaval in the world as citizens awaken from the hypnosis of misinformation and the scare-tactic strategies that their leaders and cultures have inflicted upon them with the help of an internalized, self-censorship driven propaganda/media machine.
Corporate-owned twenty-four hour news outlets, peopled by talking heads that become complicit partners (by virtue of their silence) to keep the masses complacent or scared, but for sure, unconsciously locked into the stratified economic and social roles necessary for domination and control...out of fear of losing status and a very high-paying job.
Meanwhile, violence is becoming a daily threat.
We stare at horrific images on the news and the gut-wrenching videos uploaded to youtube in disbelief and find ourselves asking why the United Nations doesn't send in troops from a coalition of nations to put a stop to all the violence.
I believe the reason is this: the U.N. cannot act without the full support of the permanent members of its Security Council and that council is constantly playing politics based on geopolitical, quasi intelligence-manufactured military strategies designed to protect commerce-driven expansionism.
The United States is the most powerful member of the security council and has the ability to either empower or block support for international cooperation but more often than not it (or some other permanent member) blocks humane intervention because an Empire fighting to maintain its supremacy has very little interest in helping anyone, or any country, that does not further its own agenda.
Granted, peace cannot be enforced, but order can - which makes the emergence of peace possible. Even so, lasting peace will only be possible if we, as a global community, address the issue of Economic Justice.
If we want to change the world, we have to offer something that has not been seen very often in our planet's history.
We have to commit to fairness and equal trade. We have to invite people to the table. Because the most important thing we can do to change the world...is to change the way business is done in the world.
The only reason the world is so dangerous right now is because world leaders (business and political) have opted for grossly unequal economic classes. They promote charities to "give back" and they take away our civil rights to "keep us safe" - but they wouldn't have to "give back" if they didn't take so much in the first place...and we are only in danger because of their greed.
Peace emerges when all parties and all people come to understand that justice and equality (which is only made possible by a cessation of greed) is the Better Way.
Why is it that we citizens, religious, agnostic, atheist or otherwise, allow rulers (God lovers all, if they are to be believed) to openly serve soulless, slave-making, plantation-equivalent, multi-national corporate interests who poison our planet and oppress its people? Why do we allow them to jeopardize Humankind...and in turn, all other Earth-dwelling species?
Religiously speaking, were we not instructed to be good stewards of our garden?
And secularly speaking, doesn't it just make better sense to choose leaders who demonstrate long-term rational thinking, rather than short-term, corporate-raider, species-suicidal strategies?
"God" would not approve of :
Being the world's #1 arms dealer - spreading instability and murder for financial gain.
Multi-national corporations - that allow people at the top (the 1%) to suck all of the resources out of a land and its people in order to live a life of luxury and decadence, and call it "investment".
- Bankrupting weaker countries - then leaving holes in the border so that undocumented workers can crossover to the "land of opportunity", only to be used for slave labor and vilified by their oppressors.
- Destroying unions - brave men and women that fought and even died to protect workers from being treated like work-camp inmates. Only to find themselves vilified by the press, and sadly, the people who most benefited from workers rights...ex-union workers...who received very comfortable compensation for their labor, along with health insurance, a pension and a retirement portfolio but are now the ones condemning the young for standing up to the loss of those same protections.
- Monetizing "education" - and creating a system where nothing is taught, critical thinking is silenced and higher education is a sentence of indentured servitude to the status quo. Churning out graduates who cannot question authority or think for themselves without facing the cold-panic reality of being forced to work at jobs that cannot sustain a family, let alone pay off their criminally-exorbitant student loans...if they can find jobs at all.
No, "God" would not approve.
Well, maybe the God of the Old Testament would approve. He frequently sent people into already occupied lands, telling them to kill every man, woman and child because he promised them "that" land.
But
Jesus wouldn't approve. Nor would Gandhi, or the Dalai Lama, or Martin Luther King...or, Elmo for that matter.
I'm writing this entry on
May Day. Historically, a day to celebrate and promote
reform.
I am encouraged to see that so many people understand that we are in great need of reform. But we have to evolve to the next step in our development - to create a system of government that is truly representative of all people, while being mindful and respectful of our place in the world.
Along-side our fellow citizens...
not Masters of the Universe.
So, as I mentioned earlier, the dirty little secret of Capitalism is this:
PROFIT COMES FROM SOMEWHERE!!!
It comes from oppression.
...from Workers who are under-paid.
...from Consumers who are over-charged.
...from Resources stolen for pennies out of strategically destabilized lands.
...from Downward social and economic pressure on the Poor.
...from Think Tank strategies of Upward economic flow for the Rich.
All of which culminates in Systemic Protectionism which the .01% unconscionably calls "Free Market Capitalism". But which I call...neo-feudalism.
At least, that's the way it seems to me (and a few other thinker/dreamers out there I would venture to guess),
Annie
