#capitalism

LIVE

lizardlicks:

dogdayafternoon1975:

coming from an evangelical background, I can tell you also that “you are what you consume, garbage in garbage out,” is a mentality HEAVILY propagated throughout evangelical communities, so if you also come from the same kind of background, it’s time to start unpacking that.

transjon:

transjon:

transjon:

transjon:

the twitter communists currently are getting mad because some random undergrads made an edible burrito tape bc they should instead be doing medical research

i had to work hard to make sure the similarly corrosive take of “only few people in the world make their own food” also fit in the screenshot

lest y’all think i was making up a conversation that wasn’t in the op the comments are all like this

btw the vaccine in question is a cancer treatment (ie. not a preventative/immunization) similar to another one already also used in the US and is currently undergoing clinical trials in the US.

The wildest part about this is that expecting the greatest possible worth from all work is? Just repackaged capitalist myth??

Like, the assumptions here are:

  1. Standards for any field are set by those of greatest perceived worth (even where not applicable or related).
  2. Maintained or increased value is expected for the results of labor to be worthwhile.
  3. Progress is a linear rising line set by demand.

That’s just advanced capitalism, law of value, and rising market respectively. Fiat currency was just swapped for social capital.

As boggling and frustrating as this is, I think this is a very normal step in reckoning internalized standards with new concepts. This is how value has been determined for most of us our entire lives! It pervades deeper than our idea of economics. Recognizing and challenging that is an awkward, clumsy process.

Compounding that is the inclination that net good must be maximized for the world to change. It comes from a good place! It just oversimplifies the bigger picture.

One way to challenge yourself is to ask what is being done, by who, for what purpose, and how this can play out.

Johnson + Johnson rolling out Pup Patrol bandages? That’s a megacorp’s cosmetic marketing tactic. The sole benefit is to their bottom line, as more kids will want Band-Aid brand bandages.

Undergrads inventing edible tape? It’s an early problem solving success for future scientists. The confidence and experience instilled was the point. However, their work also resulted in something with humble quality of life improvements.

THIS IS TERRORISM, CALL IT WHAT IT IS

Please get reminded that this is not even comparable to the BLM movement. One is about demanding human rights and the other is about being a lunatic hyporcritical asshole.

Via Getty Images

Hi, I just found an amazing tiktok series of a guy explaining the basics of capitalism, socialism, and communism and I just thought I’d share it because I thought it was a great simple summary.

Part 1: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZS79oyov/

Part 2: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZS7xBA5x/

Part 3: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZS7xeyNx/

Part 4: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZS7xJ1eh/

Part 5: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZS7xF14g/

Part 6: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZS7xeWv1/

That’s his account’s link, go give him a follow.

Liberal vs Leftist

One of the things that I was confused about once I started being interested in politics were the terms “liberal” and “leftist”.

There was obviously a right and left wing. What I knew was that a liberal was a tolerant individual that constantly promoted human rights, and since they were considered to belong to the left, I logically concluded that these two word were synonymous.

It turns out there is a difference, and I thought I’d try to explain it in a relatively simple way for whoever needs it. Let’s start with defining each term:

Liberalism:

  • A political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise. -Oxford Languages
  • Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law. […] Liberalism became a distinct movement in the Age of Enlightenment, when it became popular among Western philosophers and economists. - Wikipedia
  • Liberalism is a belief in gradual social progress by changing laws, rather than by revolution. -Collin

Leftism:

  • The political views or policies of the left. -Oxford Languages
  • Leftism refers to the beliefs and behaviour of people who support socialist ideas. - Collin
  • An economic posisistion favouring more collectivity/cooperation in making resource using decisions. This can either be done by state planning or using communes. -Urban Dictionnary

The major difference between these two ideologies is the preffered economic system of each. Basically, liberals have nothing against capitalism but believe in law changing and reforming in order to achieve equality. While leftists believe that the only way to atteign true equity would be overthrowing capitalism and adapting an entirely new economic system such as communism or socialism, generally accompanied by a revolution.

https://www.mcall.com/opinion/readers-react/mc-opi-let-walters-leftists-liberals-20200915-cz6l5pan7zcrld27jg333llwj4-story.html

“Liberals are not leftists, and there are a few keypoints in understanding the differences betwen the two. Liberalism is an ideology that has a wide array of views but in general it’s in support of universal human rights, democratic governance and market based capitalist economics.

While there is some overlap, this last part is largely what seperates the two. Well meaning liberals do generally want to protect human rights and promote social equality but believe the problems stemmed from our capitalist system can be tweaked and reformed.

Leftists, on the other hand, are fundamentally opposed to capitalism, [they believe] that the problems created by the system are actually not problems at all, rather, they are a sign that the system is working as intended. Crony capitalism* doesn’t exist, ideologically pure free market capitalism* doesn’t exist either, there is only capitalism, and it must be abolished. Liberalism as an ideology believes that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with capitalism, that the problems that exist within a society are the result of bad actors and policies within the system that must be rooted out so the system can function properly. Leftist ideologies understand that the system itself is the cause of the suffering. No amount of reforming can fix the problems in our society. It’s not a matter of bad actors and policies but one of the relations we keep to keep society running.

Perhaps the most succint quote that hilights the differences comes from brazilian Archbishop Hélder Câmara: ” When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.“ -"Why liberals are not leftists” by Leaflets via Youtube

https://youtu.be/b6w3l_BUyWs

*What is crony capitalism?

“An economic system in which individuals and businesses with political connections and influence are favored (as through tax breaks, grants, and other forms of government assistance) in ways seen as suppressing open competition in a free market.” -Merriam Webster

“In its worst form, crony capitalism can devolve into simple corruption where any pretense of a free market is dispensed with. Bribes to government officials are considered de rigueur and tax evasion is common. […] Corrupt governments may favor one set of business owners who have close ties to the government over others.” -Wikipedia

*What is ideologically pure free market society?

“In a capitalistic society, the production and pricing of goods and services are determined by the free market, or supply and demand, however, some government regulation may occur. […] A free market system is an economic system based solely on demand and supply, and there is little or no government regulation.” -Investopedia

Is Free Market the Same as Capitalism?

“A capitalist system and a free market system are both economic environments that are based on the law of supply and demand.

They both are involved in determining the price and production of goods and services. On one hand, capitalism is focused on the creation of wealth and ownership of capital and factors of production, whereas a free market system is focused on the exchange of wealth, or goods and services.” - By Steven Nickolas for Investopedia

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042215/what-difference-between-capitalist-system-and-free-market-system.asp

“Voters need to understand the fundamental differences between liberalism and leftism. It’s the difference between a candidate who believes capitalism, with just a little refereeing, will eventually provide what working people need, versus a candidate who believes serious intervention in the capitalist economy is necessary.” -The Conversation

https://theconversation.com/the-difference-between-left-and-liberal-and-why-voters-need-to-know-120273

That’s about it, I hope I was able to properly explain everything. This is obviously an overview of leftism and liberalism and in no way an in depth analysis of each ideology, though I later probably will dive in deeper.

As I have previously specified, I am a leftist, and I do not think that we can achieve any true change as long as we are under a capitalist system since every “problem” we’ve had is each deeply rooted in capitalism. I would also love to make a post listing some arguments that justify my beliefs, but that’ll be for another time.

Thank you for reading, also, I’ve never really asked you if you had any suggestions but I’d like to see if you guys had any questions about politics, and if I happen to have an understanding in the subject, I’ll try to answer it with a similar kind of post. Okay thanks, bye.

Just finished watching David Attenborough’s ‘A Life On Our Planet’ all the way through.

Everybody needs to see this documentary. It is a wake-up call that things need to change. And fast.

The thing that people need to realise is that it only takes small changes to make a big difference. On an individual level, we can all make changes that won’t disrupt our daily lives in huge ways - we can switch to using less plastic (even if it’s just replacing bottles of soap with soap bars), a few times a week we can choose to walk to places instead of using transport and we can cut down on meat and dairy in our diets. These are just a few examples, but any small contribution makes a huge difference if we all play our part.

But we cannot just tackle climate change on an individual level - governments and global corporations need to recognise the damage they are doing and they need to operate more sustainably. This is has been proven to be possible, for example, Switzerland operates on a tariff scheme which means electricity is generated by primarily renewable means and hydroelectric powerplants produce 60% of the country’s electricity.

With the loss of species, wildfires, violent storms and the coronavirus pandemic, there is no excuse for governments to ignore the devastating effects that humans are having on the environment. Powerful world leaders cannot sit in their chairs, pout and simply say “I don’t think science knows” when they’re presented with evidence for climate change. They also cannot continue to label protest groups such as Extinction Rebellion “terrorists” when they are ultimately fighting for a more peaceful world.

I know that after watching 'A Life On Our Planet’ I will make changes to try and help as much as possible. I will be careful not to purchase products which contain palm oil, I will try to use less plastic and although I have never eaten meat I will be reducing my dairy intake. I will also vote only for political parties that have sustainable environmental policies.

I hope we can all learn from David Attenborough and put his advice into action. Although there’s a chance we can still save our world, that window of opportunity is closing fast and we can only keep it open if we work together.

from above link quick quotes:

“According to Peterson, universities are full of ungrateful radicals, determined to undermine the intellectual and spiritual foundations of Western civilization, insistent on advancing a dangerous totalitarian agenda that pushes for “equality of outcome” in every sphere of life.”

* * *

Take Bill C-16, which amended Canada’s Human Rights Law in 2017 to include gender identity and first rocketed Peterson to fame. The primary purpose of the act was to protect trans people from discrimination in areas such as housing. The word “pronoun” doesn’t appear anywhere in the text (…) Nevertheless, Peterson was utterly convinced that C-16 was a totalitarian “compelled speech” bill and made a name for himself outside of Canada for his strident denunciations. C-16 has been on the books for a few years now, and no one has been charged with a Pronoun Crime.

* * *

The only real link between Marxism and the wide array of social movements and schools of thought that Peterson associates with “postmodern neo-Marxism” is that they all feature complaints about the existence of various forms of oppression. The idea seems to be that since Marxists think workers are oppressed due to their economic position and feminists think that women are oppressed due to their position in a gender hierarchy, the latter is a “version” of the former.

* * *

A third, deeper problem with Peterson’s analysis is that despite his objection to “equality of outcome,” he continues to believe in “equality of opportunity.”Yet in a society where wealth can be inherited, this distinction is untenable. One generation’s outcomes necessarily shape the next generation’s opportunities. Having rich parents or poor parents is the difference between having an array of choices and a narrow menu of options.

* * *

Peterson famously asks us to consider the lobster, our genetic relative, and the way it competes to form dominant hierarchies at the bottom of the ocean floor. The bigger lobsters push around the smaller lobsters — why should things be any different in the human world?

It’s winner-take-all in the lobster world, just as it is in human societies, where the top 1 per cent have as much loot as the bottom 50 percent — and where the richest eighty-five people have as much as the bottom three and a half billion.

no one on the Left wants to eliminate all forms of hierarchy. The question has always been how many and what kind of hierarchies might be justified, not whether hierarchy should be permitted at all.

* * *

“Don’t blame capitalism, the radical left, or the iniquity of your enemies. Don’t reorganize the state until you have ordered your own experience. Have some humility. If you cannot bring peace to your household, how dare you try to rule a city? Let your own soul guide you.”

while no one denies that personal problems very often have nonpolitical dimensions, they sometimes have transparently political dimensions, too. Insisting that people exclusively focus on the dimensions of their problems that social progress can’t solve is as foolish as saying that no one should go to the doctor because not all human suffering is caused by curable diseases.

* * *

Throughout Peterson’s books, he frequently describes modernity as a period where the meaning provided by faith has eroded under the assaults of overambitious scientific reason and corrosive postmodern philosophy. The result has been either a cynical withdrawal from the world or a totalitarian impulse to bring meaning back through force.

Peterson avoids asking whether capitalism bears any responsibility for the crisis of meaning he and others have diagnosed.

Peterson’s unwillingness to look at the transformative effect of capitalism while complaining about the decline of sacred meaning might explain why he puts so much stock in attacking relatively obscure French philosophers. By implying that it is an “ungrateful” set of intellectual sophists who are responsible for the current conditions, Peterson can avoid looking very deeply into the tension between his support for traditionalism and his role as a cheerleader for global capital. Far easier to point the finger at Derrida and Foucault than to ask whether an ideology built on the axiom “everything has its price” might have something to do with declining faith in eternal values.

* * *

here is one thing “I” will add: capitalism is failed as much as communism. at least, on an ethical level:

it was capitalism that invented slavery. it was capitalism that created global warming. it was capitalism that invented all sorts of different and “creative” porn genres that involves even children. no way that’s happening in communism.

it WAS and it STILL IS capitalism that wants to sell weapons, that start wars, that exploit other countries. capitalism goes way too fast, x is cool today and x is shit tomorrow. capitalism needs a lot of resources. moar resources! cut more trees! release more shitty gasses to the atmosphere! but also hey, you got resources? YOU GIVE ME YOUR RESOURCES NOW! you don’t have power to stand against biggest capitalistic force, so you get rekt. just like a little shitty lobster.

who is the biggest capitalist? united states. ruled by whom? corporations. clearly, all politicians funded by those corporations or the very capitalist himself like trump becomes the politician. you can vote for x and lose or you can vote for y and lose. yah! great system. but in the mean time don’t stop fighting amongst each other and calling each other names cause that really matters.

once your capitalism as strong as united states’ your corporations will be as strong as theirs too and there will be no way to stop them from ruling the country anymore and starting wars in other parts of the world and politicians will just become their puppets.

️️ What she said!️️ What she said!️️ What she said!

️️ What she said!


Post link

fabfemmeboy:

metapianycist:

detransitioning stories that don’t need more publicity:

  1. i detransitioned because my feelings were entirely due to internalized misogyny, and I believe that all trans people are just gnc people of their birth assigned gender who either suffer from internalized misogyny or are fetishizing women
  2. i detransitioned because i was confused about my identity and I blame doctors / trans people
  3. i detransitioned because transition isn’t God’s plan for anyone

detransitioning stories that need to be boosted:

  1. i detransitioned because my identity changed, and i don’t regret my transition.
  2. i detransitioned because i was confused about my identity, and I regret transition, but i don’t blame other people for my own choices, and I don’t believe that my experience is representative of most people who transition. i believe that further restrictions on who is allowed to medically transition would do more harm than good.
  3. i detransitioned for my safety, because I live in a place where it’s not safe for me to transition socially or medically.

terfs prey on detransitioning people. detransitioning people are at great risk of getting sucked into terf echo chambers. we trans people need to support detransitioning people because they are not our enemies. the trauma of heteronormative gender roles can be difficult to tease apart from dysphoria, and we need to be sensitive to our fellow humans who just want to feel comfortable in their skin. we need to make it okay for people to change their identities, and try out identities to see if they work.

fearmongering directed at young trans people like “make sure you’re REALLY trans before you [medically] transition, because if you’re not it will give you dysphoria” introduces social pressure to prove to other trans people that you’re really trans, which actually increases the likelihood that a person will transition and regret it. because you’re holding validation of their current identity hostage. if someone eventually detransitions, you shouldn’t add to their trauma later by now giving them an inner “i told you so, you weren’t really trans” voice.

Other detransition narratives that need to be boosted and respected:

4. I detransitioned because it was simply far too expensive for me to be able to afford a body that reflected my identity, and I decided that I would rather live in my sad-but-familiar form than an expensive hybrid.

5. I detransitioned because I did not have the necessary time and energy to keep up the absurd amount of work that it took to reliably pass as female.

6. I detransitioned for my mental and social health, because I live in a place/situation where the act of transition was causing me to be cut off from all support.

7. I detransitioned because my medical circumstances were incompatible with continued physical transition.

These, like #3 above, are not situations where detransition is particularly voluntary, but are a product of the circumstances and society in which a person transitions.  I’ve known several people who have detransitioned for precisely these reasons, and it was certainly not an easy choice for them or one that they took lightly.  Their identities have not changed (to the best of my knowledge), and if they could wake up tomorrow in a body that matched their identity they would.  But that’s unfortunately the way life goes sometimes.

capitalism

leviathan-supersystem:

i need you to understand that the ruling class hates you and wants to hurt you as much as they possibly can

So I think the most complicated variable in our society right now is two factors of how we currently operate in regard to a push back at emerging social norms. The most chaotic variables in society today are becoming violent variables that many of us havent figured out how to address.

The new hatred and skepticism towards kindness, softness and gentleness in our civilization.

and

Men’s resistance to their domestication.

Outlets for criticizing the emerging PC culture like the Alt Right/Alt Lite have become the forefront for displaying a disregard for masculine restraint and an untethered sense of call to arms to violently defend the “Might makes Right” worldview.

Trump, Le Penn, an ever more Corporate America and an outspoken anti gay Russia have contributed globally to the skepticism of altruism and the task of the “Universal Golden Rules” and an embrace of “whats mine is mine” and radical interpretations of unilateral liberty justified by skewed understanding and co opting of regional constitutions.

Notably, the question arose when discussing a particular punk scene where it was asked, “why do they all have to break windows and trash places?”, whilst at extreme music venues.

The observation of how early Metal culture had brandished the male camaraderie ethos and how the boys club of the early Metal scene was held as the “last bastion of free male display”. The pit of the concert at Punk and Metal shows has at least been the only place where young men can freely rip there shirts off, beat their chests, cover themselves in alcohol and scream and bellow their pent up energy as male animals in an ever increasingly male domesticated world where their female counterparts are ever more the subject of unilateral respect, as women in our world demand the compensation and the level playing field to achieve what men have always had the privilege to for centuries of history.

This coupling with the Trump presidency’s allure to the various cost cutting mentalities to every corner of regulation in our society.

The glamour of “rugged individualism ” and the sense of morality that pushes “Social Darwinism” onto our civilization has lead to a basic class war with every segment of society that cant defend itself with money, representation or privilege has contributed to the hatred of kindness in our world.

“Men’s Rights Activists” have spear headed the call for skepticism towards a caring society and pushes for the flags of traditionalism as men and the strong feel threatened by the meek’s emerging representation in society.

Especially the subject of “safe spaces” have been the spotlight for how the “might makes right” philosophy’s battle with the philosophy of caring for the meek and poor and sick.

Just the fact that the tenants of Alt-Right/Lite philosophy calls for a movement to “trigger” people just to hurt them and hopefully make them display their weakness in the face of strength, makes them blatant “violence rights advocates”.

It actually happend that a group of Alt -Right trolls sent a journalist critical of Richard Spencer and the ethno nationalism of the Alt Right, and a sufferer of epilepsy, a strobe light effect gif to trigger an epileptic episode. Literally attempting to send political dissident to the hospital.

Just the fact that someone may have even a medical condition is warrant enough for this new persuasion of “violenteers” to in effect erase weakness from this world.

The world right now is trying to create a chimera where “might makes right” is inseparable from what it means to be a man.

It is understandable that men like all humans are animals and do need accommodations just as women do.

The remedies discussed were to possibly create an environment, literally a place or even just an atmosphere for men to feel like they can beat there chests and rough house as they naturally may need to.

A literal safe space for men.

However, the task isnt to invalidate men from theire masculinty or theire sense of power but help them see theire differences as a bonding element rather than a separating one when met with a feminine society.

The Intent to fix this problem must be one where we find common ground in the sex war. Where it’s not Feminist vs Men’s Rights Advocates but men and women fighting for equalism.

That men can be just as free as women and women just as free as men.

The difficulty is dispelling men of the toxic masculinity that our corporate world pushes on them. Women also suffer from toxic femininity as well and is also pushed by unregulated capitalism and our consumer media. Men and Women should be just as interchangeable as a left and right hand.

The battle of the sexes is one thing to fix while the hatred for the meek continues to plauge the human soul.

Forests and oceans cant defend themselves, animals ultimately cant defend themselves yet we have a culture where people see this weakness as one to exploit as it’s our due as apex predators. Trophy hunting, military funded video games and media, Sports, Hollywood movies, even food chains perpetuate “might makes right” even down to the way your frame the understanding of beef in our food.

The news shows us that our society is willing to beat people literally into submission by using riot police, police militarization, tazers and even kill ethnic minorities with impunity when the meek try to demand fair treatment.

The pariah may not be men but it is certainly the seduction of power and money that clouds the hearts of men.

Men can be good fathers, good sons, good boyfriends and husbands and brothers if they can be saved from the toxicity of whats sold to them.

loading