05-29-2017, 05:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-29-2017, 06:54 PM by FireIceTalon.)
Again, war and violence aren't the only problems of the capitalist system. Far from it. But you are right, the decrease in violent death, historically, has nothing to do with capitalism, I stated this earlier already. Capitalism is impervious to death or the human experience in general, its internal logic isn't guided by those things. It's guided by and in the direction of profit accumulation. People in the 3rd world get food and electricity? Great. Oh, they don't? Too bad. The profit system is indifferent to human need at best, in many cases though it is outright hostile towards it. Anything good that happens as a result is merely a footnote, and anything bad that happens is viewed as collateral damage, and then sold to us as our own enslavement under the guise "this is the best we got, there are no alternatives". You might buy it, but I don't.
Violence, also, is a rather broad and ambiguous term to use I think. Inequality, poverty, mass incarceration, private property, and exploitation of labor are all forms of violence - because these things would not exist without some entity that upholds them by force and violence (police, military), or at least the threat of violence thereof (bourgeois rule of law). So given that, there is no 'boogyman' here, I'm just calling it as it is: Capitalism is intrinsically a violent system whether you acknowledge this fact or not.
Except, it will. Shortages, corruption and greed are result of capitalisms ever endless pursuit of profit and global expansion (though in the case of greed, it is more a result of the cultural aspect of capitalism as explained in Marx's concept of 'Commodity Fetishism'). Besides, there aren't shortages per se in capitalism, because we have enough resources to feed, clothe, and shelter the entire planet's population many times over - and it can be done without exploitation and bosses. What you refer to is called 'artificial scarcity' or poverty in the midst of plenty. The reason this exists is because capitalist production is predicated upon capital accumulation, rather than human need and consumption. 'Shortages' of a particular good or service occur in certain places or in certain markets because it is not profitable to provide those things, regardless of the demand for them. This is a pretty easy and logical concept to understand, is it not? One does not even need to be a Marxist to know that this is how the capitalist system objectively operates. This just comes from an objective understanding of capitalism's internal logic, and following it to its logical conclusion.
Violence, also, is a rather broad and ambiguous term to use I think. Inequality, poverty, mass incarceration, private property, and exploitation of labor are all forms of violence - because these things would not exist without some entity that upholds them by force and violence (police, military), or at least the threat of violence thereof (bourgeois rule of law). So given that, there is no 'boogyman' here, I'm just calling it as it is: Capitalism is intrinsically a violent system whether you acknowledge this fact or not.
Quote:It is not like eliminating commerce and profits will reduce shortages, corruption and or greed.
Except, it will. Shortages, corruption and greed are result of capitalisms ever endless pursuit of profit and global expansion (though in the case of greed, it is more a result of the cultural aspect of capitalism as explained in Marx's concept of 'Commodity Fetishism'). Besides, there aren't shortages per se in capitalism, because we have enough resources to feed, clothe, and shelter the entire planet's population many times over - and it can be done without exploitation and bosses. What you refer to is called 'artificial scarcity' or poverty in the midst of plenty. The reason this exists is because capitalist production is predicated upon capital accumulation, rather than human need and consumption. 'Shortages' of a particular good or service occur in certain places or in certain markets because it is not profitable to provide those things, regardless of the demand for them. This is a pretty easy and logical concept to understand, is it not? One does not even need to be a Marxist to know that this is how the capitalist system objectively operates. This just comes from an objective understanding of capitalism's internal logic, and following it to its logical conclusion.
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"Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class, made into law for all, a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the economic conditions of the existence of your class." - Marx (addressing the bourgeois)
"Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class, made into law for all, a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the economic conditions of the existence of your class." - Marx (addressing the bourgeois)