black/white - trying to find a satisfactory grey (if possible)...
My problem is that I don't see an alternative, a solution, an answer - which is plausible -
to consumerism/capitalism etc.
Sometimes I think, ok, if we could get away from materialism it would be great.
But then I have friends like Mariam, it makes her so happy getting new shoes, new clothes, etc. I mean, I also like getting new stuff (soemtimes) but am never so fulfilled by it as Mariam is for example. The thing is, if we try to counter capitalism, won't we simultaneously be taking away the happiness of people? Not true happiness like that which love can provide, but those little smiley faces on the heart happinesses.
The thing is, objects are not just objects. We imbue them with symbolic meaning, and that's their real value. I won't argue whether it's good or not to do so, it just is. In theory I do believe that if we could get rid of all the superfluous material items in the world, if a demonstrator destroys a car or burns clothes (although wasteful) - that it is useful, a movement in the direction we should be going. But, in practice it's merely destructive, not only the act itself, but because it's also attacking the symbolic meaning which the object posesses. Destroying someone's car is not just destroying a piece of functional metal which is part of mass consumerism and pollution, but is also on a very personal level destroying something someone has had to obtain money in order to buy. Maybe the car is a symbol of success, a symbol of hard-work, effort or love (if maybe it's a gift from a parent etc.), and so forth. So destuction hurts on a personal level.
Also, people use items as further expressions of themselves, for example, the enormous variation in cars which can be purchased somehow have a place in reflecting our personality (or so we're convinced). So destroying the car is in turn a personal attack, hurtful because of our symbolic/emotional attachments to objects. Maybe it's not great that we have such attachments in the first place, but, again, that's how it is.
Since many people are happy with the capitalist system, aren't people arguing for a different system (such as communism) just as 'bad' as the capitalists themselves? By this I mean, with any sort of political system, some group of people is fighting for power to enforce their own ideology upon others. There is no real alternative, because, no matter what, some group of people will always be forcing what they believe in on another group of people. Nothing will ever work for everyone.
So what about anarchy? Well, please tell me how that's supposed to work. I don't think it could. It's like the debate of 'development' - because of the way we have created underdevelopment/development, because of the way we have constructed 'the system', there will always be suffering among 'poorer' peoples due to their exploitation, etc. of the 'richer' peoples. But since we all live in the world in which we've created this discourse and this reality, how can we ever stop the cycle? Alternatives to development still use the discourse of development - we're in a box from which we can't escape, and which, without escape, cannot be altered.
In the same way, we are in a world where power,control,discipline, etc. are our reality. We live in a box where someone is always trying to make things go the way they want to go, no matter what their political ideology is, it all boils down to the same point. Anarchy would be something outside the box, but it wouldn't work, because we are after all human. Is there any alternative, true alternative? If there were wouldn't someone have come up with it by now?
I'm not trying to write anything special or original (obviously) I just need to try to unjumble my thoughts a bit somewhere. I feel like I'm continually being fed knowledge while simultaneously grasping for it, but that digestion is not thoroughly taking place. Too many ideas, all at once, and not enough time to reflect and truly deal with/think about them: so, in the end, I feel like I know nothing and get lost in this see of words and thoughts and meaning.
I figure maybe I'll write here, as an attempt to slowly work my way through things, or at least deal witht them in a less superficial way. And, of course, if you guys' share your thoughts on various topics, it would be intersting and possibly helfpul (which is why I post here rather than in ta 100% private journal).
tja
to consumerism/capitalism etc.
Sometimes I think, ok, if we could get away from materialism it would be great.
But then I have friends like Mariam, it makes her so happy getting new shoes, new clothes, etc. I mean, I also like getting new stuff (soemtimes) but am never so fulfilled by it as Mariam is for example. The thing is, if we try to counter capitalism, won't we simultaneously be taking away the happiness of people? Not true happiness like that which love can provide, but those little smiley faces on the heart happinesses.
The thing is, objects are not just objects. We imbue them with symbolic meaning, and that's their real value. I won't argue whether it's good or not to do so, it just is. In theory I do believe that if we could get rid of all the superfluous material items in the world, if a demonstrator destroys a car or burns clothes (although wasteful) - that it is useful, a movement in the direction we should be going. But, in practice it's merely destructive, not only the act itself, but because it's also attacking the symbolic meaning which the object posesses. Destroying someone's car is not just destroying a piece of functional metal which is part of mass consumerism and pollution, but is also on a very personal level destroying something someone has had to obtain money in order to buy. Maybe the car is a symbol of success, a symbol of hard-work, effort or love (if maybe it's a gift from a parent etc.), and so forth. So destuction hurts on a personal level.
Also, people use items as further expressions of themselves, for example, the enormous variation in cars which can be purchased somehow have a place in reflecting our personality (or so we're convinced). So destroying the car is in turn a personal attack, hurtful because of our symbolic/emotional attachments to objects. Maybe it's not great that we have such attachments in the first place, but, again, that's how it is.
Since many people are happy with the capitalist system, aren't people arguing for a different system (such as communism) just as 'bad' as the capitalists themselves? By this I mean, with any sort of political system, some group of people is fighting for power to enforce their own ideology upon others. There is no real alternative, because, no matter what, some group of people will always be forcing what they believe in on another group of people. Nothing will ever work for everyone.
So what about anarchy? Well, please tell me how that's supposed to work. I don't think it could. It's like the debate of 'development' - because of the way we have created underdevelopment/development, because of the way we have constructed 'the system', there will always be suffering among 'poorer' peoples due to their exploitation, etc. of the 'richer' peoples. But since we all live in the world in which we've created this discourse and this reality, how can we ever stop the cycle? Alternatives to development still use the discourse of development - we're in a box from which we can't escape, and which, without escape, cannot be altered.
In the same way, we are in a world where power,control,discipline, etc. are our reality. We live in a box where someone is always trying to make things go the way they want to go, no matter what their political ideology is, it all boils down to the same point. Anarchy would be something outside the box, but it wouldn't work, because we are after all human. Is there any alternative, true alternative? If there were wouldn't someone have come up with it by now?
I'm not trying to write anything special or original (obviously) I just need to try to unjumble my thoughts a bit somewhere. I feel like I'm continually being fed knowledge while simultaneously grasping for it, but that digestion is not thoroughly taking place. Too many ideas, all at once, and not enough time to reflect and truly deal with/think about them: so, in the end, I feel like I know nothing and get lost in this see of words and thoughts and meaning.
I figure maybe I'll write here, as an attempt to slowly work my way through things, or at least deal witht them in a less superficial way. And, of course, if you guys' share your thoughts on various topics, it would be intersting and possibly helfpul (which is why I post here rather than in ta 100% private journal).
tja