if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen
so I was talking to a friend and they said basically "capitalism is what is ruinning your country." I dont know if I ever made it abundantly clear but I am pro-capitalism. I criticize it because I know it is not yet as good as it could be. I dont criticize it because I think it is inherently flawed. truth be told, I dont see any inherent flaws in the system. but I thought my response to my friend was posting so I'll copy it on here. feel free to chip in pro or against. :P
it's not capitalism that is fucking up my country, it is a combination of coke-heads in the united states and communist rhetoric used as an excuse for atrocities and "political incarceration." if the bartering system were in place you guys would just trade them ammunition, guns, and land mines for blocks of coke. granted, capitalism allows them to take the easily transportable money from you and give it to israeli guys for guns. so it allows them to do it more efficiently, but it also allows everyone else to do everything more efficiently. so it isn't really a problem of the system, it is a problem of the people using it (coke-heads and terrorists) and it is a minority of the people that are using it this way.
it's amazing how college-age suburbia in the US simply says "the system is not fair. hey third world, dont use it." I dont exactly "represent" the third world but on behalf of them I want to ask "then what are we supposed to do to raise our standard of living?"
capitalism=development. no other system has been as successful in producing progress as capitalism. I mean, we could go back to feudalism, or communism, or bartering, or plain old hunting and gathering. the good old days. back when disease, insecurity, and starvation were problems you had to think about and face on a daily basis. that's what I want for my children. keep them on their toes, you know?
now, there are huge problems with capitalism as it stands today. the environment is being swallowed up at a completely unsustainable rate. the military-industrial complex continues to lobby for wars from which to get larger and larger sums of money. millions of people are left out of the system due to insecurity, bad governance, disease and thousands of other problems.
the reason capitalism is good is because it can change and adapt and solve all those problems because people have a personal incentive (money) to solve them. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin. Capitalism is the most adaptable system we have come up with yet and that is why it is better than the rest.
so when you criticize the current capitalist system dont argue against the system, criticize what is currently going on in it. the system in its current incarnation is far from perfect but unlike all the other systems it is not inherently flawed from the start.
so if you are going to argue against capitalism your first sentence should contain the name of the system to use instead of capitalism. any criticism you make of the actual system is invalidated if you dont accept the system and can't come up with a viable alternative. now, if you accept that capitalism is the least worst system we can come up with and then begin to constructively point out wrongs that could be righted your opinion can be taken into account.
your criticism is right but your intent is not (well, it is unsustainable).
it's not capitalism that is fucking up my country, it is a combination of coke-heads in the united states and communist rhetoric used as an excuse for atrocities and "political incarceration." if the bartering system were in place you guys would just trade them ammunition, guns, and land mines for blocks of coke. granted, capitalism allows them to take the easily transportable money from you and give it to israeli guys for guns. so it allows them to do it more efficiently, but it also allows everyone else to do everything more efficiently. so it isn't really a problem of the system, it is a problem of the people using it (coke-heads and terrorists) and it is a minority of the people that are using it this way.
it's amazing how college-age suburbia in the US simply says "the system is not fair. hey third world, dont use it." I dont exactly "represent" the third world but on behalf of them I want to ask "then what are we supposed to do to raise our standard of living?"
capitalism=development. no other system has been as successful in producing progress as capitalism. I mean, we could go back to feudalism, or communism, or bartering, or plain old hunting and gathering. the good old days. back when disease, insecurity, and starvation were problems you had to think about and face on a daily basis. that's what I want for my children. keep them on their toes, you know?
now, there are huge problems with capitalism as it stands today. the environment is being swallowed up at a completely unsustainable rate. the military-industrial complex continues to lobby for wars from which to get larger and larger sums of money. millions of people are left out of the system due to insecurity, bad governance, disease and thousands of other problems.
the reason capitalism is good is because it can change and adapt and solve all those problems because people have a personal incentive (money) to solve them. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin. Capitalism is the most adaptable system we have come up with yet and that is why it is better than the rest.
so when you criticize the current capitalist system dont argue against the system, criticize what is currently going on in it. the system in its current incarnation is far from perfect but unlike all the other systems it is not inherently flawed from the start.
so if you are going to argue against capitalism your first sentence should contain the name of the system to use instead of capitalism. any criticism you make of the actual system is invalidated if you dont accept the system and can't come up with a viable alternative. now, if you accept that capitalism is the least worst system we can come up with and then begin to constructively point out wrongs that could be righted your opinion can be taken into account.
your criticism is right but your intent is not (well, it is unsustainable).