you autocomplete me

I think perhaps my biggest reason for opposing it is the profit motive. It is literally a cancer on human behavior and well-being, driving people to turn against and abuse fellow human beings so long as it brings in a profit. We turn from people with needs and feelings to people meant to consume and compete no matter the damage.

I’ve been talking about the case of Nestle using child slave labor, in which children are kidnapped, forced into working conditions your average adult couldn’t even handle, and beaten for resisting. Nestle is not doing this because it’s CEO and shareholders were born destined to be more evil than most people. They see the world as nothing more than an opportunity for profit. Nestle’s use of child slave labor, as well as that of many similar corporations, exists because children trapped in poverty are easy to control and exploit. They can’t move, they can’t find a normal job, and they can’t seek support of any kind. They’re obedient to the powerful people who decide their fate. This is the lie of choice and freedom for all under capitalism, you either fall in line and work or die. It is only those with more wealth and resources that can experience freedom and choose their futures. That is not a society built to last, nor is it a society any sane person would want to live in, yet, it is portrayed by the ruling class as a necessary evil that could be worse. Opposition to the injustice of the system is brushed aside as malicious jealousy, because of course all we’re supposed to want in life is an endless supply of money.

And worst of all, death and suffering by exploitation for profit is the burden of the individual rather than the entire system, so pointing out things like millions dying of starvation right now despite more wealth existing than ever before in history are not associated with capitalism—in fact, they’re often considered not real capitalism, because capitalism is supposed to create a world where such suffering is a thing of the past.

We do not hear of ‘victims of capitalism’, because the trail of blood capitalism’s endless need for profit leaves is sold to the public as a necessary evil.

So long as profit maximization kills and enslaves people and tears apart the environment we need to survive, I have no reason to give capitalism the benefit of the doubt, and nor should anyone else.

There is no such thing as ‘the best we can have’. Such a mindset only leads to unnecessary suffering. A better world is always possible, remember that.

“Meg looked very like a rose herself, for all that was best and sweetest in heart and soul seemed to bloom into her face, making it fair and tender, with a charm more beautiful than beauty.”