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Triumph of Capitalism

Capitalist society has been successful by offering, so to speak, a profit-sharing plan to its subscribers. It is an offer that few can refuse, but for which everyone pays a price in dignity and self-determination. And, increasingly: in dollars and time. To begin with, one must accept money as the measure of all value and the goal of life. This alone is an insult to human intelligence, to which is added the injury of having to do meaningless work in a false economy and to lie to oneself concerning its significance. True, the individual in tribal society is also submerged in a social order. But there is a difference. The tribal member, if he or she is not a slave, is no one’s tool and no one’s fool. Their station may be lower than some other member such as the chief, but both together serve the common welfare of the tribe. In the modern economy, we have been liberated from subservience to nature only to become subservient to other people, most of whom we do not know or even know about.

RELATED TAGS: [capitalist triumph (of capitalism), false economy, meaningless/alienated work/labor, co-opting of labor/consumer, shadow work]