Earlier I wrote what I believed to be the downsides of socialism,
despite aligning myself with socialist values and the contractual obligations
we have to our fellow man and their well-being. Capitalism has always been
decried by the disenfranchised and maligned from domestic regions to
international ones, specifically implicating the richest and most powerful in a
conspiracy to hoard the wealth of the middle and lower classes. Literally or
figuratively, the idea is too amplified to take seriously. But maybe that’s
just because we don’t live in areas where this exploitation is commonplace.
This week, when I was reading Literary
Orientalism, Postcolonialism, and Universalism by Abdulla Al-Dabbagh, it
never occurred to me the postcolonial implications of globalism and its roots
in capitalism. I would be remiss if I didn’t say that the fruits we reap today
were long sowed by the shifting powers of continental Europe over the course of
centuries, but where things lie now is the result of socio-economic Darwinism.
The causal relationship between Rome and the colonization / administration of
the known world created a template for colonialism that Western European powers
would leverage to acquire sacrilegious amounts of wealth. Married with
capitalism, the two are an unstoppable font of progress, but one made at the
expense of literally billions of human souls.
The success of
Capitalism is based on the price of goods, their overhead, and the materials
that make them. If the price is right, we will buy it, even if we don’t need a
Simpsons themed vibrator or a George Foreman grill. If the cost of making the
product is less than the cost of selling, then the product has a longer shelf
life of viability. And if the materials are readily available, production and
shipping logistics will diminish turnaround time. This begets superfluous
spending, ill treatment of underpaid workers in foreign countries, and built-in
obsolescence, just to name a few of the ethical flaws of capitalism. Even the
means by which stocks are traded, now executed by financial programs and
automation software, are carried out with cold, logistical efficiency, eerily
reminiscent of the bevy of apocalyptic science fiction films that depict
machine uprisings. In this case however the enslavement is complicit and the
effects subliminal.
Those that come to
the defense of Capitalism are typically those that benefit from its principals
the most. Those that decry it, are likewise those that benefit least. And any
supporter that preaches the benefits of the opposition are cuckolded. Free
enterprise, free market, and reduced oversight proved to be the most lucrative
years for the United States. Yet factory conditions were oppressive and deadly.
We worked children 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is a fine balance that
other countries struck in our stead, but the idea that we romanticize
Capitalism is uncomfortable to me. The human soul is reduced to an asset of the
company that can be sold off or liquidated at a moment’s notice. The employer
has no responsibility to their employees, but rather the opposite is true. When
I worked for Apple, employees were not given wages adjusted for their area’s
cost of living, and only those that gave their life to the company line were
given raises, promotions, and transfers. The atmosphere was religious, in a
way, and much of the same goes true for other tech companies like Oracle. At
one point we were given feedback on how to counter the effectiveness of the
Microsoft OS, when my experience in the IT field proves overwhelmingly the
opposite. Apple’s company culture was touted as the greatest of any company,
while Chinese workers were committing suicide in their factories, because of an
unrelenting wave-after-wave of product releases. Capitalism may be good for a
small few, but these moguls depend upon a labor base to get that done.
I take issue with how Capitalism is
indicted on the world stage as an instrument of the West by way of product
exposure. While it’s true that we forcefully engaged in trade
with Japan, and other European Nations took their share of Southeast Asia, some
have positioned that the dominance of McDonalds and Microsoft are tools of imperialism.
Some argue, including Abdulla, that postcolonialism is an erroneous term,
because the US is still moderating national trade and willing to engage in
international conflict to secure assets. But I don’t believe that Bill Gate’s
original program when deploying the first build of Windows was world
domination. He exudes in many ways the rags to riches dream of Capitalism, the
very same dream that many others have claimed. (Immigrants included.) Yet the
ethical toll of Capitalism is far reaching and unstoppable. It makes me wonder
if Adam Smith, on the publishing of The Wealth of Nations said, “Now I am
become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Progress is costly, when allowed to be
free.
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