I have been feeling rather melancholy today. My moodiness is one of the mysteries of the universe -- it is quite unpredictable, and once I am in "one of my moods", there is no way for me to get out of it. I often wallow in misery for days at a time.
I am generally not a happy person. I don't remember the last time I had a good hearty laugh. I am usually dwelling on something that bothers me; often I don't even know what it is anymore. It's everything, and nothing at the same time. That doesn't mean that I am a mean person -- I am actually quite polite. I have a lot of friends, and they understand (and accept) my moodiness as an integral part of who I am. I generally don't take out my anger and frustration out on them, though it has happened a couple of times, I regret to admit.
I am very tired. I don't ever get enough sleep, which aggravates my moodiness. Sleep is a luxury I don't have. I am far too busy working two jobs to get proper rest. Even if I had ample time for sleep, I would just end up laying awake for most of the night, dwelling on some trivial matter until it becomes the problem of the century. When my alarm goes off in the morning, I am so exhausted that it takes all my strength just to get out of bed and face the day. It doesn't matter if I get three hours' or nine hours' rest, I am still exhausted in the morning. Getting up in the morning is hardly a choice for me anymore. I am no longer a student. I don't have the choice whether or not to skip class. If I miss work, I may as well consider myself unemployed. I have bills like everyone else.
Have you ever woken up in the morning, not knowing what day of the week it was, since it seemed no different than the previous day? The last three years of my life has been a steady cycle of what seems to be the exact same thing. I am on a schedule that seems to never change. I only feel like I am spinning my wheels and not going anywhere. It's not unlike those nightmares where you are being chased by some faceless terror, but the harder you run, the slower you seem to go.
It often perplexes me how the majority of the population can go about their daily lives in apparent bliss. I see people like this on the way to work every day. These are people who are so predictable in their daily affairs that you could set your watch to them. These are the same people who have lost perspective on what it means to live in a free country. Sure, they live in a free country, but they are not free to do as they please.
It is my observation that the Capitalist world is riddled with tyranny. This is not a dictatorship by any definition, but instead, freedoms are lost in the greater interest of the economy. Thanks to commodities and taxes, everything in the capitalist world has a price. If you do not earn money, you do not survive. (This was not the case of nomadic peoples, as survival was the key element in their culture). Corporations are quite effective in telling the general population what is required for survival, and how to buy happiness. The advertising machine of the mega-corporations have blanketed (and branded) every possible square inch of space in order to encourage you to spend your hard-earned money on commodities you do not necessarily need. Multi-billion dollar advertising is in fact, so powerful that it can put the competitor out of business, leaving you the consumer, with little or no choice at all.
The true downfall of the Capitalist regime, is that it is not very different from the days of feudalism: 1% of the population controls 99% of the wealth. The rich still get richer, and the poor still get poorer, no matter how you slice the pie.
The only difference is that Capitalism appears to the general population that it is indeed a "free" state. The population are given the choice to elect who will lead the country. This is not true freedom, as only a few representatives are chosen to make decisions in the best interest of their constituents. The best interest of the constituents are often overlooked due to corruption. Humans are generally irrational, greedy, and easily corrupted. Who, in a capitalist regime, has the ability to influence the government in their own best interests? Why, the wealthy of course. It is ironic, that it is also the rich aristocrats who are elected to parliament in the first place.
I have just scratched the surface on what it means to be a free person, what defines a free country, as well as discuss the evils of a capitalist regime. The general population, if carefully observed, behave like zombies, mindless, misdirected, and completely self-absorbed in the trivial affairs of gaining material wealth. As far as the modern world is concerned, there are only a very select few of us who will ever have complete freedom. They are, have been, and always will be the very rich.
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4 comments:
I don't think Capitalism, per se, is the cause of the problems you attribute to it. The resources and knowledge for how to ensure that every person has a life they enjoy... they just don't exist yet. I think Capitalism has allowed for much faster growth in some areas (knowledge and overall resources) than socialism (and certainly more than dictatorships). If a person from the 18th century were to see America or Canada today, I think they'd be amazed at the riches and choices that even many "poor" people have here. We have far more real, viable, and better choices today. (As much as I love playing in the dirt and growing things, I wouldn't want to do it for a living - and yet that's what most people have had to do for centuries). That you are unsatisfied with those choices isn't because you don't have freedom. It's just that the resources haven't been created yet to give you what you want.
You have a viable point. In fact, what I fear is that I had written this post early in this blog, where I was brash, tackling a very broad (and subjective) subject, when I should have been investigating some specifics, rather than attacking the Capitalist regime as a whole.
As I continued to blog, I have returned to this subject -- or facets of it, in attempts to deconstruct what my issues were. I don't think Capitalism is the bogeyman I made it out to be in this post -- but the corruption of ideolgies is becoming clearer. No socio-economic system is safe from corruption.
Your last argument is well thought out: It's not that I am not free, but I, as a consumer do not have the resources to get what I want.
If I could take this a little further, I might suggest that we, as consumers, will never have enough resources to get everything we want. We are, by nature, a greedy society, and a wasteful one at that.
There will always be someone who has more toys, more assets, more things that are newer, or shinier than what we have. It's the old "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" cliche.
It's not that I am such a greedy person. I have everything I need. What I am frustrated with is that I have to work three jobs, six days per week, in order to achieve a sustainable income. I have no time to relax. I haven't taken a vacation in five years. I don't have time to explore new hobbies, or revisit old ones. And I have to make time to write, and my sleep is usually the first sacrifice.
I was aware when I replied that you might well have changed your views, but I haven't had time to read through enough of your blog to find out. I figured at worst, it would get an interesting response (and it has). That sucks about having to work 3 jobs. I don't know anything about the Canadian economy.
Here, despite huge increases in housing costs, I could probably make a passable living for a single person despite not finishing college if I didn't have a family to support. It's an easy job (secretary in a very very tiny office) where I have a fair amount of time to browse online and write a bit. It's hardly my dream job, but I've had far less pleasant ones... I might have to live in a smaller place and rent or have roommates, but I think I could be quite happy. It's a bit harder because I've got a family to support (long story including a divorce), but luckily I have help.
In high school economics, my teacher explained that economics was about matching resources to demand and that demand was changeable (often according to price). Some demands were less changeable. He also mentioned that wants tend to expand.
Maybe it's my ex-Objectivist background, but I don't assume people are greedy. They just want good, fun things and don't always have the resources to get them and other times take them for-granted. It's just that the problems haven't all been solved yet.
I grew up so poor that most everything people have seems like a luxury (including most foods) and yet I've become so used to some of them that I find it hard to contemplate ever going back to being without them. Sometimes it feels like I've become greedy, but I think it's more that those things really improve my quality of life and are important. That other people would benefit from them and aren't able to doesn't make me greedy, it means they're unfortunate and it's a problem to solve. If I had to do without, I'd get used to it and be ok, but really, it'd be better if more people had what they want economically.
Are full time jobs a scarcity or is it the pay that's a problem? One thing I've been without for a long time is health insurance. Luckily we've been relatively healthy...
I have attempted to respond to this earlier, but I was so disgruntled with my response that I erased it. It was also quite early in the morning, and I wasn't firing on all cylinders at the time. So let's try this again.
First of all, I am sorry to hear that things were tough for you growing up. I can relate to this, as my family never was well-off; we had to fight for everything we had. But when we could afford the nicer things, we splurged. I wouldn't consider that being greedy. I own a (relatively) new car, and a brand new computer, that I paid for myself. I wouldn't consider that being greedy. To quote Ned Flanders: "Sometimes you just gotta spoil yourself." If you are patient, you can wait for a good deal to come your way.
Being greedy is owning multiple vehicles, large houses, time-shares, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc., and not having "enough time" to spend with your family because you are too busy working 18-hours per day. Greed is having more than the average person, and being unhappy because you want even more.
I know very little on the subject of economics, I understand that it has a lot to do with the balance of supply and demand, but it is a very complicated subject -- and one that doesn't particularly interest me. I can, however, explain to you the state of the Canadian economy.
As you are probably aware, the United States is the #1 importer of Canadian goods. This also means that the Canadian economy is tied to the US economy. If the US slides into a recession, it's a safe bet that Canada will shortly follow. Within the last few years, though the US economic recovery has been disappointing, Canada's economy has been doing quite well, which is why our dollar has increased in value in comparison to the greenback.
I live in an area of Canada where the primary industry is the aquisition, refinement, and exporting of raw natural resources (primarily oil and natural gas). The oilpatch is such a large industry here, that if tomorrow, all the oil had gone, two-thirds of the prairies would pack up their belongings and move back East. The oilpatch workers here make incredible loads of money, which in turn inflates commodities such as real estate, vehicles, and almost anything you can imagine that is neccessary for survival. The joke around here is if you do not work for the oilfield, your only other choice for a career is to ask people "You want fries with that?"
Minimum wage is an insult here. If you are unlucky enough to work in the service industry, you will never earn enough to feed yourself, let alone a family. With Canada being considered a nation that sits on the fence between capitalism and socialism, we are taxed rather heavily. We can expect to lose 30-40% off each paycheck in taxes. This of course, does have its' benefits. We enjoy free health care. We have a federally-sponsored pension plan. Our education is paid for (grades K-12), and even our post-secondary education is subsidized by American standards. What I mean by this, is that it costs a fraction to attend a respectable Canadian University than it would cost to go to say, Harvard or Yale. The way I look at it, I get back what I pay in taxes.
I hope this gives you some insight on what the quality of life is like here in the Great White North (where it is white only about 4 months per year).
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