I remember when I was younger I was taught that in a forest larger trees blocked sun and the little trees were in competition to get sun light and survive. Later, in a community college biology class I learned that trees work cooperatively through the mycelium network and that the larger trees actually share nutrients with the smaller trees. It was really a revelation for me just how much the capitalist framework influences our theories and our science. Anyway you're video just reminded me of this. Great analysis!
@@ChiliForEveryone Yeah, the mycelium network plays a huge role in the plant kingdom but, in my experience, learning about it in grade schools (K-12) is pretty rare
I honestly think some people would have an easier time coping with the end of the world than the end of capitalism. That’s how indoctrinated some of these people are.
the reason for that being that there is no replacement for capitalism. all of the countries which you think are socialist are actually mixed economies which are based on capitalism. it would be easier to imagine the world ending, because it probably would if we just abandoned ship with no viable replacement for the economy.
Living in a capitalist world and being aware of its flaws feels like everybody is forced to play a game that you can not opt out of but desperately want to. As much as I'd like to think that things such as money and economic value are just things we made up, I can't really tell that to my landlord when they ask me to pay monthly rent. I think the problem is not that not enough ordinary people can imagine life outside capitalism, but that modt people in power choose not to despite having the chance to change those systems right in their fingertips.
Friend, who, exactly do people elect to make these adverse decisions? Those who have NO desire to change the system for the betterment of all. Thus, yes, our leaders are to blame, but who empowered them in the first place?
@@SAI21MiamiI think that’s just a part of their point, that although some may want to switch to different economic model, capitalism is so ingrained into our reality that there aren’t enough “ordinary people” realizing the flaws in the system, and therefore voting for better leaders.
@gopherman49 I have to agree with you there friend, because capitalism is indeed deeply ingrained in the minds of the masses. Often we are exhorted to "think outside of the box", but few apparently manage this feat with any degree of success, to the detriment of us all.
@@SAI21Miami The wealthy and mega-corporations who heavily fund candidates that will keep the status-quo. Most people don't pay attention to how those in power vote. They are simply on a political "team" and vote that way. Politicians know this. Heavily funded candidates get much more exposure and will win most primaries so that when general elections come up there are very few candidates who will change the system very much, if at all. In the U.S., Citizens United is one aspect that has made it very difficult to change things.
i hear what youre saying, but i feel its a mix of both. I've had a lot of people, irl and in my ig comments, telling me that im an idiot for considering a reality where capitalism is not our main government, or even just critiquing it at all. i feel like the pro-capitalist and anti-communist propoganda that emerged from the world wars has stuck through to today, and the propoganda has worked. people are scared to even think that capitalism could be wrong, which is a great safety for keeping it in place. but i agree, corporations really drive the point home and if they wont change its harder for us as people to imagine change
@@foxhauck3993 Gay historical revision has been banned in Florida. The only history is about things which happened in the past and Black history is an example of a homophobic history of religious leadership and not a bunch of queers.
The problem with history is that it's not just important ideals that get taught-- it's every single detail, even if meaningless because of the thought that it had an effect on whatever happened.
@@rodrigocampo9014 He means the actions and decisions that humans make in present day is the same exact thing the humans in the past did hundreds of years ago. Unfortunately history is looked at as a background subject, not an imperial highly regarded subject for everyone to understand and learn from.
Same. I just don't see the people with power letting it out of their claws without massive global revolution. And that would be such a hassle. Also, unimaginably difficult to organise.
@@francookie9353 Even with a revolution how can you ever be sure the winner will be righteous? How can you ever be sure that it wouldn’t somehow make things even worse, bringing out the radical fascists in their own counter uprising? It’s not a surefire solution either
Изучите период истории СССР с 1917 по 1953 год. Можно будет увидеть как Ленин, а потом Сталин занимались построением социализма. (translate it from russian to english in google)
@@A_J502 means of production and wealth are 2 different things. and wealth distribution require capital (money) which is far from anti-capitalism. So, I don't know what kind of society you imagining of, but its probably a capitalist one.
I'd like to point out that, as a social species, generosity and serving the interest of others is downright evolutionarily advantageous because helping others raises the likelihood they would help you, and therefore, raises the likelihood you'd survive. Meaning the current system in place is distinctly _against_ human nature.
I’ve been saying for decades that selfishness and selflessness are actually very similar motivators and not necessarily mutually exclusive. If I loan my neighbor sugar and the next day they see somebody breaking into my house and call the police, we have created a mutually beneficial alliance. Conversely, if my neighbor constantly revs a motorcycle loudly in a manner that is purposefully aggravating and I see someone breaking into his house, I might just decide it’s not my problem and turn a blind eye to the situation. Therefore, without even necessarily meaning to, that neighbor has canceled our potentially mutually exclusive social contract by being an ass. If more people understood how quick tables can turn they might think twice before acting ridiculous.
@@LeahIsHereNowI don't suppose you might consider simply asking your neighbor to STOP revving his motorcycle so loudly BEFORE it comes down to you allowing a literal crime to be committed in your neighborhood just because you're feeling petty? 🤨
If capitalism is the totality of human nature, I think there wouldn’t be so many people feeling empty, nihilism, loneliness even though they are not facing the death. It is necessary to have something like game theory to protect your own interests, but helping and serving others are just the same. I don’t know how a person would not be fulfilled if they serve other people good and find meaning from it.
@@illuminocalypse5210 its a hypothetical so they wasn’t referring to themselves and there are petty people in the world nothing is imaginary anymore tbh.
Agreed, capitalism, fiat money system plus governments do not go with that nature but go against it. Hence most of the trouble's in this world. Trying to help another is very logical from a human sociological perspective but not when its not benefetting anyone.
I am one year away from age 80. It gives me hope that there are those of the next generation who will still be producing this kind of videos and this type of thought even after I am dead.
Best of luck to ya my man ! Enjoy theeze years and YES our contemporary younger generations r ON IT ! BET :) again "live long and prosper," as spock would say feel me ? Later dude ! :)
They're cross-referencing their traumas, regrets, fears and the numerous lies they're told. They see imbalance of power leading to abuse every time, not realizing that 'capitalism' is the worst version of this, where the wrong-doing powerful and wealthy have layers and layers of guise and protection; between the media, outsourcing to the mercurial, and the feds 'protecting national interest.'
And yet, the existence of need is reason to build an economy that rewards meeting those needs. Each purchase I make is a vote to encourage our economy to meet more of that need. I pity a population that decides to let a supreme power choose what needs matter more. This is what the CCP attempted in 1959 and over 15 million people died of starvation.
But when it comes to distance and time in the greater universe capitalism is really one of the only ideologies that works as it isn’t built off of trust
@@Gnaritas42 idk if I would go that far I think a form of communism is far superior when dealing with small groups of people but on a large scale like we have today with millions of people living together in a society where trust is as rare as it is capitalism is the only reasonable option until humanity progresses far enough to where capitalism is no longer needed and trust is a give in but considering our current state I think I’m just being very hopeful and optimistic about that because in reality that day will probably never come
I can’t recall if the video itself used this reference, but it brings to my mind 1984 where Big Brother restricts and reduces vocabulary in order to restrict and limit thought. Capitalism has done such a good job of entrenching itself as essential / natural / least-worst / etc, that it’s very akin to the vocabulary-thought restriction depicted in 1984.
We can, but only if we are united in pursuing this vision. Thus far, most seem mired in their misguided appraisal of Capitalism as our one true God and guiding light.
you're poor because you don't provide value. McDonalds provides cheap hamburgers across the world: therefore, its a transnational company. instead of womp womping capitalism, why not try to capitalise off of it then return your money to charity or something?
We can choose to be the change we wish to see in the world, together, with others. One step at a time. Build awareness in ourselves and share with others. Then unite, and physically contribute, in community, to create that better system, better society and better future. Some tools, include: - Peter Joseph's work, especially The New Human Rights Movement book, his films and shows, with Zeitgeist: Requiem coming out very soon. - Moneyless Society, World Beyond Capitalism, Dangerous Ideas with Lee Camp, Democracy at Work with Richard Wolff channels - One Small Town Contributionism with Michael Tellinger
Society doesn’t move forward from you thinking about it. It’s apathetic to you. To make it better for you, you have to make it better from *your* actions first
Neoliberal propaganda solution - “If you don’t think Murica is the greatest country in the history of the world, why don’t you go live somewhere else” - easiest way for the elite to convince dummies to hate progress
@@holdenmatteson229 By setting your finances to where you end up down the road with an ok house/apartment, a retirement plan, and savings account. These are things an individual can do on their own
Recently, in therapy, I tried to explain to my therapist the feeling of disempowerment that comes from living in a society where, when you pursue your passion and go to school you have to essentially become an entrepreneur and sell that passion to other people selling their passions to survive, or become a wage slave and lose your soul in a mind numbing job. I hate it.
And then I read about how more developed working and healthcare nations outside of ours seeing and applying the sciences that we live and work better with four day weeks and less hours and realize how that just at this point would never happen in this nation until better leadership and organization occurs for true change.
Being a slaver or slave, yes pretty much. But I found out there is more. Just not largely. If you step out of the "growth mindset", you can either work for yourself without pushing it (although, you need to do something that is useful to the society, what is of no use can't sustain), or work for others while keeping a distance. What you need to lose is the greed pressure. Not feeling the need to consume everything that is available and not needing all the luxuries people tell you you'd need so they can sell it to you. However, where money rules everything and the nation does not fight it with laws, this is actually impossible.
Meanwhile, watch videos on surviving tribes and how peaceful and unbothered their lives seem. It's not easy and they might not live as long but they don't know anything different. They are rewarded every day by doing the daily practices of survival like hunting, preparing meals, fixing up shelters, creating art, storytelling etc. etc. That is human. That is how humans have lived since the dawn of man. Whatever we're experiencing now is some alien form of living that slowly chips away at what makes us human. Soon we'll be inseparable from the artificial and I think we are suffering because of that.
How horrible. You’d rather just stay home and pursue your “passions” all day while others toil in the fields to grow your food, or swing hammers in the sun to build your house. Turns out the people all doing that shit would rather you do their shitty jobs so they can stay home and do whatever the fuck it is that they enjoy. Why don’t you quit wasting your time and money at “therapy” for your bullshit made up problem and use that time to pursue your passion and save the money so you’re not feeling stretched so thin. Congratulations you just killed two birds with one stone.
I don't understand how anyone can look at corporate business, with all of it's atrocities, inequalities, and injustices, and think "Boy, I wish my government worked like this". How you could believe a government should be run for profit above all else is literally beyond me. We have seen corporations destroy cultures, environments, and governments. It's not theory, it's proven and admitted.
I'm so confused on what you mean? communism isn't wanting the government to run for profit, it's precisely the opposite - wanting corporations to NOT run for profit. businesses should run for the good of society, instead of greed or profit, those are the fundamentals of communism
@stellafolwarska4216 I made no mention of communism because I wasn't talking about communism. What I was referring to was the current crop of buffoons who believe that because someone was supposedly great at running a business, that person is the best one to run our government. My point being that running a country the way a business is run(profits over lives) is a terrible notion, given the abhorrent abuses that are commonly committed by corporations.
The physical part has always been misunderstood. But it's not about adapting to the environment either, which implies evolution being self-guided, or active rather than passive. It is talking about a population that has small random variations due to occasional DNA mutation in reproduction. Some of those variations might lead that individual to be a better "fit" to the environment. Longer hair might help in a cold environment for example or a long neck to help reach higher branches. Those that are a better fit are more likely to survive to pass on their genes to offspring (the literal meaning of survival of the fittest) and so the good mutations tend to accumulate and the bad ones die out. aka "natural selection" as opposed to "self selection" if the animal has to adapt itself
Yep. In all the areas where Social/Comm/Fascism are weak, Capitalism is significantly stronger and simpler, which is why it’s lasted roughly 5,000 years and is going strong. Also supporting the evolution angle is the fact that when a civilization attempts one of the three systems I mentioned, they always stagnate, decline, and convert back into Capitalism. This happens even despite literally raising children to read Karl Marx in schools in countries like the USSR and CCP. This evolutionary advantage is what causes Capitalism to dominate this world
When I was a child, I got radicalized by falling into a right-wing conservative pipeline, and for years I thought that capitalism was THE only working socioeconomic system, straight up believing that communism/socialism means you can't own private property as in like a toothbrush or a phone. Needless to say I fortunately got out of that mindset, and it still makes me shudder just to remember those times
It's actually really impractical that there is this very important distinction between private and personal property, because in common usage those words are basically interchangeable. Which makes the difference so easy to misunderstand.
Sounds like me. I was super radicalized by growing up on Fox News, and I've pulled a 180 in my politics since then. My dad still watches Tucker Carlson every night, so I try not to let my family know what I'm actually thinking.
The irony is that, we are steadily moving towards a point in our capitalist society where we have no ownership of any goods. Housing being gobbled up by corporations with no aspirations of releasing it back into the market other than for renting. Many modern cars have been computerized to the point where they can potentially have the ability to be bricked and disabled by the manufacturer. You've seen manufacturers pushing for subscriptions for higher acceleration. Right to repair is a battleground. It feels like a lot goods and services are pushing subscription models, and means to put a consumer into some form of debt. Microsoft Office would have been a one time purchase, but now you have to pay a monthly fee for it. You can literally finance a pizza from Dominoes nowadays.
Yeah, I always think about this. People used to say that there is only the divine rule of kings and there is no place for liberal democracy. You could say it was "feudal realism" :D
I believe that 21st century's nobility is corporate interests. They distribute the most money around and tax us in their own ways by playing king with the vassal politicians.
People are actually pretty bad at imagining things that are yet to come. Generally speaking humans are narrow-minded, ignorant, and uncreative, like all other animals. That's why smart, creative, and insightful people become famous and outlive their biological lives. Because a good, interesting human is such a rare occurrence it is only natural a big to do is made. Of course, it goes the other way, too. Sometimes people don't like insight, new ways, or even truth itself and they will kill over how inferior, weak, frightened, and stupid it makes them feel.
That's because back then that WAS the only system that could reliably exist. What's most efficient in the short term always wins. Capitalism is indeed the only way things can be.
I was exposed to the concept of Christian Socialism during my time in university. A group of students lived communally, shared extensively, and supported co-operatively. Meeting this group, and observing them for 4 years, convinced me that they were on to something. Since those days, I've tried to emulate the things to their standards.
It can work small-scale but it won't on a larger scale. Due to the human factor. When people attempt socialism, workers get lazy and supervisors get greedy and abuse power. Case in point, Jonestown, Guyana.
@@Thomas116-m2nsocialism can only work when the subject hasn’t been programmed , from birth you can either program a working software or a virus , we are all a virus !
@sfs1167 so deep, this is miraculous for a human being to even have the capability to process thoughts like that, totally true I have never seen workers get lazy and supervisor gets greedy + abuse of their power. Thank you for sharing your precise and complex point of view on this matter
"Only observing humans under capitalism and concluding it's in our nature to be greedy is the equivalent of only observing us underwater and concluding it's in our nature to drown" 👏👏👏
Fortunately we've had to chance to observe humans under most social constructs. Where does each one fail? At greed. In that respect, Capitalism is no different, better or worse.
You all are talking bullshit about emotions - greed is an emotion like love and hate. Socialism and capitalism are political economic systems and the little girl approach of assessing emotions is incompetent for deciding the outcomes of millions of people. The emotions turn out to be completely irrelevant. The idea of you clowns that a government should try to regulate emotion through economic policy - socialist pseudoeconomic policy - has been the most brutal philosophy humans were ever forced to endure.
@@soulcapitalist6204 well, humans defy nature for ages. If defying our nature would help us all survive better as a whole (since we're social creatures and all) then I don't see why the "torture" you talked about is irrational.
@@ZNIR777 Firstly, human survival is compromised by ignorant economics and placing emotional analysis ahead of reality. You present this opposite idea that socialist policy might help, but this must be based on your preference for envy over greed in the emotional sphere. This will not relate in any way to your policy outcomes and will compromise the survivability of this society due to the central role economy plays in our societies. Secondly, this curbing of human nature by governments is called totalitarianism. It requires the most severe authoritarianism in history as demonstrated anywhere which took Karl Marx seriously. The demagogy of human nature and economics is essentially what socialism amounts to. Somehow you all use terms like rational when you clearly base your assessment of economic institutions on emotion like the greed emotion you brought up in the first place.
_Why the oppressor is so strong? Because he has so many accomplices among the oppressed_ _How did the axe convince the forest trees it was one of them? By pointing out that its handle is made of wood_ The aforementioned sayings capture the current situation quite well
While it is clear that to even run a global business you will need loads of cash, it is hard to imagine that you would need billions of cash. Therefore, the only goal of businesses making billions of money is to make billions of money. Furthermore, the drive to make a thing that makes billions of money always becomes the drive to make money. The logic is quite simple; and yet because part of making billions of cash involves making that business indispensable, people think billionaires are thinking about the common person.
@BorginBurkes or that billionaires got there through hard work alone. They must be the hardest workers out of the bunch to gain so much success. Yet, billionaires are part of the "ruling" class, and the middle class is called the "working" class. If billionaires are so proud of their hard work, and to keep with the narrative that hard work brought about their success, wouldn't they too want to be considered the "working" class? They're just like us! /s
@@rje024 it’s fascinating. Almost Every single billionaire and politician in history started off as a part of the upper class. You really think the upper class would ever help someone from the lower class advance to his level?
"Only observing human beings under capitalism and assuming it's in our nature to be greedy is the equivalent of only observing us under water and concluding it's in our nature to drown."
@@rexibhazoboa7097No, we have not tried any systems that create an even playing field for everyone. The "socialist" economies that have played out around the world have not truly been backed by outright socialism, but rather put up as a front for socio-authoritarianism.
My biggest worry is that other forms of economy or government to change for the better would require a large chunk of people to get into powerful positions and be morally good. Because capitalism basically breeds a much more morally neutral or even evil morality into a majority of its people, we can't get enough good guys into positions to change things in time. Some evil always has time to stamp out or corrupt those who somehow manage to get ahead in the first place.
I think the reason I struggle much less with this is the same reason I got into so much trouble as a kid for arguing with my mom. She would be a bit neglectful, I would complain about how our situation sucked, and she would say "be grateful you don't have it worse". But instead of internalizing that, I just got more angry, because I could clearly see that things could and should be better. The whole experience really galvanized me against that way of thinking. Sometimes to an actually unhealthy degree as I struggle with accepting imperfection in many ways. But there's a difference between "Yeah kiddo, it sucks we live in a crumbling house, if I could make it all better I would, but I physically can't, so let me help you live better with what I can do", and "Yeah it sucks but you should actually feel good about it and stop fighting for anything better".
Gratefulness for what we already have is the starting point toward improving. It sound counter-intuitive, but the viewpoint that things are really really terrible and we urgently need to change them is actually just desperation, which leads to bad decisions and critical failure. Whereas the viewpoint that things are pretty good leads to working within the existing framework to improve life, a technique that tends to work a lot better for generally powerless people than trying to desperately succeed or quit.
@@gorkyd7912 That’s black and white thinking. You can be grateful for what you have while striving to fight against the unjust treatment of people and animals. The viewpoint that “things are pretty good” when they’re not leads to inaction. It leads to the acceptance of things that we can actually change as being fine to leave without changing. Acting in blind desperation, specifically, isn’t good unless it’s a last resort but believing things are “pretty good” when the rich get more rich and the poor get more poor with the former stripping away the latter’s rights behind their back and increasing the strangling grip they have over the lives of the working class is like being in denial in an abusive relationship. Yeah, continuing to raise the retirement age as well as lobby the government to change laws to the point where companies run the government and ultimately your life is NOT “pretty good” by any stretch of the imagination.
@@nickybobby9317 I think if you can't recognize reality you're in no position to change anything. Don't try to drive the car thats teetering on top of a cliff just because you want a better view. The viewpoint that things are pretty good is rooted in reality; for most people living right now, things are FAR better than they would have been 50 / 100 years ago. So making a radical change to improve things for a few people right now could just as easily destroy everything that made things so good for everyone to begin with. For example, you say the poor get more poor but this is just false. In the 1700s there were estimated less than 1 billion people on earth. Now there are 8 billion. If the poor were actually getting poorer this would be impossible, they would all have starved long ago, not multiplied. They're not getting poorer, they're getting richer. What is "the retirement age"? Are you mandated to work until a certain age? Do you hail from North Korea? No, you're probably just another spoiled westerner. You're complaining about something that you would actually call "good" if I phrased it differently. How about this phrasing: "People are living much longer and they are having fewer children." If you can understand that one sentence then you can understand why the age that you start receiving benefits will increase, one way or another.
On an individual level it's actually a very good thing to have that "it could be so much worse" mindset in my opinion. It allows you to have so much more gratitude for what you do have which is really good for mental health. But on a SYSTEM level, nothing will ever improve if people think that way. I think people have a real serious problem with parsing the way they think about things on their own individual level and on a system level, I'm hoping to make a video on it at some point
I'm not a socialist but I definitely agree humanity should be walking towards changing the system rather than just saying it's "not as bad as socialism" and doing nothing. Good video
For real. Our world is changing a lot with automation, scientific discoveries, advances in medicine, climate change, etc. Capitalism was a good running start in terms of human technical advancement, but it won't alone solve our modern issues.
@@Dr.Succ0 what has capitalism done that other ideologies wouldn’t repeat Please research the Fermi paradox it doesn’t matter what you try to do it will all have the same outcome
Capitalism will die when humanity dies. It’s so deeply engrained into our species to want something for something in return and want to protect property that it would simply take another form. Capitalism began with people trading with shells. Through its evolution it lead to coins, which lead to notes, that lead to dollars we have today. If that dollar were not there, people would use Crypto currencies instead or regress to metal coins again. Thusly, Capitalism will probably follow our species until we are no more
Darwin never actually said "survival of the fittest", Herbert Spencer did, but somewhere along the line it became confused with Darwin as they came about around the same time. Darwin actually believed that it was the most compassionate that flourished. Communities where the members helped one another were the ones that survived.
@Jackie Chan Try watching the video. The whole "every other alternative is worse" response isn't logical and Second Thought already explained why in detail.
Great video JT!, just to add to Darwin’s view: survival of the fittest is meant as survival of the best adapted. It’s not a matter of outcompeting others but rather being adaptable/suited to your environment. Survival, in this context, is then independent from competition. Capitalism is not a natural law
I do like how this implies that Darwin’s survival of the fittest means capitalism should die or at the very least should take less of an overwhelming role. Capitalism, as is proven now, leads to a horrible society and also tends to lead towards socialistic solution when given the chance, so capitalism was never well suited for anything. That should put a dent (a meaningless dent, but a dent) in social Darwinism someday.
Not to mention that "survival the fittest" doesn't even mean "being on top of the food chain." It's merely the species capable of passing their genes successfully through any means, including ways that many people might think as a "weakness." For example, cows is definitely not close to the top of the food chain, but from an evolutionary perspective, its fitness is actually far better than lions and tigers (both tend to be endangered by the way) because of its usefulness to humans, let it be labor or food. And in many cases, animals that are physically powerful and aggressive often go extinct or endangered because being dangerous also means humans are more likely to hunt you down in a way of ensuring the safety of their community, while more docile animals are generally less at risk if they have what humans wanted. Also, I've seen too many people think that "technology makes us feeble, omg, we have to stop giving treatments to sick people to prosper" or something along that line. But the hard truth is that technology is part of the nature, anything that can exist is natural, and it's pointless to try to appeal to it. Yeah, take away human's intelligence and tools, and they would be helpless. But so what? Take away a tiger's tooth and claws, and they'll just be as helpless. Basically, evolution don't care about "honor," if being "pathetic" ensured the survival of your species, then it's just as valid. Eugenic advocates simply based their understanding of biology on grossly oversimplified presentation, just like that image of an ape becoming a human, probably the most misleading representation of evolution.
I think a massively under appreciated tool of revolution is Social Anthropology. If we made an effort to introduce some of the foundational lessons & examples of anthropology into common knowledge. Even as a starting point some of the better examples of lessons learned during research using ethnography would be really useful in making people question what is and is not fundamental to humans and human society. Many things we see as definitive & defining parts of human culture, like marriage or even currency are actually highly specific to culture, time and place and on many culture don’t exist at all My point is, many in the west see capitalism as a foundational part of modern society, but the fact is it’s only one option and there is no reason to see it as the only one or even the best.
At scale , capitalism works the best. A smaller decentralized group of society’s is healthier for the world and the people but we love pop culture and McD’s too much.
@@Learningthroughteaching who knows man, there are probably a multitude of different ways we could organize the economy’s of modern day society’s, but we only think capitalism is the best because we haven’t genuinely tried all of the different options. There’s no effort to try new options either, so because of that people just accept capitalism as being the best. I mean for instance even when it comes to some former/ current socialist countries in South America it’s easy for US citizens to say “see it doesn’t work”, but the problem is the moment they turn socialist the US puts Sanctions on them meaning they can’t trade with there most powerful economic neighbor and they also can’t trade effectively with any US allies. So they are set up to fail from the beginning, never given a fair chance. Thing is most people in the west can picture nuclear war & the end of the world far more easily than they can picture capitalism ending in their own country. (To be clear I’m not saying socialism is the answer, not specifically anyway, what I am saying is the illusion that capitalism is the only and best way to run the economy’s of large modern day society’s is just that, an illusion born from the fact those in power be if it from the current system and promote the idea that it’s the only system. We haven’t actually tested that idea, not properly. Even if we say it works better than communism & socialism, we still can’t say it’s the best way to run a modern economy because there are still many possible configurations we have yet to try. For instance if you used a stone tipped spear and said “this is the best spear, I know because it is more durable than my friends wooden tipped spear”, you would only believe so because you haven’t discovered metal yet. Currently capitalism is proving itself to be detrimental in many ways, we need to find something better. I know as a citizen of Scotland, a capitalist country with many policy’s the USA would call socialist, that I would much rather live her with free university and free healthcare than in America. Our supposed socialist policies are far better that what the USA currently has
@@karebushmarebu233 This is not true. Economics and political science are the only academic institutions which have explored the practical possibilities of political economy and this has been done extensively and not minimally. What hasn't been entertained since the 20th century is the ignorant non-academic approach of "throw out everything you know about history, economics and politics". That will not happen again because the 19th century of sophists having a go at theories will never happen again.
Culture is a creative expression of nature and a living thing, what you are advocating is the purposeful destruction of a living culture and replacing it with social engineering. Capitalism and communism are both materialistic and only see culture as social constructs designed to control and manipulate people, and therefore justify doing this themselves which has done a great deal to suck the life out of Western culture. There is only one way for Europeans and that is embracing and affirming our own Western culture and tradition, not becoming Buddhists or yogis or becoming polyamorous just because some other cultures do this.
Just imagine a world where human dignity and moral or even a human life is valued over profits and there you have it. You imagined a world without capitalism.
Nah thats to easy to say. I think we are stuck in this system because people with power are the ones who profit the most and so dont have interest to change something.
I really don’t feel like I am naturally competitive or greedy or anything but I have to pull through to not loose life’s essentials which is basically money.. feels like self betrayal and it’s mentally straining
It does suck, but how different is it from the rest of history? I highly doubt most peasants were excited about having to work the fields and bow to nobles just to survive either. An alternative would be fantastic, but it’s not realistic to think our system is really much different than feudal systems that were the norm.
But you do naturally want those “life’s essentials” and probably a couple luxuries in life also? That’s your greed. It’s human nature, but you can minimize it with Minimalism. Only purchasing what you need and starving the corporations of profits you would be giving to them
@@mysteryuser7062 Lmfao way too much indulgence in the world for you to think something like that would gain any traction. And by watching this video and being on this platform, you're technically adding to the problem. People pick and choose what to be greedy with and so a movement like that will never take off.
This video really belabors it's point and is really ill prepared for the predictable counter argument that people with all the best knowledge have tried to make alternatives and have only made things worse than ever.
@@DanielBMS It’s also factual that every time Socialism/Communism or even Fascism has been attempted, it causes: stagnation, decline, and total conversion back to Capitalism. To quote Hank Hill, “Not even the Russians are communist anymore”, because they’re Capitalist like the Chinese are too.
@@DanielBMS You are literally reinforcing the point of the video, capitalism implying that everything else is worse for some reason, that there is no better alternative, it feels like that because capitalism itself has made us think that way.
@@Guaporacer It feels like that because attempts at other systems had everything going for them but wound up with worse societies than capitalist societies.
Gather people who share your views around you. Form communities, spread your ideas methodically, gently, read Marx to better understand what exactly is wrong and how to fix it The power to change this depressing situation of ours is in our own hands
*Two Aztec people stand at the steps of a temple with a man having his heart pulled out. *One person says to other, “It’s not the best, but it’s the only system we have.
It's strange that we're somehow required to have a perfect ready to go model of socialism prepared, when the status quo alternative is itself deeply flawed.
Yep, a socialist has to know everything about everything, but any dunce willing to say “capitalism good” gets their own segment on Fox. Quite the double standard.
@@SecondThought Hi, this channel is new to me, and I will say that the production quality is very good. This made it all the more disappointing, however, to see that you have been given - what seems to me - to be some bad information. There's a lot of mention of the word "capitalism" in this video - a word which has come to be as fluid in meaning as "socialism" has in public discourse. I give you credit for taking the time to define what you mean - and I take it that you got the three criteria from the book you referenced. We are told that these three criteria (at a minimum) distinguish capitalism from what came before and after. Let me take them one at a time: 1) capital - first, I've never heard anyone - including Karl Marx - say that capital was only money. Yes, it is classical Marxism to say that the primary (initial) capital is the accumulation of commodity money. But this capital money's value _as_ capital is in as much as it can be invested in real capital (land, factories, enterprises, etc.) - which is to say, "the means of production." Secondly, I will just add that just as real capital pre-exists capitalism, so does the capital-money that was accumulated to purchase it. Therefore, as an economic system, this doesn't distinguish capitalism from anything, going back to Sam the Sumerian buying his first plot of farmland. 2) private property - I mean, we just finished talking bout Sam and his farmland from back in ancient Sumer. now sure, if it's just him working the land, or him and is family, or even him and his family and their sl@ves, then maybe it's _personal_ property, and not private. But we know there were people who owned more land than they could work themselves, so much so that they had to hire others. 3) wage labor - which brings us to wage labor. Sam was hiring people to work his land-capital. The Bible speaks in many places about wage labor as a commonly understood thing - not as some hypothetical, future economic system. Now, maybe I misunderstood, and the author's point was that capitalism begins with the transition from living in hunter-gatherer bands to agrarian villages. But if so, then he's using a definition that is far outside the typical understanding of capitalism as a modern phenomenon, and you might really want to think about making that clear. Regardless, you're very good at your craft, and best wishes.
@@MarcillaSmith Sumerians are feudalistic in nature cmiiw? I don't thinks it's an apple to apple comparison to the pure socialist ideals.. anyway capital, private property and wage are non existent in pure socialism, everything is ration based and state owned cmiiw? Even your individual is part of the collective and is owned by the collective? And if that would be the case, at the end of the day the idea of pure socialism vs pure capitalism is at odds with each other. Just as the idea of pure socialism and pure humanism is at odd considering being a human is being sovereign of our own body and will, in pure communism your will can not be at odds with the state's in fact you don't have a say on anything but to follow orders given by the state otherwise you'll be deemed anti-state. IMHO, everything should be in moderation, there is no such thing as pure communists or pure capitalist. Even humanism is an evolving field, one day people might be able to read others minds and then we can have a hive mind, how would that affect our individuality then?
This is why Star Trek is so important. Instead of capitalism being the end of history, it is the beginning. "A lot has changed in the past three hundred years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We've eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions. We've grown out of our infancy." Jean-Luc Picard. That's the point of view we need. We need to grow up and stop being selfish buttholes.
Star Trek life is only good if you are part of Star Fleet. If you are not connected, and/or have to live in one of the colonies, life was pretty terrible.
Star Trek is a world of infinite resources easily obtainable basically being "magically" recycled. However our world doesn't work like that, finite resources that need to be harvested and properly utilized. We basically have only two options to do this. "The Invisible Hand" of Supply and demand of Capitalism, which is by far not perfect, but works very utilitarian. The other is a central authority, a person or group of people who dictate how the the resources are harvested and distributed. We barely trust our own Governments, yet give them the absolute power to distribute resources how they see fit?
The only problem is that you without a single doubt still need a HARD MANUAL LABOR FORCE. This simple truth has always been the downfall of Communism. Everybody loves the idea of eating for free, until they have to grow the corn themselves. It's fun to picture ourselves as space explorers whose only concern is learning about other worlds. Unfortunately, not everyone can be the captain of a starship. Some people will inevitably have to give up their dreams and work the fields. Communist systems usually result in doctors, engineers, scientists, etc... specialized and well-educated people working hard manual labor. This of course sucks for them but they often don't have a choice. You're not protecting anyone by getting rid of people's right to freedom of enterprise.
@@dacksonflux Your mixing up stuff. For example the idea "Everybody loves the idea of eating for free, until they have to grow the corn themselves." This makes no sense. The ones living for free (from other people's work) are millionaires. They do very little and get a lot. Also it assumes that nobody is interested in a fair society who is not directly finacially benefitting. Take me for example. I pay a lot of taxes and I'd happily pay more, cause I think it is to little for what I have. There are many people who think so. This system benefits me and still I think it isn't right. I want to live a in fairer society for many reasons that are not financial.
Questioning capitalism felt always weird and difficult. Like you said it was like questioning reality. Thanks for this video/book recomendation. This made me realise that a world without it is still imaginable
@@lamp7746 ofc i dont have the answer yet, but we should start to reconsider some socialism/comunism concepts since they always got labeld as „evil“ and that those can only be existing in dictatorships although the idea behind it isnt that bad. idk gotta find a *mittelding*
@@amadooya8935 I think the reason why socialism/comunism has a bad reputation is because those people have killed more than WW1 and WW2 combined. You may not be old enough to remember the cold war. Most of the death were due to mass starvation by the government. Putting your faith in the government is a primative idea. The founding fathers got it right when they said government is the problem. The left want more government.
If I’m being honest, it seem completely pointless to “question capitalism” like this. In doing so, you don’t establish anything new or different and partake in the same markets as you would otherwise, so it seems pretty superficial. Capitalism is the current reality and we’ve never been more interconnected because of it. It’s made a plate made in China from a thousands of dollars luxury item to cheap junk sold at Walmart. You can’t imagine the world today without global capital trade
It reminds me of how often you're told as a anything-but-capitalist, that you're just lazy. "Poor people are lazy, especially immigrants and should work harder ""you don't wanna work on a 9-5 commercial job? You're just being lazy" - this idea is constantly pushed on us from we're young. Productivity above all. Meanwhile anyone who does anything non-capitalist are the least lazy, most selfless people on Earth, working the most and the hardest.
Proper defenders of capitalism do not consider the poor are lazy, they instead recognize that poverty can also be a result of other factors, and defend capitalism precisely because it is the system that has lifted huge masses out of poverty, at a rate previously unimaginable. A problem with the US is that very little people are like that, it seems. Some may defend capitalism but don't fully understand it, so they end up believeing things like "it is unfair but at least it works", when that's not the case.
it's just the continuation of "that lion is going to eat you if you dont run fast enough" but in modern times. man up or die, nature is always going to be there to make sure you are tested, and if you fail, your genes will be discarded. you can't beat nature, existence.
Its so funny cuz the laziest class of people in the country are rich and “successful” people who cant put energy into thinking about the logical conclusions and consequences of there quick profit mindsets. They are constantly getting bailed out and saved from their mistakes to make the same ones later.
@Trainrhys Ah yes, you see the unemployed are all lazy. The homeless? Lazy. There are definitely no other factors involved in poverty/s Sloth isn't the cause of these socioeconomic issues. Limited access to education, lack of resources, privilege etc. all play a role in who sinks or swims. The supposed meritocracy is a myth. You live in a fantasy world if you think that labour is rewarded fairly. Prejudice is ever-present. Whether it's appearance, intellect or even disability, only certain people are chosen to join society. The rest are alienated and get left behind. Nobody voluntarily reduces their quality of life if it can be avoided.
Capitalist Realism is the idea that has been the most important for me to understand. It made me realize the ways I'd been making massive assumptions for so long, and not questioning those economic assumptions.
@@jimsouthlondon7061 that's a cop out, in the west we have been under capitalism for a few hundred years. My grandparents also lived under capitalism, the difference is that capitalism "rewards" us with a new right every 5-10 years as a treat to keep people compliant isn't a win especially now when everything is going backwards under capitalism
@@jimsouthlondon7061How so, do go on and with proof of your claim. Keep in mind I know the average American life span is lower than Cuba, but okay an twenty years of life my grandma didn't have, who is still alive at 90. So I'm going to live to 110?
So are there any Cuban Super Models or boy band rock stars .Think of any famous Cuban racing drivers.Only famous Cuban is Fidel Castro he was the dictator .Says it all really .
They do, because there is no other way. No attempts at Socialism or Communism have ever been remotely successful. Every time Socialism destroys a country like Venezuela, Capitalism swoops in to purchase all of the cheap assets as soon as they can. Effectively, Capitalism eats Socialism, because Socialism is weak and unable to support itself
@@cmr_0333 it can its just the ingrained existing system does not let it develop. Capitalism would fail too if (for example) the USA was an up amd coming power against a USSR who had already been established for 150-200 years and been spreading its ideas and accumulating wealth in that time. It obviously would not like a new country with a mew system threatening its dominance, so it would eventually stamp it out due to having greater might.
Very well thought out and nicely done. One of the brick walls we hit when we try to offer an alternative to capitalism is defining how much is enough and how much is too much as far as what each individual human being accumulates. I think this is the primary mental loophole that is exploited the most when people defend capitalism. Compared to a vast majority of the population, I am very wealthy because I have running water, a vehicle, a reasonable amount of food in the pantry etc. but compared to other Americans, my standard of living is defined as lower middle class. Although the slippery slope is a logical fallacy based argument it’s a likely counterargument to socialism; ie who is allowed to define how much is too much because there will always be somebody who disagrees. Is one house too much? Is two houses too many? How about one car? Five cars? Four pairs of shoes? 400 pairs of shoes? Since there is no objective answer to that question, it’s a convenient pro-greed argument.
Reminds me of how expensive going to the hospital is. One accident can put you in financial ruin, or years of debt. When my brother was born, there were complications. He had to stay in the hospital for a week. The bill was over 10k and my parents had no insurance (my dad works at the church). It took them 13 years to pay off the debt, because they could only afford to make small payments. There's something very messed up with the hospitals here. It's all about money, not helping the sick.
You are describing an American problem, darling. Most other western natipns have nationalised healthcare. I went to the hospital two weeks ago for pleurisy and it was free.
It’s unfortunate how much people don’t fight for the right to free or even more affordable healthcare. My mother found out she has pancreatic cancer this year, and even though it’s stage one and she is going into remission, she had to spend almost $80K on treatments and her insurance doesn’t even cover half of that. She’s 65 and was going into her retirement year but the same year has to give away every single penny she saved up over her 40 year career bc of an unexpected illness…she’s even questioned why she wants to be cured if she just has to go back to work or be in debt the remainder of her life. Gotta love f**kin’ America
There is no US Health CARE system. We have a Health COST system. I've pretty much decided that I will never go to the ER again under my own volition. I've thought about relocating. I would never see my friends or family again, but I can't afford to do that much anymore anyway.
“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.” - Ursula K. Le Guin
I was waiting for a topic like this to come out…this has been one of my biggest issues mentally when trying to put hope together for how socialism can overcome todays world
@@redwingblackbird8306 ahh yes…barely functioning while having sanctions placed on them all while still having majority private ownership of the means of production.
@@lossantossavior One of the reasons why the countries with legitimate socialist experiments struggle is because of US hegemony. Putting in true Marxist elements is the real test and that will require international cooperation.
When will the US say that women can't afford black hair dye in NK? the most shitty part is the identity of those who want to (hypothetically) break apart from Russia. Why do I think they have such a high standing? Why is Hypothetical Future Mongolia like this? Omg they might still be taking on the guise of The Only Defender Of Cultural History in order to make all our attempts at making initiatives (governmental initiatives or other initiatives) result in nothing (be completely fruitless). This is the biggest realization I've had in my life I needed to tell people this today: "Your goal was to make the Iranian government more awkward than you. you had no plan, no deadline, no records, no courts, no evidence, and no victories. who cares if azadeh is on tv? who cares that we even have TV's? You could have just learned a few Arabic words instead of deciding to tell the Islamic Republic that you want to be turned into a sausage"
"Sometimes Gorillas punch each other and that's why you deserve to be Poor." HA! That's quite a hilarious line right there. Another Excellent Video! This channel is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Thanks for the Top-notch Vital Work You're doing here!
Impossible! I can't accept that! Are you telling me that teaching children that the best way to go throw live is to be an entrepreneur, without telling them that companies can be financially beneficial not only for their founders, but for everyone, simply by changing their internal structure... that is just dirty propaganda? ! No, I deny it, you must be leftiest and that's why you think badly that way. 🤔😂😏
People in social systems that came before capitalism also thought it was the natural order of things. "Natural", understood in pragmatist term, often just (implicitly) means "that which was already there before me and which transcends my individual agency". It is a small-minded way of thinking, one that cannot reach beyond the horizon of its immediate surrounding.
@@FirsToStrike Exactly. when you pit a utopian reality you come up with in your head against the world we live in, the utopian reality you came up with in your head wins every time.
@@andyharpist2938 genuine trade isn't capitalism. Also you need to do some catching up on human history. For centuries humanity existed in self sustaining tribes where the groups survival was solely based on the fact that everyone did their part to contribute to said survival of the group. Sustaining the group ment to sustain one self.
The biggest criticism I’ve personally had with capitalism is the fact that the profit motive of a few seems to dominate everyone. We live in a world where people feel perfectly comfortable telling working people to set aside their own self-interest (supposedly the driving factor of capitalism) to support the interests of the corporation. The idea that a corporation and its share-holders are members of your family and you have any obligation of loyalty to them is absolutely ludicrous. Let me be very clear: unless your company is using a profit sharing model, you have no true incentive to worry about its interests and maximizing its profits. There’s also the idea that wealth redistribution is evil and will somehow lead to the average person experiencing a lower quality of life. The reality is that in a country where 70% of all wealth is held by 10% of the population and half of that 70% is held by 1%, the only people wealth redistribution would hurt are the people at the very top.
This ! If I had a company, I would like to pay the workers depending on the profit made by the company (with a minimum of course) ! That way, my company is a team, workers will be more motivated to work and cooperate. I'd love to give back to my team of people, getting wealthier together :) And to be honest, I think this should be a law for big companies / corporations ! It's not right that only a handful of people reap all the benefits of many people's daily hard work. Or it should be encouraged. For example: if you implement this model, you pay less taxes, since you're already giving back to society.
But your company will not be able to grow if you take profit. Paying employees = taking profit. Startup companies have to put off initial profits for long term growth. That is what Amazon did for years.@@iLadymiss06
If business owners, especially small business owners, understood how little energy they would have to expend in order to motivate extreme loyalty, they would feel ridiculous for not doing it. I work at a restaurant and one of the owners comes in there all the time, but you can tell he doesn’t care about any of the people who work for him. We are just cogs in a wheel, and instead of just ignoring us, which would actually be better as far as I’m concerned, he will ask me how I’m doing, and proceeded to completely not listen. He doesn’t understand that every time he blows somebody off like that he’s going to lose money… It’s not like I go around doing things to purposefully cost the restaurant money, but like the example above, I don’t care about maximizing the profits of the restaurant because I don’t care about the person who owns the restaurant because he doesn’t care about me. Human beings are motivated by very simple gestures. The next time he ask me some stupid pop quiz question about a menu item, I’m going to look at him and say “how many children do I have and what are their names?” and when he can’t answer me, I’m just gonna walk away. The moron doesn’t understand that we have more control than he thinks as far as throwing things away, treating customers just good enough to not get a bad review, but not so good that they’re going to want to come back etc. But he’s the smart one in the situation because he has all the control. Lmfao
I think you are being a little narrow minded here. I am autistic, and a sober drug addict who's almost hitting the 5 months soon. I am kinda screwed when it comes to getting a job because my ASD diagnosis is a black stain. I would be a landlord to not deal with a dick "advisor" ever again.
You have some strange assertions about Capitalism, especially with considering a corporation part of your family? The first rule of Business is to keep it separated from your personal life/finances. Shareholders aren’t members of this club/family, they’re the owners of a corporation and democratically vote to determine how their corporation is run. Most shareholders do not vote, holding less than 1% of shares. Stock options are usually used to incentivize management to ensure the longterm profit maximization. Retirement programs and company insurance policies are also reasons to keep the company healthy. The reason people fear “wealth redistribution” is because it changes private property rights. A person like Jeff Bezos does not have his wealth just sitting in a bank account to be withdrawn from for redistribution, his wealth is in the form of his assets being used for operations that add value to the economy. His privately purchased property must be taken from him and forcefully liquidated. This also greatly harms the firms whose assets are stolen for redistribution. Such an event would destroy a LOT of economic value, basically what happened to Venezuela
"Those people who are choosing to live differently in the wealthy nations, they are promoting real change by demonstration. Those people who are taking care of the poor and depressed and deprived peoples of the world, they are promoting real change. Those people who are consuming less of the world, as a matter of moral and ethical principle, they are promoting real change. Those people who are committing themselves to what humanity will need in the future and not simply the fashions and fantasies of humanity, they are part of real change." From a book I most warmly recommend for everyone, for encouragement during the uncertain times now and in the future. *Marshall Vian Summers: Building Global Security* (free to read online)
Hey! It's Diadelics, I wrote the article you linked in the description, and I just want to say that I really appreciate the extra attention here and this video is really good. As another leftist from Texas, I really appreciate it, genuinely.
@@beerenmusli8220 No, in the same way that calling yourself "right-wing" doesn't mean that you're far right, social-democrats are "leftists" and they are not extreme at all.
This kinda hits home hard especially when you look at the world right now or even how most countries are structured. I definitely a lot of in Kenya, my home country. Thanks, JT for putting out the message about this.
I know the episode didn’t mention it but there’s the entire section where Fisher talks about mental health under capitalism. We’re told that mental health crises or depression are just “mental illnesses” or biological, and that they are in no way preconditioned by an atomizing, alienating, commercialized capitalist society. But the question of mental health is just one example of how capitalism has been able to turn our heads away from substantially criticizing it and punish those who do with terrifying precision.
@@waluigiisthebest2802 Not in any significant sense. Technology will inevitably improve because systems that use it better survive better and that which survives better in the short term always outcompetes that which doesn't. The idea that life can be hospitable to anything but the most worthless of humans if technology continues to progress is pure delusion.
Also just the other day I saw a video of a woman from the UK crying that she could not afford to pay her bills and had to choose between gas and electric. She chose electric to cook for her children. Yet people who believe capitalism is the only way will tell that woman that she needs to work harder instead of addressing how our system needs to change. People working two jobs to survive should NOT be the norm.
The other day I saw a clip of Rishi Sunak pretty much saying that some proposal made by labour was gonna turn this country into some sort of socialist nation. Just one suggestion of helping working families made him have that response.
If you think about it, it's kind of like asking a person from a thousand years ago what a world would be like without absolute monarchies ruling most of the known world. Sure, a learned person might be aware of the smattering of republics that existed at the time, but those would be considered outliers and would never become the norm. A world where secular republics make up the majority of world governments would have seemed as foreign to those people a thousand years ago as a world without modern capitalism seems to us
@@jrus690 "What Republics existed a thousand years ago?" Venice, Florence, Geneoa, Pisa, Iceland, Córdoba, Novgorod, Athens, Carthage, Rome... Do you want me to continue? There are quite a few more. "Capitalism, like Liberal Democracy, is the system that we got from the enlightenment." Not quite. Capitalism has more to do with the rise of industry during the 16th and 17th century and the influx of raw goods from overseas expeditions/colonies than it did with any Enlightenment thinking. And modern capitalism is very much a product of the Industrial Revolution. So in that sense it is rather modern. If you're referring to how I pointed out economics and politics have always been linked, that's economics in general. Of which Capitalism is a relatively young system. So in that regard you are correct. "Current day Communism and Socialism have merely renamed the old monarchies with a one party state and dictatorship." Glass houses my friend. I could point to the Robber Barons of the 19th/early 20th century US and point how they behaved like the tyrannical, petty lords and kings of England that the US claims to have fought so hard to free itself from. That aside, regardless of how you feel about them, systems like Communism and Libertarianism are at their cores political systems and ideals that include economic philosophy as their foundation. Thus to say that economic ideals and political ideals aren't linked these days is foolhardy.
"Hasn't everything else been tried and failed?" He typed amidst the imminent collapse of human society and world ecology brought about by... Capitalism.
@Trainrhys There's no planet B. You seem to have forgotten the irreversible damage the profit incentive has caused to our flora and fauna. Hundreds of species are extinct and countless more endangered. Do you truly not see the impact because it has yet to concern you personally? Does the climate have to become unlivable before you recognise our doom? Or perhaps more likely, you only care for the present, the short-term consequences and have completely ignored the fates of future generations possibly including your next of kin... Need I remind you of the cost of living? Millennials can't afford homes of their own despite working multiple jobs. As a result, younger generations have to adapt to this reality and make the conscious decision to have fewer children or remain childless altogether. Surely, society is perfect, right? Renting apartments is human nature after all /s Your fear of a hypothetical boogeyman shouldn't outweigh the horror of reality. The planet is dying and we're collateral damage who'll be taken with it.
@Trainrhys A mansion is a status symbol. With the abandonment of class, the need for extravagance will fade. There's no need for competition if all our needs are taken care of. It's only when competition is a rule built into the game that greed becomes commonplace and even an expectation. The only people who are driven by that notion are the ones flaunting their wealth. It's useless when class no longer exists. Besides, the existence of mansions infers private property and that's not encouraged by Socialism. No more landlords.
The capitalists committed coups, regime changes, assassinations in order to emerge as the dominant system. The structure of society always changes with time. No wonder why they pledged to uphold the imperialism charter
Capitalist realism is such a massive and terrifying thing. I have, on multiple occasions, caught myself (unfortunately not before saying it) thinking of *friendship* through that lens which, paired with a strong moral code and a heaping helping of depression, leads to the belief that if I’m not benefiting you in a tangible and quantifiable way, I don’t deserve to be your friend.
Like those posts about how you should move on if your friends are not investing or on the "grind" and are happy with their place in life. Like there is som sort of ladder to constantly be climbing.
"Humanity can't live in a utopia, even if we did have everything we ever wanted, we would give it up just to feel the rush of breaking the rules" Fyodor Dostoyevsky
did you even watch the video? that is an assumption based off nothing being peddled as immutable fact. just because competition exists in an economic system that rewards it doesnt mean it is human nature. its pessimism for the sake of excusing the inadequacies of the status quo.
Capitalist Realism is only about 100 pages long. everyone interested should definitely read it! It has a lot of great examples of how insidious this mind set really is on our culture! my favorite being the 'live 8' "concerts to end homelessness". the hardest pill to swallow was his reflections on bureaucracy forcing people to leave because they have no way of fixing it themselves. oh the irony that we live in now. thanks for the great video!
These mindsets are the reality. The videos implys that market rules the world, and this is a simple/small mind view of the world. Otan, arabic families, couple other countries, some brotherhoods and small group of people. These are the rulers of the world. They manipulate market. Market is just the tool… whatever we do with the tool is what matters, not the tool itself
Tbh, I feel it’s important in modern era to read works like Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, Giovanni Gentile’s Fascist Manifesto, and maybe something by Milton Friedman just so that people learn what the extremes are in each direction and what they believe in that makes them different
@@mysteryuser7062 i agree, in so far as most of us seem to only get our information from tweets, news paper headlines(not the articles themselves), and from pseudo-intellectual youtube videos like this one here, instead of reading books on these topics. If not only for the fact that books contain a magnitudes more information.
I believe there's a strong argument that monarchy and feudalism were capitalism. When the means of production were land and human workers, the feudal strategy of becoming rich through ownership of land and serfs (or "free" peasants paying rent in labour) was income through ownership of the means of production. As technology advanced so that fewer serfs were required to produce food and the rest became available for other tasks, capitalism got more sophisticated and the rich started building factories as the new means of production they needed to own in order to continue deriving an income from other people's labour. Technology advanced, but it's still all capitalism.
Can you direct me to some socialist education that will give me a realistic view on why a fully socialist worker system will provide a better life for someone like me who right now has a decently well paying job (that I'm mostly content with though not always) and who is disciplined and saves and can invest to feel very hopeful about my future and enjoys that someone with the means and discipline can invest and have compound returns from the spending of others who choose to spend?
@@SGyru To cut to the chase, if you make more money from investments than from your wages, you will likely be worse off in a socialist state. You are also likely in the top 1-3%. If you're below that, then your material conditions would significantly improve, as an ownership system inherently takes value produced by the working class and gives it to the owning class. That value would be now available to be democratically reallocated to/by the workers in various ways, often including free/subsidized healthcare, housing, education, and public infrastructure, as well as additional financial and practical support for raising children. The total value of society's production would be democratically available to society. You would also likely have democratic control of the leadership and policies of your workplace/company. Take the national gross income of your country and divide it by the number of working adults (maybe count children as 0.5 people), and that would be a reasonable approximation of the sum of your new income and the value of the public goods/services made accessible to you. A good very early intro for me was the essay "Value price and profit" by Marx. It can be a little wordy, but gives a relatively quick description of how labor produces value, and then how value is split up between owner and worker. This alone is a relatively good ideological argument for the results I mentioned above, but if you go to Hakim's channel on youtube he has many videos recommending books and articles on various topics, including this one!
@@SGyru I think another thing you should consider is the lives of others. Your life is good, and that is great, but there are millions, hell, billions of people who're not exactly as lucky. Under socialism you'd still maintain a good life, everyone would. To me a degree of selflessness is required.
I always find myself wishing I could send my folks these videos. Im a terrible debater and I can never quite explain this stuff in a way they’ll understand or accept. This is so well put together that I feel like it might at least break down the barrier. The “no working alternatives” is something I hear a lot within those conversations, so unfortunately it’s probably a lost cause.
I can't debate well, but I find right wing people usually interrupt you, use whataboutisms, and generally engage in fallacies. That's because the right wing media they listen to use that argumentation, so they're steeped in it. If you still want to try, look into street epistemology (check out Aron Ra on this). Basically, the Socratic method. Ask questions. Don't make statements at all. Get them to lay out their beliefs, because there are absurdities in there.
The problem is that they'd need to watch a lot of other videos to even start understanding the problem. Otherwise they'll just be hit by a brutal wall going against their beliefs and reject everything.
The problem is that debate is one of the worst ways to have a conversation and change someone's mind. It puts both people into the position of needing to "stand their ground" and commit to their already existing ideas, rather than legitimately considering that they could be wrong about things.
If you need some inspiration, check out Daryl Davis. Black guy who befriends klansmen and then gets their robes as trophies when he tears down their narrative. Dude is my personal hero
An easy way to dismiss most self proclaimed Socialists/Communists is to ask if they own a house, retirement plan, or savings account? Most have none of those because they’re not actual working people with real jobs. Working Class people have those three things or at least work towards having them
JT, this is one of your best yet. I saw it on Nebula yesterday and I couldn't wait to leave this comment here. I've heard/read hours of analysis on capitalist realism and this essay feels more impactful than much of the literature. Side note, did anyone else enjoy imagining Hakim's smug grumbling at the mention of Kropotkin's writing? Angry Leninists make life tolerable.
Lenninists are a pretty big contributor to Leftist disunity, am I right? Just wanna say to them, “Get out of the past, yo. The seeds of the failure of that movement were planted by its founder and your failure to realize that is kinda cringe, yo.”
@@kyleeames8229 and they reply, in chorus, " How dare you? Here's another book or pamphlet about how disagreeing with me on anything makes you objectively wrong and stupid and evil."
I'm a Nigerian. Growing up under the capitalist mentality I'd fantasize about how one day I'd get rich, own my company and meet humanity's needs while making lot's of money. Growing I started noticing conflicts in myself that kept me from believing these dreams. Whenever I came up with an idea that wasn't necessary to human needs, I felt a resistance on thinking further. Took me a while to realize that that resistance came from me stopping myself from thinking how to make people want what they didn't need. I took a closer look at society. Most of the consumption was on wants and not needs. I looked at needs. And saw that needs were already met quite satisfactory. I also noticed a trend in capitalism. People get rich by creating wants. Then they make enough money(capital) to divest and monopolize need industry. If it was agriculture, a billionaire had the capital juice to buy over farming businesses at every level below him and monopolize it into one empire that answered to him. These trends were unethical to my humanity and my Spiritually and what my religion teaches. On further looking at the western society I noticed it was the very chronic lack of the same humanity values I had in my society (which is eroded to model the west) that made the west such an 'efficient' capitalist machine. And the lack of these social values is what may probably lead to the desired fall of socialism even if I were to take hold in the west. Socialism was never meant to be just another economic model. In fact hearing the word, it sounds like one wants to say society without actually saying society. A true human society. Without a strong sense of humanity and spirituality which usually has been historically seen only to be successfully and effectively immortalized through religion, socialism would fail. It's worth a try but it would fail. And which religion you might ask? Well Christianity was dropped for it's infantile ability or should I say inability to keep up with the growing consciousness of the people. So which religion? I have no answer for that. But i will say this; a religion which truly connects man firmly to the earth, realistically keeps him in touch with the very ground he stands on while encouraging him to look up to the sky in aspiration to fly(metaphorically). When our foot wares spoil, we get a better one. When our car becomes too old, we get a better one. When technology becomes too unreliable, we improve on our scientific understanding and make better technology. Religion and spirituality is the only thing I've seen where when we outgrow it, instead of getting a better one, we regress. We simply appeal to our baser desires. What i do know for a fact is that when humans have agreed to do something something in the name of a god (essentially choosing to live life BEYOND our humanity) we seem to do really great. But when we decide their is no god (honestly at this point whether one exists or not doesn't outshine the social implications and necessity of believing in one) the very same needs that that god filled in us is not extinguished. We simply fill it up with something else. Celebrities, consumerism. I guess what I'm trying to say is at the very least, humanity brings the best of itself into one concept and call it god. That way, no lesser being or person(s) gets to replace it. This is a necessary missing component for this socialism
As an atheist, I dont necesarily completely agree with your take on requiring a religion to build great things, but I agree in the sense that, in an age "without religion," other, more harmful things have become our substitutes, and since we believe we are "without religion" we are unable to identify the belief systems, ideologies, "higher powers" etc, which, although they dont take the form of deities, moral codes, etc, function in a similar way. We need to underatand that religion arises from a fundamental part of humans beings: faith. We need faith, and if we pretend we have no faith, then other faiths sneak in to our thinking. Regardless, you provide a phenomenally insightful reflection on your journey. Thank you comrade.
@@philipdamian7346 "If you don't worship Allah you worship plenty of others" Whether that's your desires or pleasure/pain The god of the dollar & the dinar Or yourself And plenty other
@@philipdamian7346 I'm glad we could find common grounds. Honestly if I wasn't born into the religion I'm currently in and had to deal with the Abrahamic religions like Christianity, I'd probably be an atheist too. This is why I've come to realize that at the very least even if one does not believe in the existence of a sky daddy like most religions portray God, mankind should be able to immortalize the best aspects of it's society into something that serves as a standard for society. If society could recognize this real human need, we would all be better for it. Many people today seem to have an arrogance when they talk about certain legends that tried to preserve certain moral values in other cultures. They degrade their significance to children's tales. But when you look at their lives and that of others you see in a metaphorical sense, the space for what they discriminate filled by something else.
You should make a video on how we could have a general strike one day, and how our economy and our government works against workers. Using the recent legislation stopping Railroad workers from striking. And the benefits of Wildcat strikes.
@@nishant54 "we rule on the people's mandate" hey can we like, be allowed to get sick "send in the national guard" being against unions is being against democracy, simply as
As Zizek said, Capitalist Realism is "simply the best diagnosis of our predicatment." Many here have felt the general malaise that he puts so cleanly into words. It's well worth reading, whether or not you land in the same place that he does.
@@opticalreticle YOU are capital. Everything you do is capital. Capitalism is simply YOU owning YOU...Everything else, someone or something external owns You. Get it?
@@opticalreticle Yes. Communism and Socialism have always failed in every real world attempt, meaning Capitalism is the defacto system. At least it provides the Global Village, something we take for granted these days
I really like your thoughts. It feels good to disrupt my capitalist bubble. Now I think about the thesis that everyone that puts in more than the average person has to be rewarded in some way. May it be money or applause or something else. Otherwise this person will slowly lose motivation. That was always true to me. Now I think about it. Didn’t get far yet. But thanks for making me question stuff that seems unquestionable to me
Funnily enough I have never had a problem with thinking about a better alternative. But I think it's because I have made many idealistic worlds in my head and I think it's helped me realize how much better things can be.
having that ability can also give one perspective on just how great the world is now in overall retrospection. by no means am i saying that the world can't be better.
The fact that this great video against capitalism inevitability ends with an ad of Audible, owned by Amazon, the most capitalist company out there, is somehow driving this home even more.
Yeah, and like every single critique against capitalism, no matter how valid, there is NEVER a decent alternative given. "Why It's So Hard To Imagine Life After Capitalism", well get our imagination going, give some examples of how it would be better without breaking our entire quality of life by going back to sticks and stones, or trading the tyrant of capitalism for another.
@@sillygoofygoober7931 Which is also false, because the vast majority of western nations are a mix of capitalist and socialist, leaning more towards capitalist. And plenty of people remember communism, totalitarianism, anarchy and several other forms or lack of government. There are plenty of example of those in today's world. The problem is not that "we can't imagine a world without capitalism", it's "we can't imagine a BETTER world without capitalism", and this video does nothing to change that. It's just yet another rant on capitalism. Yeah okay, we get it, capitalism bad. So suggest something better? And a serious suggestion, not just wishful thinking based on unproven concepts and theories.
@@Chestyfriend isnt the video saying the exact same thing as you do? i mean you literly use Quotes from the Video idk if you watched it all. But to give you an answer, i dont think capitalism is bad in all ways, but in the end of the Video he quetes someone who says something like "not everything can or SHOULD be done for profit" and best examples for me are hospitals, schools or trains etc. Some things clearly shouldnt be managed by private people or at least not for profit. And if you can combine that with the general concept of capitalism and just change specific stuff like that from time to time, then i think a lot more people would be fine with that already.
Right? It’s like the saying a fish doesn’t recognize it’s in water… The other people here telling you to like educate yourself pisses me off 😅As if you all don’t have biases….
“All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible." Frank Herbert.
There are definitely things that can be exploited - however, it is possible to make contingencies for stuff like this - just like there are some that exploit foodstamps (as is said, the problem is more complex than that, but that's for another time), but it is so few that it doesn't really make it worth it to abolish the program for everyone who uses it as it is supposed to be used.
Somehow humans seem to have lost a clear vision of why we even have economic systems in the first place. It's like we took a look at metrics that measure just pure economic growth without any qualitative aspects once and then decided that this, this is the most important thing for us. It's like in grinding smithing in skyrim and expecting all the stats to grow.
Actually I blame the influence of mathematics on this. Academia has become obsessed with quantitative research over qualitative research because quantitative research is “smoking gun” research. I have a degree is research and the further along one gets in their studies the harder it becomes to assert the validity of qualitative research. I find that depressing.
It drives me crazy that NO ONE can even try to imagine life without backbreaking capitalism. The capitalists have us trained like Pavlov dogs to never consider any other idea, to the point of aggressive defense of our "masters"
It reminds me of how people train horses to never leave the hitching post... they tie them to it when they're young but once the learn they can't get away, they stop trying. The leash can then just be wrapped around the hitching post loosely with the horse none the wiser.
It isn't absurd at all. The tangent about cooperativity being just as much a part of nature as competition is laughable and that's not even the worst mistake in the video.
@@neo-filthyfrank1347 Tell me why you think cooperativity is not an important part of nature? Most groups wouldn't survive without each others free help.
Sociologically, this was an interesting video. I'd like to ask a few questions: A) is there something inherently ethically good or evil in "capitalist realism" and/or "communist realism?" B) How do you allocate scarce resources efficiently?
Не могу назвать себя в полной мере англоговорящим, и тем не менее, я хорошо понимаю все, о чем говорится в этом видео и во всех других на канале. Общее мировозрение сильнее языковых барьеров, и проблемы у нас одни и те же. Мы сможем решить их вместе. Удачи всем нам!
I can’t call myself a full English speaker, and yet I understand everything that is said in this video and in all others on the channel. A common worldview is stronger than language barriers, and we have the same problems. We can solve them together. (Google Translate)
I think this analysis is reflective of why the same people protest that gender binary is “just biology” despite the incredible complexity of human physiology. Thank you for putting this argument into the clearest form. I’ve seen it in yet.
Especially considering that the evolutionary purpose of sexual reproduction is to create a randomizing effect. The idea that a system whose purpose is randomization could produce a perfect binary system is nonsense.
IMMACULATE video. I’ve been trying to communicate this same idea to my liberal friends for a long time, and one of them actually sent this to me and said they liked it. Perfectly done
It's like comedy, people like it when they think it's true but it's offensive when it's not true to their experience. In my experience, I have been talking about socialism for 20 years, everything around me loves the idea of socialism. If you look at academia, the vast majority of professors and most students are at least sympathetic to socialism if not loudly in support. So this video doesn't ring true to me at all; it's not an unexplored concept, it's a rejected concept because we did in fact explore it and millions of people are dead because of it.
@@gorkyd7912 your comment is extremely confusing and the way you’re using words doesn’t make any sense. Like you’re assuming everyone should know what you’re saying…? Are you saying people have died over socialism or capitalism?
Your video reminded me of the disdain with which the word "socialist" is often treated in Western literature (even fiction). I always wondered why, if it's supposed to be someone who is focused on society and its needs. But if governments exist for people's sake (and if they don't fulfill their role in protecting the people, then what's the point of having them?), why has socialism got such a stigma attached to it?
It is treated with disdain because it's an inefficient and unethical system. This seems shocking if one takes socialism as something good by definition, just because it says "social", just because it claims or even sincerely pretends to help society. On top of that, there are a couple self proclaimed socialist leaders who turned into corrupt dictators. Socialism is bad because it requires a centralized violent power to forbid workers from organizing themselves into certain ways. Those ways do not harm anyone and are in respect of everybody's rights. Socialism forbids workers from taking full advantage of the principle of division of labor and designating someone with the specialized role of managing capital (which the video improperly defines, I recomment reading wikipedia's definition). It is also often based on the idea that the capitalist is necessarily an exploiter, but modern economic theory has already explained why that's not the case. If instead by socialism you mean welfare statism (which is not socialism), then it has the immoral aspect of doing charity with the money of others, which is not real charity. Welfare states can only be financed by taxing a mostly capitalist economy. The nordic countries, for instance, have welfare states AND a much higher economic freedom than the USA, meaning it's easier to carry out a capitalist business there. Argentina, on the other hand, is a failed welfare state, because it does not allow capitalism to flourish and therefore it runs out of money.
@QuesadillaQuest808 It's not utopian, it's distopian. Even if we magically reached perfect socialism/communism, it wouldn't be sustainable and there would be suffering. There is nothing wrong with chasing a utopian vision of the future, it's just that this one in particular doesn't work, while others might, and orient us in the proper direction.
@@MrTomyCJ Where'd you get the idea that socialism is a system characterized by a totalitarian and oppressive rulership (presumably by a privileged few), with bureaucratic elements running the economy?
@@MrTomyCJThe demonization of socialism and it branches shows well on that comment. The argument about the suffering is bs. Capitalism is much, much greater catalist for tyranny in every way. It killed billions of people and still kills millions per year. It revolves around passive or active violence, war, exploitation... The former socialism experiment was greatly altered by the fact that capitalism tried its utter most to destroy any attempt at opposition, because it KNOWS socialism is better, and because of its very principles, threatens the money and power of the little elite. " Socialism has always failed " - again, bs. They were under sanctions, constant sabotage, seclusion, and military threat. Perhaps they would have been successful if treated as equals and allowed to stretch their legs, trade ect. Their resort to strict control was the only way to secure themselves. There are plenty of videos about those topics, from this channel and others, explaining better and further than i can.
@@MrTomyCJ "Socialism is bad because it requires a centralized violent power to forbid workers from organizing themselves into certain ways. ": but surely this is capitalism word for word? strike breaking? union busting? the state violently suppresses threats to private property, especially when they are made by workers expressing a desire to democratically control their workplace. in fact i think you've unintentionally come up with a great and simple critique of how capitalism restricts the freedom of the masses to organize themselves and their economic production because it allows that power to accumulate unequally in the hands of individual capitalists. additionally, i think in the communist manifesto itself it says that the roles of management would be determined by the workers, democratically, perhaps by popular vote or with an elected representative. the details of the workings of any society are determined by its participants, anyhow, so however you can imagine a management role being filled, not by private ownership being its sole qualification, is fair game.
I would just love to imagine a world without money. Ever since it has existed, people deny any idea that proposes a potentially better world without it
@@hflx money does define capitalism. Its all about the money, or they wouldnt do it. But I agree in the sense that, money itself isn’t a problem, but something that gets currupted. Money can be helpful but capitalism doesnt allow that. Greed and power always wins unfortunately.
@@hflx thats what i was meaning. Money CAN and DOES represent capitalism. but not in the way people may think. I agree with your statements, my statement was not necessarily about stating just a fact, but including my opinion that, Capitalism when it comes down to it, it’s about greed and power. Value is subjective… what one thinks is valuable may not be true for another of course. It devalues others work to get to the top. You cant be completely ethical when you participate in capitalism it’s impossible now. I totally agree with what youre saying. But money is what keeps it going, using human labor and devaluating what their work is really “worth” is all to make a profit for yourself/ business. My perception of money is different than yours but Im not denying the facts. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Since finding your channel I've normally watched on Nebula but wanted to stop by here and say thankyou for your concise and insightful commentary. Really brilliant work!
Generation X here - wanted to let you know that I am thankful you mentioned the Anarchist Piotr Kropotkin and more and more people are beginning to seriously think about Anarchism here in the UK (at least), this has been exemplified for me by my Anarchist comments on mainstream news outlets such as The Guardian no longer being met with uneducated drivel and derision, but instead by thoughtful and reasonable questions and understanding. The tide may be finally turning after centuries of lies from the self interested classes thanks to the widespread availability of information that undermines the lies of sociopaths. Truth need only whisper, but lies require constant and loud reinforcement. Keep up the good work old boy.
I'm in my third year of university and one of my, like, non-negotiable classes is philosophy and the pursuit of a good life, so we've been talking about liberalism and capitalism a lot and this video has finally given me some framework for talking back to the neo-liberal people in my class who literally can't imagine a world outside of capitalism and talk within the ideological framework set out for them by capitalism. Thank you!
Here's the main issue. Know why socialism/communism fails? It's always tried out on a nation that's poor. Redistribute poverty and all you get is more poverty. For poor nations capitalism is the best system. All nations start off poor. Rich nations can go communist and nothing would really happen. 99% of people would be happier and 1% of people would get very angry. No rich nation has tried it though. The economy would take a hit. The 1% and their businesses will move elsewhere. GDP will start to fall for a few years... panic... Then naturally every person starts their own small business and compete with one another. Eventually gdp stabilizes. Monopolies seize to exist. Everyone is an entrepreneur. Stabilization. Caveat? Technological stagnation. The issue with every one being a small business owner? Not having wage workers and huge teams for break through advances (the only upside for monopolies).
@@jorsoodlang East Germany is the perfect example to what I'm saying. East Germany was richer than the West while communist. The war then wiped them both out and both became poor. Since both were poor the capitalist one went ahead. But if the war never happened and they both stayed rich..m then the communist one would have been the one ahead.
@@jorsoodlang Haven't you noticed every time a rich country is experiencing some sort of economic crisis they implement socialist ideals to restimulate the economy? When poor socialist countries experience economic crisis they turn to capitalism. Have a rich capitalist country implement more capitalism while in crisis and have a poor socialist nation implement more socialism while in crisis and both would inevitably collapse. Solution is simple. More socialism for the the rich capitalists and more capitalism for the poor socialist nation. Keep at it until you find the optimal point (varies for each country depending on current wealth). When in doubt and forced to pick between socialism and capitalism... stick to capitalism. Better to collapse because of massive unequal wealth than to collapse because of no wealth.
I’m a Senior Finance Major that also likes Philosophy too. I don’t really agree with much of this video simply because you cannot imagine a version of the current world that exists today because of Capitalism without Capitalism. It does not exist, whereas Capitalism is the current reality built by centuries and centuries of trade. The “Global Village” is perhaps the greatest feat of humanity to date. Socialism/Communism do not actually exist in any tangible way in our world, so it’s easy to imagine them as never existing. In every attempt at either, neglect from the other countries/firms and reduced trade has caused them to collapse and abandon anti-capitalist ways. China had starvation because they couldn’t just import food from Australia, because they were Capitalist and that was bad. Today with Capitalism, China simply imports food and supplies from other capitalist entities. Capitalism makes it easier for people to get the goods and services they want, whereas the others do the opposite
In conversations like these it is important to understand what things are. For example Capitalism is a system of free trade. Socialism is a form of governance that also extends and controls trade.
Incorrect definition. Capitalism is an economic system in which some people derive income from the ownership of the means of production which other people need to use to do work which creates value. This may mean they own farmland that other people are farming, or they may own factories that other people are working in, or they may own houses that other people need to keep themselves out of the weather - but in all cases, they are obtaining income for themselves by owning something that another person needs to use, and that income comes not from selling the item, but from renting to or employment of that other person. You can have capitalism without free trade. You can have socialism with free trade. Socialism requires that the workers own the means of production, which may mean that every factory is owned by a cooperative owned by the workers in that factory. The government doesn't have to be involved at all in how they run their business.
@@tealkerberus748 I wasn’t seeking out an opinion I was stating a fact. You are incorrect. Socialism deals with the running of a country not just a company. As such, the company is owned by the people not the workers, the profits are shared by all, and the rates for service are capped. Capitalism cannot function in a system that limits choice or trade. To use your example how can a capitalist rent out the land that he doesn’t own? How does a new company break into the market when the people’s options are limited?
WOW, heavy. This could be debated for hours...days. Let me simply say what an outstanding video this is and what a great job you did as host. It's this kind of thing that we need more of on UA-cam and elsewhere to provoke thought, debate, introspection.
I suspect that your assertion that "it could be debated for hours...days" is only because we're not configured to update our thinking in realtime. Having two people speak (or shout) arguments at each other isn't a debate, it's just monkeys chattering. Simple exchange of information doesn't take all that long, but one must be open to new data, or to corrective logic (also, the presenter is well served to have their information available in a format that is accessible, credible, and easily verified.) Being told one has bad data is difficult to correct, even if the better data is readily available and verifiable, but being told one isn't reaching a logically-consistent conclusion is both a blow to the ego, and likely requires significant rewrite of cognitive processes. (Good bloody luck with that.)
@@MrDefinitionMan Hi I would just like to let you know that your comment is very confusing, and I cannot for the life of me understand whether you are condemning them or just commenting on something. This is nothing against you, I just honestly can't infer your meaning from what you said.
I would love if you covered Fisher's notion of cybertime crisis, which appears in post capitalist desire, a scattering of lectures and other writings. Fisher tries to articulate how communucation technologies produce the feeling of time scarcity, which leads us to permanent states of hurried/manic emerency in which nothing substantial can be done. Before his death, Fisher points to cybertime as a powerful force supressing our ability to resist and reconfigure society.
That part of the video really touched me. Being so focused on the follies of the human race on my daily life, it's easy to forget that there are a great number of genuinely good people as well
Star Trek is a grand sci-fi example of a post capitalist society. Everyone has their needs met but. Ciscos father runs a restaurant. How does that work? How do Starfleet personnel buy things at Quarks? How does Picard justify owning a vineyard with a manor house when it seems most people live in efficiency apartments? Capitalism is hard to get over.
Much as I'd love to write an essay exploring this fascinating subject, and one dear to my heart, I'll just observe that in human history there have been many systtems, monarchy as the most obvious, that were almost universally found worldwide, and for thousands of years no one could imagine a way of displacing it, although certainly there were various alternatives conceived of and sometimes used. The idea of an unstratified society isn't new, but it has yet to arise. My thesis is that only when planetary events force humans to find and adopt another method of relating to one another and meeting human needs (not wants, but needs) will another system evolve. It is only when an economic or governmental (or religious) system fails, usually culminating in a farily spectacular period of chaos and suffering, that human societies try something different. It's only after you've stripped the bolt that you're forced to figure out some other way of removing it, to put in practical terms.
religion has always been there all the time. even today islam is conquering the world, specifically, conquering former nations which now are downgraded to multicultural, feminine, weak, atheist countries. or plots of land to be better used, as seen from the perspective of those doing the invasion.
@@IntoTheVoid1981 guy put it so clearly that he is a bottom-feeder in society by talking about needs. complete lack of ambition, very common in beta-male internet dwellers.
that caos you are talking about is coming, and the result of it will be the inevitable elimination of defective genes that mother nature is best at. you can rest assure a weak system in which humans, as living being we are, are not even reproducing, and are most definitely not expanding into space, is not something mother nature wants, and mother nature always gets what she wants. alternatively, singularity will happen and machines will be doing the expansion. one way or another, the design of existence makes it so that living being multiply and expand, so any attempt to subvert that design will be crushed at some point in time.
I remember when I was younger I was taught that in a forest larger trees blocked sun and the little trees were in competition to get sun light and survive. Later, in a community college biology class I learned that trees work cooperatively through the mycelium network and that the larger trees actually share nutrients with the smaller trees. It was really a revelation for me just how much the capitalist framework influences our theories and our science. Anyway you're video just reminded me of this. Great analysis!
Multicellularity is pretty much communism to begin with. All those cells working together to keep the organism alive.
Naaaaaw you kidding me. Dat actually true? That the bigger trees share nutrients with the smaller plants under em?
@@ChiliForEveryone mushrooms are socialist bud.
@@ChiliForEveryone - As Immortal Technic IMPLORED us "Read!". And yes, the mycelium network is a thing.
@@ChiliForEveryone Yeah, the mycelium network plays a huge role in the plant kingdom but, in my experience, learning about it in grade schools (K-12) is pretty rare
"The existence of greed is not reason enough to build an economy that rewards it." holy shit yes
Shit I think that's the most profound quote I've read. 👍
Yet here we are.
So socialism?
" this episode is sponsored by Audible " 😂😂😂 this guy lives off the same capitalism he protests against
@@arnoldboer we all do that babe, there's no other way to survive in our current society:/
"It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism" hits so hard
Never underestimate greed
Capitalism has essentially been forced on us, whether we wanted it or not.
I honestly think some people would have an easier time coping with the end of the world than the end of capitalism. That’s how indoctrinated some of these people are.
Well, after watching Orville i can imagine at least one noncapitalist future
the reason for that being that there is no replacement for capitalism. all of the countries which you think are socialist are actually mixed economies which are based on capitalism. it would be easier to imagine the world ending, because it probably would if we just abandoned ship with no viable replacement for the economy.
Living in a capitalist world and being aware of its flaws feels like everybody is forced to play a game that you can not opt out of but desperately want to. As much as I'd like to think that things such as money and economic value are just things we made up, I can't really tell that to my landlord when they ask me to pay monthly rent. I think the problem is not that not enough ordinary people can imagine life outside capitalism, but that modt people in power choose not to despite having the chance to change those systems right in their fingertips.
Friend, who, exactly do people elect to make these adverse decisions? Those who have NO desire to change the system for the betterment of all. Thus, yes, our leaders are to blame, but who empowered them in the first place?
@@SAI21MiamiI think that’s just a part of their point, that although some may want to switch to different economic model, capitalism is so ingrained into our reality that there aren’t enough “ordinary people” realizing the flaws in the system, and therefore voting for better leaders.
@gopherman49 I have to agree with you there friend, because capitalism is indeed deeply ingrained in the minds of the masses. Often we are exhorted to "think outside of the box", but few apparently manage this feat with any degree of success, to the detriment of us all.
@@SAI21Miami The wealthy and mega-corporations who heavily fund candidates that will keep the status-quo. Most people don't pay attention to how those in power vote. They are simply on a political "team" and vote that way. Politicians know this. Heavily funded candidates get much more exposure and will win most primaries so that when general elections come up there are very few candidates who will change the system very much, if at all. In the U.S., Citizens United is one aspect that has made it very difficult to change things.
i hear what youre saying, but i feel its a mix of both. I've had a lot of people, irl and in my ig comments, telling me that im an idiot for considering a reality where capitalism is not our main government, or even just critiquing it at all. i feel like the pro-capitalist and anti-communist propoganda that emerged from the world wars has stuck through to today, and the propoganda has worked. people are scared to even think that capitalism could be wrong, which is a great safety for keeping it in place. but i agree, corporations really drive the point home and if they wont change its harder for us as people to imagine change
This is why history is a very important subject in education. Its sad that it gets shunned, because humanity keeps repeating it.
And now history is being censored again in states like Florida 🙄🙄
@@foxhauck3993 Gay historical revision has been banned in Florida. The only history is about things which happened in the past and Black history is an example of a homophobic history of religious leadership and not a bunch of queers.
The problem with history is that it's not just important ideals that get taught-- it's every single detail, even if meaningless because of the thought that it had an effect on whatever happened.
Repeating...? Who is repeating what...???
@@rodrigocampo9014 He means the actions and decisions that humans make in present day is the same exact thing the humans in the past did hundreds of years ago. Unfortunately history is looked at as a background subject, not an imperial highly regarded subject for everyone to understand and learn from.
I am not sure I struggle to imagine a society that isn't capitalist, but I certainly struggle to imagine how our society could become one.
Same. I just don't see the people with power letting it out of their claws without massive global revolution. And that would be such a hassle. Also, unimaginably difficult to organise.
@@francookie9353 Even with a revolution how can you ever be sure the winner will be righteous? How can you ever be sure that it wouldn’t somehow make things even worse, bringing out the radical fascists in their own counter uprising? It’s not a surefire solution either
Изучите период истории СССР с 1917 по 1953 год. Можно будет увидеть как Ленин, а потом Сталин занимались построением социализма. (translate it from russian to english in google)
Either ripples, or a giant crash. We can’t wait for the crash, so continue to make ripples and trust in the future
@@A_J502 means of production and wealth are 2 different things. and wealth distribution require capital (money) which is far from anti-capitalism. So, I don't know what kind of society you imagining of, but its probably a capitalist one.
I'd like to point out that, as a social species, generosity and serving the interest of others is downright evolutionarily advantageous because helping others raises the likelihood they would help you, and therefore, raises the likelihood you'd survive. Meaning the current system in place is distinctly _against_ human nature.
I’ve been saying for decades that selfishness and selflessness are actually very similar motivators and not necessarily mutually exclusive.
If I loan my neighbor sugar and the next day they see somebody breaking into my house and call the police, we have created a mutually beneficial alliance.
Conversely, if my neighbor constantly revs a motorcycle loudly in a manner that is purposefully aggravating and I see someone breaking into his house, I might just decide it’s not my problem and turn a blind eye to the situation. Therefore, without even necessarily meaning to, that neighbor has canceled our potentially mutually exclusive social contract by being an ass.
If more people understood how quick tables can turn they might think twice before acting ridiculous.
@@LeahIsHereNowI don't suppose you might consider simply asking your neighbor to STOP revving his motorcycle so loudly BEFORE it comes down to you allowing a literal crime to be committed in your neighborhood just because you're feeling petty? 🤨
If capitalism is the totality of human nature, I think there wouldn’t be so many people feeling empty, nihilism, loneliness even though they are not facing the death.
It is necessary to have something like game theory to protect your own interests, but helping and serving others are just the same. I don’t know how a person would not be fulfilled if they serve other people good and find meaning from it.
@@illuminocalypse5210 its a hypothetical so they wasn’t referring to themselves and there are petty people in the world nothing is imaginary anymore tbh.
Agreed, capitalism, fiat money system plus governments do not go with that nature but go against it. Hence most of the trouble's in this world. Trying to help another is very logical from a human sociological perspective but not when its not benefetting anyone.
I am one year away from age 80. It gives me hope that there are those of the next generation who will still be producing this kind of videos and this type of thought even after I am dead.
i wish you many more years of good health and happiness ❤
Boomers are on UA-cam? What the [ __ ] is wrong with the world?!
Stay healthy, dear❤
hopefully the movement will have more power in the future
Best of luck to ya my man ! Enjoy theeze years and YES our contemporary younger generations r ON IT ! BET :) again "live long and prosper," as spock would say feel me ? Later dude ! :)
"Sometimes gorillas punch each other and that's why you deserve to be poor." The best summary of the naturalistic argument for capitalism.
it made me lol! 😀
They're cross-referencing their traumas, regrets, fears and the numerous lies they're told. They see imbalance of power leading to abuse every time, not realizing that 'capitalism' is the worst version of this, where the wrong-doing powerful and wealthy have layers and layers of guise and protection; between the media, outsourcing to the mercurial, and the feds 'protecting national interest.'
@@ertymexx lolo me too. Animals kill each other, so let's kill each other too mate
People who think that way don't deserve to live in a civilized society period!
It's also a straw man fallacy, but whatever. It is amusing, I suppose.
"The existence of greed is not reason enough to build an economy that rewards it." Spot on.
The existence of dozens of counter examples where socialists starved to death is a good enough reason to reward greed.
And yet, the existence of need is reason to build an economy that rewards meeting those needs. Each purchase I make is a vote to encourage our economy to meet more of that need. I pity a population that decides to let a supreme power choose what needs matter more. This is what the CCP attempted in 1959 and over 15 million people died of starvation.
Thank you!
But when it comes to distance and time in the greater universe capitalism is really one of the only ideologies that works as it isn’t built off of trust
@@Gnaritas42 idk if I would go that far I think a form of communism is far superior when dealing with small groups of people but on a large scale like we have today with millions of people living together in a society where trust is as rare as it is capitalism is the only reasonable option until humanity progresses far enough to where capitalism is no longer needed and trust is a give in but considering our current state I think I’m just being very hopeful and optimistic about that because in reality that day will probably never come
Showed this to my (left-leaning but centristish) 65 and 70-year old parents and blew their minds. 10/10 recommend sharing.
I can’t recall if the video itself used this reference, but it brings to my mind 1984 where Big Brother restricts and reduces vocabulary in order to restrict and limit thought. Capitalism has done such a good job of entrenching itself as essential / natural / least-worst / etc, that it’s very akin to the vocabulary-thought restriction depicted in 1984.
Great idea
“Sometimes gorillas punch eachother, and that’s why you need to be poor” COMPLETELY AGREE. This is BS! We can have a better world.
We can, but only if we are united in pursuing this vision. Thus far, most seem mired in their misguided appraisal of Capitalism as our one true God and guiding light.
Are you stupid?
Missed the point
you're poor because you don't provide value. McDonalds provides cheap hamburgers across the world: therefore, its a transnational company.
instead of womp womping capitalism, why not try to capitalise off of it then return your money to charity or something?
We can choose to be the change we wish to see in the world, together, with others. One step at a time.
Build awareness in ourselves and share with others.
Then unite, and physically contribute, in community, to create that better system, better society and better future.
Some tools, include:
- Peter Joseph's work, especially The New Human Rights Movement book, his films and shows, with Zeitgeist: Requiem coming out very soon.
- Moneyless Society, World Beyond Capitalism, Dangerous Ideas with Lee Camp, Democracy at Work with Richard Wolff channels
- One Small Town Contributionism with Michael Tellinger
Society doesn’t move forward when you think about how it could be worse, society moves forward when you think about how it could be better.
Thank you - this deserves more likes. I believe our greatest enemy is cynicism.
Society doesn’t move forward from you thinking about it. It’s apathetic to you. To make it better for you, you have to make it better from *your* actions first
Neoliberal propaganda solution - “If you don’t think Murica is the greatest country in the history of the world, why don’t you go live somewhere else” - easiest way for the elite to convince dummies to hate progress
@@mysteryuser7062 Good point - I just wish I could do more from my small town. Not even in the quadruple digits - how could I make a difference?
@@holdenmatteson229 By setting your finances to where you end up down the road with an ok house/apartment, a retirement plan, and savings account. These are things an individual can do on their own
"Sometimes gorillas punch each other and that's why you deserve to be poor" THIS ONE KILLED ME 😂😂😂😂😂
Lol
trees grow in the forest. That's why we need communism.
@@littlebrothermoneywithmich6178 Trees grow in the forest. That’s why we need Fascism.
@@mysteryuser7062 we have creeping fascism now
@@robertheap2911 I merely said that to mock the average Communist’s logic.
Capitalism >>> Fascism/Socialism/Communism
Recently, in therapy, I tried to explain to my therapist the feeling of disempowerment that comes from living in a society where, when you pursue your passion and go to school you have to essentially become an entrepreneur and sell that passion to other people selling their passions to survive, or become a wage slave and lose your soul in a mind numbing job.
I hate it.
And then I read about how more developed working and healthcare nations outside of ours seeing and applying the sciences that we live and work better with four day weeks and less hours and realize how that just at this point would never happen in this nation until better leadership and organization occurs for true change.
Agreed. I almost lost my soul, and as a result- my life- because of a soul crushing, mind-numbing gig. Still recovering.
Being a slaver or slave, yes pretty much. But I found out there is more. Just not largely. If you step out of the "growth mindset", you can either work for yourself without pushing it (although, you need to do something that is useful to the society, what is of no use can't sustain), or work for others while keeping a distance. What you need to lose is the greed pressure. Not feeling the need to consume everything that is available and not needing all the luxuries people tell you you'd need so they can sell it to you.
However, where money rules everything and the nation does not fight it with laws, this is actually impossible.
Meanwhile, watch videos on surviving tribes and how peaceful and unbothered their lives seem. It's not easy and they might not live as long but they don't know anything different. They are rewarded every day by doing the daily practices of survival like hunting, preparing meals, fixing up shelters, creating art, storytelling etc. etc. That is human. That is how humans have lived since the dawn of man. Whatever we're experiencing now is some alien form of living that slowly chips away at what makes us human. Soon we'll be inseparable from the artificial and I think we are suffering because of that.
How horrible.
You’d rather just stay home and pursue your “passions” all day while others toil in the fields to grow your food, or swing hammers in the sun to build your house.
Turns out the people all doing that shit would rather you do their shitty jobs so they can stay home and do whatever the fuck it is that they enjoy.
Why don’t you quit wasting your time and money at “therapy” for your bullshit made up problem and use that time to pursue your passion and save the money so you’re not feeling stretched so thin. Congratulations you just killed two birds with one stone.
I don't understand how anyone can look at corporate business, with all of it's atrocities, inequalities, and injustices, and think "Boy, I wish my government worked like this". How you could believe a government should be run for profit above all else is literally beyond me. We have seen corporations destroy cultures, environments, and governments. It's not theory, it's proven and admitted.
I'm so confused on what you mean? communism isn't wanting the government to run for profit, it's precisely the opposite - wanting corporations to NOT run for profit. businesses should run for the good of society, instead of greed or profit, those are the fundamentals of communism
@stellafolwarska4216 I made no mention of communism because I wasn't talking about communism. What I was referring to was the current crop of buffoons who believe that because someone was supposedly great at running a business, that person is the best one to run our government. My point being that running a country the way a business is run(profits over lives) is a terrible notion, given the abhorrent abuses that are commonly committed by corporations.
@@notmuchfortalk oh I get you now lol I misunderstood sorry
There is competition in a socialist society also. The most ruthless, aggressive, violent a-holes rise to the top and become the political elite.
@craigthompson3739 OK, point? I didn't mention socialism.
I learned that „survival of the fittest“ implies that not the physically fittest survive, but the ones who adapt best to their environment
Yeah that’s the definition
@@brown9671 Thank you. Fucking hell this comment section is so stupid.
The physical part has always been misunderstood. But it's not about adapting to the environment either, which implies evolution being self-guided, or active rather than passive.
It is talking about a population that has small random variations due to occasional DNA mutation in reproduction. Some of those variations might lead that individual to be a better "fit" to the environment. Longer hair might help in a cold environment for example or a long neck to help reach higher branches. Those that are a better fit are more likely to survive to pass on their genes to offspring (the literal meaning of survival of the fittest) and so the good mutations tend to accumulate and the bad ones die out. aka "natural selection" as opposed to "self selection" if the animal has to adapt itself
Yep. In all the areas where Social/Comm/Fascism are weak, Capitalism is significantly stronger and simpler, which is why it’s lasted roughly 5,000 years and is going strong.
Also supporting the evolution angle is the fact that when a civilization attempts one of the three systems I mentioned, they always stagnate, decline, and convert back into Capitalism. This happens even despite literally raising children to read Karl Marx in schools in countries like the USSR and CCP. This evolutionary advantage is what causes Capitalism to dominate this world
@@mysteryuser7062 Capitalism isn't 5000 years old idiot.
When I was a child, I got radicalized by falling into a right-wing conservative pipeline, and for years I thought that capitalism was THE only working socioeconomic system, straight up believing that communism/socialism means you can't own private property as in like a toothbrush or a phone. Needless to say I fortunately got out of that mindset, and it still makes me shudder just to remember those times
Same here, I was once in that position myself. Now I'm a socialist.
It's actually really impractical that there is this very important distinction between private and personal property, because in common usage those words are basically interchangeable. Which makes the difference so easy to misunderstand.
Sounds like me. I was super radicalized by growing up on Fox News, and I've pulled a 180 in my politics since then. My dad still watches Tucker Carlson every night, so I try not to let my family know what I'm actually thinking.
The irony is that, we are steadily moving towards a point in our capitalist society where we have no ownership of any goods. Housing being gobbled up by corporations with no aspirations of releasing it back into the market other than for renting.
Many modern cars have been computerized to the point where they can potentially have the ability to be bricked and disabled by the manufacturer. You've seen manufacturers pushing for subscriptions for higher acceleration. Right to repair is a battleground.
It feels like a lot goods and services are pushing subscription models, and means to put a consumer into some form of debt. Microsoft Office would have been a one time purchase, but now you have to pay a monthly fee for it. You can literally finance a pizza from Dominoes nowadays.
@Jackie Chan Ooh, the F- and R-slurs, we’ve got a real great thinker here.
There was an era where no one could imagine anything but kingdoms. Humans have always gone through phases.
Yeah, I always think about this. People used to say that there is only the divine rule of kings and there is no place for liberal democracy. You could say it was "feudal realism" :D
I believe that 21st century's nobility is corporate interests. They distribute the most money around and tax us in their own ways by playing king with the vassal politicians.
People are actually pretty bad at imagining things that are yet to come. Generally speaking humans are narrow-minded, ignorant, and uncreative, like all other animals. That's why smart, creative, and insightful people become famous and outlive their biological lives. Because a good, interesting human is such a rare occurrence it is only natural a big to do is made. Of course, it goes the other way, too.
Sometimes people don't like insight, new ways, or even truth itself and they will kill over how inferior, weak, frightened, and stupid it makes them feel.
That's because back then that WAS the only system that could reliably exist. What's most efficient in the short term always wins. Capitalism is indeed the only way things can be.
@@muffinfighter3680 this just made me discover a new corner of my brain😂! So on point
I was exposed to the concept of Christian Socialism during my time in university. A group of students lived communally, shared extensively, and supported co-operatively. Meeting this group, and observing them for 4 years, convinced me that they were on to something. Since those days, I've tried to emulate the things to their standards.
It can work small-scale but it won't on a larger scale. Due to the human factor. When people attempt socialism, workers get lazy and supervisors get greedy and abuse power. Case in point, Jonestown, Guyana.
@@Thomas116-m2nsocialism can only work when the subject hasn’t been programmed , from birth you can either program a working software or a virus , we are all a virus !
@sfs1167 so deep, this is miraculous for a human being to even have the capability to process thoughts like that, totally true I have never seen workers get lazy and supervisor gets greedy + abuse of their power. Thank you for sharing your precise and complex point of view on this matter
Christianity is incompatible with Marxian socialism
@@apolloneenneige3164😂 “case in point” every workplace ever
"Only observing humans under capitalism and concluding it's in our nature to be greedy is the equivalent of only observing us underwater and concluding it's in our nature to drown" 👏👏👏
Fortunately we've had to chance to observe humans under most social constructs. Where does each one fail? At greed. In that respect, Capitalism is no different, better or worse.
You all are talking bullshit about emotions - greed is an emotion like love and hate. Socialism and capitalism are political economic systems and the little girl approach of assessing emotions is incompetent for deciding the outcomes of millions of people. The emotions turn out to be completely irrelevant. The idea of you clowns that a government should try to regulate emotion through economic policy - socialist pseudoeconomic policy - has been the most brutal philosophy humans were ever forced to endure.
@@cyberswept proof please
@@soulcapitalist6204 well, humans defy nature for ages. If defying our nature would help us all survive better as a whole (since we're social creatures and all) then I don't see why the "torture" you talked about is irrational.
@@ZNIR777 Firstly, human survival is compromised by ignorant economics and placing emotional analysis ahead of reality. You present this opposite idea that socialist policy might help, but this must be based on your preference for envy over greed in the emotional sphere. This will not relate in any way to your policy outcomes and will compromise the survivability of this society due to the central role economy plays in our societies.
Secondly, this curbing of human nature by governments is called totalitarianism. It requires the most severe authoritarianism in history as demonstrated anywhere which took Karl Marx seriously.
The demagogy of human nature and economics is essentially what socialism amounts to. Somehow you all use terms like rational when you clearly base your assessment of economic institutions on emotion like the greed emotion you brought up in the first place.
_Why the oppressor is so strong? Because he has so many accomplices among the oppressed_
_How did the axe convince the forest trees it was one of them? By pointing out that its handle is made of wood_
The aforementioned sayings capture the current situation quite well
It baffles me that there are so many poor people who seriously think that billionaires are working in the best interest of the working class.
While it is clear that to even run a global business you will need loads of cash, it is hard to imagine that you would need billions of cash. Therefore, the only goal of businesses making billions of money is to make billions of money. Furthermore, the drive to make a thing that makes billions of money always becomes the drive to make money. The logic is quite simple; and yet because part of making billions of cash involves making that business indispensable, people think billionaires are thinking about the common person.
@BorginBurkes or that billionaires got there through hard work alone. They must be the hardest workers out of the bunch to gain so much success.
Yet, billionaires are part of the "ruling" class, and the middle class is called the "working" class.
If billionaires are so proud of their hard work, and to keep with the narrative that hard work brought about their success, wouldn't they too want to be considered the "working" class?
They're just like us! /s
@@rje024yeah even as a child I knew this was bullshit. Cause why is my mom working 24/7 and we are still lower middleclass 🤔 hard work ≠ money
@@rje024 it’s fascinating. Almost Every single billionaire and politician in history started off as a part of the upper class. You really think the upper class would ever help someone from the lower class advance to his level?
"Only observing human beings under capitalism and assuming it's in our nature to be greedy is the equivalent of only observing us under water and concluding it's in our nature to drown."
Damn. That puts a new perspective to my thinking that the fault sometimes does not lay within the system but within the humans. Thanks.
Has the world not tried anything other than capitalism? If so, did it go well?
@@rexibhazoboa7097No, we have not tried any systems that create an even playing field for everyone. The "socialist" economies that have played out around the world have not truly been backed by outright socialism, but rather put up as a front for socio-authoritarianism.
@@MrBudderTacoMBT socialism is extremely easy for the elite to manipulate.
Humans are greedy because humans are greedy. Blaming capitalism means you don't know enough about humans.
My biggest worry is that other forms of economy or government to change for the better would require a large chunk of people to get into powerful positions and be morally good. Because capitalism basically breeds a much more morally neutral or even evil morality into a majority of its people, we can't get enough good guys into positions to change things in time. Some evil always has time to stamp out or corrupt those who somehow manage to get ahead in the first place.
Capitalism encourages you to help other people. It is the opposite of greed
Living under capitalism shows me the exact opposite.@@Homedepotorange
@@Homedepotorange You need to read what’s capitalism
@@Leylakaz27 Capitalism is when the markets are free. The markets are not currently free
Good morally people dont seek power, thats the problem lmfao.
I think the reason I struggle much less with this is the same reason I got into so much trouble as a kid for arguing with my mom. She would be a bit neglectful, I would complain about how our situation sucked, and she would say "be grateful you don't have it worse". But instead of internalizing that, I just got more angry, because I could clearly see that things could and should be better.
The whole experience really galvanized me against that way of thinking. Sometimes to an actually unhealthy degree as I struggle with accepting imperfection in many ways. But there's a difference between "Yeah kiddo, it sucks we live in a crumbling house, if I could make it all better I would, but I physically can't, so let me help you live better with what I can do", and "Yeah it sucks but you should actually feel good about it and stop fighting for anything better".
Gratefulness for what we already have is the starting point toward improving. It sound counter-intuitive, but the viewpoint that things are really really terrible and we urgently need to change them is actually just desperation, which leads to bad decisions and critical failure. Whereas the viewpoint that things are pretty good leads to working within the existing framework to improve life, a technique that tends to work a lot better for generally powerless people than trying to desperately succeed or quit.
@@gorkyd7912
That’s black and white thinking. You can be grateful for what you have while striving to fight against the unjust treatment of people and animals. The viewpoint that “things are pretty good” when they’re not leads to inaction. It leads to the acceptance of things that we can actually change as being fine to leave without changing. Acting in blind desperation, specifically, isn’t good unless it’s a last resort but believing things are “pretty good” when the rich get more rich and the poor get more poor with the former stripping away the latter’s rights behind their back and increasing the strangling grip they have over the lives of the working class is like being in denial in an abusive relationship. Yeah, continuing to raise the retirement age as well as lobby the government to change laws to the point where companies run the government and ultimately your life is NOT “pretty good” by any stretch of the imagination.
@@nickybobby9317 I think if you can't recognize reality you're in no position to change anything. Don't try to drive the car thats teetering on top of a cliff just because you want a better view. The viewpoint that things are pretty good is rooted in reality; for most people living right now, things are FAR better than they would have been 50 / 100 years ago. So making a radical change to improve things for a few people right now could just as easily destroy everything that made things so good for everyone to begin with.
For example, you say the poor get more poor but this is just false. In the 1700s there were estimated less than 1 billion people on earth. Now there are 8 billion. If the poor were actually getting poorer this would be impossible, they would all have starved long ago, not multiplied. They're not getting poorer, they're getting richer.
What is "the retirement age"? Are you mandated to work until a certain age? Do you hail from North Korea? No, you're probably just another spoiled westerner. You're complaining about something that you would actually call "good" if I phrased it differently. How about this phrasing: "People are living much longer and they are having fewer children." If you can understand that one sentence then you can understand why the age that you start receiving benefits will increase, one way or another.
@@gorkyd7912 The reality of " It could be worse." is itself a call for change.
On an individual level it's actually a very good thing to have that "it could be so much worse" mindset in my opinion. It allows you to have so much more gratitude for what you do have which is really good for mental health. But on a SYSTEM level, nothing will ever improve if people think that way. I think people have a real serious problem with parsing the way they think about things on their own individual level and on a system level, I'm hoping to make a video on it at some point
I'm not a socialist but I definitely agree humanity should be walking towards changing the system rather than just saying it's "not as bad as socialism" and doing nothing. Good video
For real. Our world is changing a lot with automation, scientific discoveries, advances in medicine, climate change, etc. Capitalism was a good running start in terms of human technical advancement, but it won't alone solve our modern issues.
@@firedplay hey you! stop it!
🌚 that's heresy!
Many advances/discoveries was financed by the workers and owners taxes then sold back to us by the well connected
@@AgeofCraccadilliaassent most of tech companies rely on technology developed at subsidized universities as well.
Its Its not survival of the fittest but survival of the richest.
“It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.”
Wow. That hit hard.
Often I think of the end of capitalism as the end of the world, bc we simply wouldn’t recover, who knows
@@Dr.Succ0 what has capitalism done that other ideologies wouldn’t repeat
Please research the Fermi paradox it doesn’t matter what you try to do it will all have the same outcome
That frase hit me hard, enough said
Capitalism will die when humanity dies. It’s so deeply engrained into our species to want something for something in return and want to protect property that it would simply take another form.
Capitalism began with people trading with shells. Through its evolution it lead to coins, which lead to notes, that lead to dollars we have today. If that dollar were not there, people would use Crypto currencies instead or regress to metal coins again. Thusly, Capitalism will probably follow our species until we are no more
Because once socialism takes over, it is the end of the world, end of the free world.
Darwin never actually said "survival of the fittest", Herbert Spencer did, but somewhere along the line it became confused with Darwin as they came about around the same time. Darwin actually believed that it was the most compassionate that flourished. Communities where the members helped one another were the ones that survived.
I simply refuse to accept that we cannot do better than this. What is really truly getting in our way here?
The answer to your question is fear.
Those who already control capital
@Jackie Chan Try watching the video. The whole "every other alternative is worse" response isn't logical and Second Thought already explained why in detail.
@Jackie Chan ah yes "SOCiALIsTS sHoUlD READ A HIsToRY bOoK
@jackiechan8653 sir did you watch the video
Great video JT!, just to add to Darwin’s view: survival of the fittest is meant as survival of the best adapted. It’s not a matter of outcompeting others but rather being adaptable/suited to your environment. Survival, in this context, is then independent from competition. Capitalism is not a natural law
Correct!
That's exactly what Kropotkin was trying to explain to people in Mutual Aid!
I do like how this implies that Darwin’s survival of the fittest means capitalism should die or at the very least should take less of an overwhelming role. Capitalism, as is proven now, leads to a horrible society and also tends to lead towards socialistic solution when given the chance, so capitalism was never well suited for anything.
That should put a dent (a meaningless dent, but a dent) in social Darwinism someday.
Not to mention that "survival the fittest" doesn't even mean "being on top of the food chain." It's merely the species capable of passing their genes successfully through any means, including ways that many people might think as a "weakness." For example, cows is definitely not close to the top of the food chain, but from an evolutionary perspective, its fitness is actually far better than lions and tigers (both tend to be endangered by the way) because of its usefulness to humans, let it be labor or food. And in many cases, animals that are physically powerful and aggressive often go extinct or endangered because being dangerous also means humans are more likely to hunt you down in a way of ensuring the safety of their community, while more docile animals are generally less at risk if they have what humans wanted. Also, I've seen too many people think that "technology makes us feeble, omg, we have to stop giving treatments to sick people to prosper" or something along that line. But the hard truth is that technology is part of the nature, anything that can exist is natural, and it's pointless to try to appeal to it. Yeah, take away human's intelligence and tools, and they would be helpless. But so what? Take away a tiger's tooth and claws, and they'll just be as helpless. Basically, evolution don't care about "honor," if being "pathetic" ensured the survival of your species, then it's just as valid. Eugenic advocates simply based their understanding of biology on grossly oversimplified presentation, just like that image of an ape becoming a human, probably the most misleading representation of evolution.
@@mickeyg7219 so true
I think a massively under appreciated tool of revolution is Social Anthropology. If we made an effort to introduce some of the foundational lessons & examples of anthropology into common knowledge. Even as a starting point some of the better examples of lessons learned during research using ethnography would be really useful in making people question what is and is not fundamental to humans and human society. Many things we see as definitive & defining parts of human culture, like marriage or even currency are actually highly specific to culture, time and place and on many culture don’t exist at all
My point is, many in the west see capitalism as a foundational part of modern society, but the fact is it’s only one option and there is no reason to see it as the only one or even the best.
At scale , capitalism works the best. A smaller decentralized group of society’s is healthier for the world and the people but we love pop culture and McD’s too much.
@@Learningthroughteaching who knows man, there are probably a multitude of different ways we could organize the economy’s of modern day society’s, but we only think capitalism is the best because we haven’t genuinely tried all of the different options. There’s no effort to try new options either, so because of that people just accept capitalism as being the best. I mean for instance even when it comes to some former/ current socialist countries in South America it’s easy for US citizens to say “see it doesn’t work”, but the problem is the moment they turn socialist the US puts Sanctions on them meaning they can’t trade with there most powerful economic neighbor and they also can’t trade effectively with any US allies. So they are set up to fail from the beginning, never given a fair chance.
Thing is most people in the west can picture nuclear war & the end of the world far more easily than they can picture capitalism ending in their own country.
(To be clear I’m not saying socialism is the answer, not specifically anyway, what I am saying is the illusion that capitalism is the only and best way to run the economy’s of large modern day society’s is just that, an illusion born from the fact those in power be if it from the current system and promote the idea that it’s the only system. We haven’t actually tested that idea, not properly. Even if we say it works better than communism & socialism, we still can’t say it’s the best way to run a modern economy because there are still many possible configurations we have yet to try. For instance if you used a stone tipped spear and said “this is the best spear, I know because it is more durable than my friends wooden tipped spear”, you would only believe so because you haven’t discovered metal yet.
Currently capitalism is proving itself to be detrimental in many ways, we need to find something better. I know as a citizen of Scotland, a capitalist country with many policy’s the USA would call socialist, that I would much rather live her with free university and free healthcare than in America. Our supposed socialist policies are far better that what the USA currently has
@@karebushmarebu233 This is not true. Economics and political science are the only academic institutions which have explored the practical possibilities of political economy and this has been done extensively and not minimally. What hasn't been entertained since the 20th century is the ignorant non-academic approach of "throw out everything you know about history, economics and politics". That will not happen again because the 19th century of sophists having a go at theories will never happen again.
Culture is a creative expression of nature and a living thing, what you are advocating is the purposeful destruction of a living culture and replacing it with social engineering. Capitalism and communism are both materialistic and only see culture as social constructs designed to control and manipulate people, and therefore justify doing this themselves which has done a great deal to suck the life out of Western culture. There is only one way for Europeans and that is embracing and affirming our own Western culture and tradition, not becoming Buddhists or yogis or becoming polyamorous just because some other cultures do this.
I agree with this so hard
Just imagine a world where human dignity and moral or even a human life is valued over profits and there you have it. You imagined a world without capitalism.
Such world does exist but MAN prefer Money
Nah thats to easy to say. I think we are stuck in this system because people with power are the ones who profit the most and so dont have interest to change something.
Dignity won't feed you.
I really don’t feel like I am naturally competitive or greedy or anything but I have to pull through to not loose life’s essentials which is basically money.. feels like self betrayal and it’s mentally straining
It does suck, but how different is it from the rest of history? I highly doubt most peasants were excited about having to work the fields and bow to nobles just to survive either. An alternative would be fantastic, but it’s not realistic to think our system is really much different than feudal systems that were the norm.
I feel this too. I feel like I'm trapped in a game I don't want to play. I don't feel free!
But you do naturally want those “life’s essentials” and probably a couple luxuries in life also? That’s your greed. It’s human nature, but you can minimize it with Minimalism. Only purchasing what you need and starving the corporations of profits you would be giving to them
Да это приносит мучение.Особенно для добрых людей и эмпатов
@@mysteryuser7062 Lmfao way too much indulgence in the world for you to think something like that would gain any traction. And by watching this video and being on this platform, you're technically adding to the problem. People pick and choose what to be greedy with and so a movement like that will never take off.
"It's easier to imagine the end of the world, than the end of capitalism." Damn, this really puts into perspective how ingrained in us this idea is 😐
This video really belabors it's point and is really ill prepared for the predictable counter argument that people with all the best knowledge have tried to make alternatives and have only made things worse than ever.
@@DanielBMS It’s also factual that every time Socialism/Communism or even Fascism has been attempted, it causes: stagnation, decline, and total conversion back to Capitalism.
To quote Hank Hill, “Not even the Russians are communist anymore”, because they’re Capitalist like the Chinese are too.
Than* :(
@@DanielBMS You are literally reinforcing the point of the video, capitalism implying that everything else is worse for some reason, that there is no better alternative, it feels like that because capitalism itself has made us think that way.
@@Guaporacer It feels like that because attempts at other systems had everything going for them but wound up with worse societies than capitalist societies.
Even so, the fact that barely any people recognize this fact is simply depressing.
Gather people who share your views around you. Form communities, spread your ideas methodically, gently, read Marx to better understand what exactly is wrong and how to fix it
The power to change this depressing situation of ours is in our own hands
@@nuclearocean Karl Marx? Marx communism? Helllllll Nooooo
@@Messerschmitt_BF_109G_10 You seem to be very scared of Karl Marx. Are you willing to share why?
@@Messerschmitt_BF_109G_10 yeah why are you scared
@@Messerschmitt_BF_109G_10 have you even read anything? 😂
*Two Aztec people stand at the steps of a temple with a man having his heart pulled out.
*One person says to other, “It’s not the best, but it’s the only system we have.
It's strange that we're somehow required to have a perfect ready to go model of socialism prepared, when the status quo alternative is itself deeply flawed.
Yep, a socialist has to know everything about everything, but any dunce willing to say “capitalism good” gets their own segment on Fox. Quite the double standard.
@@SecondThought Hi, this channel is new to me, and I will say that the production quality is very good. This made it all the more disappointing, however, to see that you have been given - what seems to me - to be some bad information.
There's a lot of mention of the word "capitalism" in this video - a word which has come to be as fluid in meaning as "socialism" has in public discourse. I give you credit for taking the time to define what you mean - and I take it that you got the three criteria from the book you referenced. We are told that these three criteria (at a minimum) distinguish capitalism from what came before and after. Let me take them one at a time:
1) capital - first, I've never heard anyone - including Karl Marx - say that capital was only money. Yes, it is classical Marxism to say that the primary (initial) capital is the accumulation of commodity money. But this capital money's value _as_ capital is in as much as it can be invested in real capital (land, factories, enterprises, etc.) - which is to say, "the means of production." Secondly, I will just add that just as real capital pre-exists capitalism, so does the capital-money that was accumulated to purchase it. Therefore, as an economic system, this doesn't distinguish capitalism from anything, going back to Sam the Sumerian buying his first plot of farmland.
2) private property - I mean, we just finished talking bout Sam and his farmland from back in ancient Sumer. now sure, if it's just him working the land, or him and is family, or even him and his family and their sl@ves, then maybe it's _personal_ property, and not private. But we know there were people who owned more land than they could work themselves, so much so that they had to hire others.
3) wage labor - which brings us to wage labor. Sam was hiring people to work his land-capital. The Bible speaks in many places about wage labor as a commonly understood thing - not as some hypothetical, future economic system.
Now, maybe I misunderstood, and the author's point was that capitalism begins with the transition from living in hunter-gatherer bands to agrarian villages. But if so, then he's using a definition that is far outside the typical understanding of capitalism as a modern phenomenon, and you might really want to think about making that clear.
Regardless, you're very good at your craft, and best wishes.
@@SecondThought Yeah, nothing like that happens on the leftist media, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ! NEVER!
@@MarcillaSmith Sumerians are feudalistic in nature cmiiw? I don't thinks it's an apple to apple comparison to the pure socialist ideals.. anyway capital, private property and wage are non existent in pure socialism, everything is ration based and state owned cmiiw? Even your individual is part of the collective and is owned by the collective?
And if that would be the case, at the end of the day the idea of pure socialism vs pure capitalism is at odds with each other. Just as the idea of pure socialism and pure humanism is at odd considering being a human is being sovereign of our own body and will, in pure communism your will can not be at odds with the state's in fact you don't have a say on anything but to follow orders given by the state otherwise you'll be deemed anti-state.
IMHO, everything should be in moderation, there is no such thing as pure communists or pure capitalist. Even humanism is an evolving field, one day people might be able to read others minds and then we can have a hive mind, how would that affect our individuality then?
@@deltaxcd Capitalism didn't happen overnight and neither will socialism. Nobody said we didn't have a model.
This is why Star Trek is so important. Instead of capitalism being the end of history, it is the beginning. "A lot has changed in the past three hundred years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We've eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions. We've grown out of our infancy." Jean-Luc Picard. That's the point of view we need. We need to grow up and stop being selfish buttholes.
Star Trek life is only good if you are part of Star Fleet. If you are not connected, and/or have to live in one of the colonies, life was pretty terrible.
Star Trek is a world of infinite resources easily obtainable basically being "magically" recycled. However our world doesn't work like that, finite resources that need to be harvested and properly utilized. We basically have only two options to do this. "The Invisible Hand" of Supply and demand of Capitalism, which is by far not perfect, but works very utilitarian. The other is a central authority, a person or group of people who dictate how the the resources are harvested and distributed. We barely trust our own Governments, yet give them the absolute power to distribute resources how they see fit?
The only problem is that you without a single doubt still need a HARD MANUAL LABOR FORCE. This simple truth has always been the downfall of Communism. Everybody loves the idea of eating for free, until they have to grow the corn themselves.
It's fun to picture ourselves as space explorers whose only concern is learning about other worlds. Unfortunately, not everyone can be the captain of a starship. Some people will inevitably have to give up their dreams and work the fields. Communist systems usually result in doctors, engineers, scientists, etc... specialized and well-educated people working hard manual labor. This of course sucks for them but they often don't have a choice.
You're not protecting anyone by getting rid of people's right to freedom of enterprise.
@@CaliMeatWagon clearly never actually watched any star trek save maybe the new fake crap
@@dacksonflux Your mixing up stuff. For example the idea "Everybody loves the idea of eating for free, until they have to grow the corn themselves." This makes no sense. The ones living for free (from other people's work) are millionaires. They do very little and get a lot. Also it assumes that nobody is interested in a fair society who is not directly finacially benefitting. Take me for example. I pay a lot of taxes and I'd happily pay more, cause I think it is to little for what I have. There are many people who think so. This system benefits me and still I think it isn't right. I want to live a in fairer society for many reasons that are not financial.
Questioning capitalism felt always weird and difficult. Like you said it was like questioning reality. Thanks for this video/book recomendation. This made me realise that a world without it is still imaginable
So what do you propose
@@lamp7746 ofc i dont have the answer yet, but we should start to reconsider some socialism/comunism concepts since they always got labeld as „evil“ and that those can only be existing in dictatorships although the idea behind it isnt that bad. idk gotta find a *mittelding*
@@amadooya8935 I think the reason why socialism/comunism has a bad reputation is because those people have killed more than WW1 and WW2 combined. You may not be old enough to remember the cold war. Most of the death were due to mass starvation by the government.
Putting your faith in the government is a primative idea. The founding fathers got it right when they said government is the problem. The left want more government.
If I’m being honest, it seem completely pointless to “question capitalism” like this. In doing so, you don’t establish anything new or different and partake in the same markets as you would otherwise, so it seems pretty superficial.
Capitalism is the current reality and we’ve never been more interconnected because of it. It’s made a plate made in China from a thousands of dollars luxury item to cheap junk sold at Walmart. You can’t imagine the world today without global capital trade
Needs More Ancap.
It's kinda like imagining what it's like to not have a headache while having a headache. You can't
well said
It reminds me of how often you're told as a anything-but-capitalist, that you're just lazy.
"Poor people are lazy, especially immigrants and should work harder ""you don't wanna work on a 9-5 commercial job? You're just being lazy" - this idea is constantly pushed on us from we're young. Productivity above all.
Meanwhile anyone who does anything non-capitalist are the least lazy, most selfless people on Earth, working the most and the hardest.
Proper defenders of capitalism do not consider the poor are lazy, they instead recognize that poverty can also be a result of other factors, and defend capitalism precisely because it is the system that has lifted huge masses out of poverty, at a rate previously unimaginable.
A problem with the US is that very little people are like that, it seems. Some may defend capitalism but don't fully understand it, so they end up believeing things like "it is unfair but at least it works", when that's not the case.
it's just the continuation of "that lion is going to eat you if you dont run fast enough" but in modern times. man up or die, nature is always going to be there to make sure you are tested, and if you fail, your genes will be discarded. you can't beat nature, existence.
Its so funny cuz the laziest class of people in the country are rich and “successful” people who cant put energy into thinking about the logical conclusions and consequences of there quick profit mindsets. They are constantly getting bailed out and saved from their mistakes to make the same ones later.
@Trainrhys Ah yes, you see the unemployed are all lazy. The homeless? Lazy. There are definitely no other factors involved in poverty/s Sloth isn't the cause of these socioeconomic issues. Limited access to education, lack of resources, privilege etc. all play a role in who sinks or swims. The supposed meritocracy is a myth. You live in a fantasy world if you think that labour is rewarded fairly. Prejudice is ever-present. Whether it's appearance, intellect or even disability, only certain people are chosen to join society. The rest are alienated and get left behind. Nobody voluntarily reduces their quality of life if it can be avoided.
Capitalist Realism is the idea that has been the most important for me to understand. It made me realize the ways I'd been making massive assumptions for so long, and not questioning those economic assumptions.
Capitalism gave you twenty more year of life that your grand parents never had.
@@jimsouthlondon7061 that's a cop out, in the west we have been under capitalism for a few hundred years. My grandparents also lived under capitalism, the difference is that capitalism "rewards" us with a new right every 5-10 years as a treat to keep people compliant isn't a win especially now when everything is going backwards under capitalism
@@jimsouthlondon7061How so, do go on and with proof of your claim. Keep in mind I know the average American life span is lower than Cuba, but okay an twenty years of life my grandma didn't have, who is still alive at 90. So I'm going to live to 110?
@@meoff7602 and he’s fat
So are there any Cuban Super Models or boy band rock stars .Think of any famous Cuban racing drivers.Only famous Cuban is Fidel Castro he was the dictator .Says it all really .
I never thought about it that way. Maybe that’s why so many people fight for capitalism because they believe there is no other way.
They do, because there is no other way. No attempts at Socialism or Communism have ever been remotely successful. Every time Socialism destroys a country like Venezuela, Capitalism swoops in to purchase all of the cheap assets as soon as they can. Effectively, Capitalism eats Socialism, because Socialism is weak and unable to support itself
@@peterbelanger4094 but capitalism is applied all around the world, so why communism can’t do the same thing?
@@cmr_0333 it can its just the ingrained existing system does not let it develop. Capitalism would fail too if (for example) the USA was an up amd coming power against a USSR who had already been established for 150-200 years and been spreading its ideas and accumulating wealth in that time. It obviously would not like a new country with a mew system threatening its dominance, so it would eventually stamp it out due to having greater might.
Communism failed, Socialism failed, Dictatorships failed, Capitalism failed. Where do we go from here?
@@victoriancu7358 Fascism again?
Very well thought out and nicely done.
One of the brick walls we hit when we try to offer an alternative to capitalism is defining how much is enough and how much is too much as far as what each individual human being accumulates. I think this is the primary mental loophole that is exploited the most when people defend capitalism.
Compared to a vast majority of the population, I am very wealthy because I have running water, a vehicle, a reasonable amount of food in the pantry etc. but compared to other Americans, my standard of living is defined as lower middle class. Although the slippery slope is a logical fallacy based argument it’s a likely counterargument to socialism; ie who is allowed to define how much is too much because there will always be somebody who disagrees.
Is one house too much? Is two houses too many? How about one car? Five cars? Four pairs of shoes? 400 pairs of shoes?
Since there is no objective answer to that question, it’s a convenient pro-greed argument.
Reminds me of how expensive going to the hospital is. One accident can put you in financial ruin, or years of debt. When my brother was born, there were complications. He had to stay in the hospital for a week. The bill was over 10k and my parents had no insurance (my dad works at the church). It took them 13 years to pay off the debt, because they could only afford to make small payments. There's something very messed up with the hospitals here. It's all about money, not helping the sick.
Thats actually funny, bcs that seems very american and is not really a world wide problem.
You are describing an American problem, darling. Most other western natipns have nationalised healthcare. I went to the hospital two weeks ago for pleurisy and it was free.
It’s unfortunate how much people don’t fight for the right to free or even more affordable healthcare. My mother found out she has pancreatic cancer this year, and even though it’s stage one and she is going into remission, she had to spend almost $80K on treatments and her insurance doesn’t even cover half of that. She’s 65 and was going into her retirement year but the same year has to give away every single penny she saved up over her 40 year career bc of an unexpected illness…she’s even questioned why she wants to be cured if she just has to go back to work or be in debt the remainder of her life. Gotta love f**kin’ America
this is an american problem lol
There is no US Health CARE system. We have a Health COST system. I've pretty much decided that I will never go to the ER again under my own volition. I've thought about relocating. I would never see my friends or family again, but I can't afford to do that much anymore anyway.
“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.” - Ursula K. Le Guin
Thank you for this.
Wow
Capitalism respects your freedom to do art. Other regimes not so much.
@@MrTomyCJ as long as your art does not involve calling out the atrocious activities of the Jews
I was waiting for a topic like this to come out…this has been one of my biggest issues mentally when trying to put hope together for how socialism can overcome todays world
@@redwingblackbird8306 "V U V U Z U E L A"
@@redwingblackbird8306 ahh yes…barely functioning while having sanctions placed on them all while still having majority private ownership of the means of production.
@@lossantossavior One of the reasons why the countries with legitimate socialist experiments struggle is because of US hegemony. Putting in true Marxist elements is the real test and that will require international cooperation.
When will the US say that women can't afford black hair dye in NK?
the most shitty part is the identity of those who want to (hypothetically) break apart from Russia. Why do I think they have such a high standing? Why is Hypothetical Future Mongolia like this? Omg they might still be taking on the guise of The Only Defender Of Cultural History in order to make all our attempts at making initiatives (governmental initiatives or other initiatives) result in nothing (be completely fruitless). This is the biggest realization I've had in my life
I needed to tell people this today:
"Your goal was to make the Iranian government more awkward than you. you had no plan, no deadline, no records, no courts, no evidence, and no victories. who cares if azadeh is on tv? who cares that we even have TV's? You could have just learned a few Arabic words instead of deciding to tell the Islamic Republic that you want to be turned into a sausage"
Watch the whole Venezuela talking point die down as soon as the oil start getting into the US.
"Sometimes Gorillas punch each other and that's why you deserve to be Poor." HA! That's quite a hilarious line right there. Another Excellent Video! This channel is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Thanks for the Top-notch Vital Work You're doing here!
This brings back memories of my childhood and realizing that a lot of what I was taught in school was literally pro-capitalism propaganda rhetoric
Impossible! I can't accept that!
Are you telling me that teaching children that the best way to go throw live is to be an entrepreneur, without telling them that companies can be financially beneficial not only for their founders, but for everyone, simply by changing their internal structure... that is just dirty propaganda? !
No, I deny it, you must be leftiest and that's why you think badly that way.
🤔😂😏
People in social systems that came before capitalism also thought it was the natural order of things. "Natural", understood in pragmatist term, often just (implicitly) means "that which was already there before me and which transcends my individual agency". It is a small-minded way of thinking, one that cannot reach beyond the horizon of its immediate surrounding.
Yes but the alternative is to imagine a world that doesn't exist, and insist it can, which doesn't sound more convicing than the current order.
By it we also can tell from the observations that socialistic systems always worked worse and always ended with authoritarianism.
@@FirsToStrike Exactly. when you pit a utopian reality you come up with in your head against the world we live in, the utopian reality you came up with in your head wins every time.
capitalism was life itself? Social systems before capitalism? YOu mean before someone swopped a fish for a arrow head? When was that exactly?
@@andyharpist2938 genuine trade isn't capitalism. Also you need to do some catching up on human history. For centuries humanity existed in self sustaining tribes where the groups survival was solely based on the fact that everyone did their part to contribute to said survival of the group. Sustaining the group ment to sustain one self.
The biggest criticism I’ve personally had with capitalism is the fact that the profit motive of a few seems to dominate everyone. We live in a world where people feel perfectly comfortable telling working people to set aside their own self-interest (supposedly the driving factor of capitalism) to support the interests of the corporation. The idea that a corporation and its share-holders are members of your family and you have any obligation of loyalty to them is absolutely ludicrous.
Let me be very clear: unless your company is using a profit sharing model, you have no true incentive to worry about its interests and maximizing its profits.
There’s also the idea that wealth redistribution is evil and will somehow lead to the average person experiencing a lower quality of life. The reality is that in a country where 70% of all wealth is held by 10% of the population and half of that 70% is held by 1%, the only people wealth redistribution would hurt are the people at the very top.
This ! If I had a company, I would like to pay the workers depending on the profit made by the company (with a minimum of course) ! That way, my company is a team, workers will be more motivated to work and cooperate. I'd love to give back to my team of people, getting wealthier together :)
And to be honest, I think this should be a law for big companies / corporations ! It's not right that only a handful of people reap all the benefits of many people's daily hard work. Or it should be encouraged. For example: if you implement this model, you pay less taxes, since you're already giving back to society.
But your company will not be able to grow if you take profit. Paying employees = taking profit. Startup companies have to put off initial profits for long term growth. That is what Amazon did for years.@@iLadymiss06
If business owners, especially small business owners, understood how little energy they would have to expend in order to motivate extreme loyalty, they would feel ridiculous for not doing it.
I work at a restaurant and one of the owners comes in there all the time, but you can tell he doesn’t care about any of the people who work for him. We are just cogs in a wheel, and instead of just ignoring us, which would actually be better as far as I’m concerned, he will ask me how I’m doing, and proceeded to completely not listen. He doesn’t understand that every time he blows somebody off like that he’s going to lose money… It’s not like I go around doing things to purposefully cost the restaurant money, but like the example above, I don’t care about maximizing the profits of the restaurant because I don’t care about the person who owns the restaurant because he doesn’t care about me.
Human beings are motivated by very simple gestures. The next time he ask me some stupid pop quiz question about a menu item, I’m going to look at him and say “how many children do I have and what are their names?” and when he can’t answer me, I’m just gonna walk away.
The moron doesn’t understand that we have more control than he thinks as far as throwing things away, treating customers just good enough to not get a bad review, but not so good that they’re going to want to come back etc.
But he’s the smart one in the situation because he has all the control. Lmfao
I think you are being a little narrow minded here. I am autistic, and a sober drug addict who's almost hitting the 5 months soon. I am kinda screwed when it comes to getting a job because my ASD diagnosis is a black stain. I would be a landlord to not deal with a dick "advisor" ever again.
You have some strange assertions about Capitalism, especially with considering a corporation part of your family? The first rule of Business is to keep it separated from your personal life/finances. Shareholders aren’t members of this club/family, they’re the owners of a corporation and democratically vote to determine how their corporation is run. Most shareholders do not vote, holding less than 1% of shares.
Stock options are usually used to incentivize management to ensure the longterm profit maximization. Retirement programs and company insurance policies are also reasons to keep the company healthy.
The reason people fear “wealth redistribution” is because it changes private property rights. A person like Jeff Bezos does not have his wealth just sitting in a bank account to be withdrawn from for redistribution, his wealth is in the form of his assets being used for operations that add value to the economy. His privately purchased property must be taken from him and forcefully liquidated. This also greatly harms the firms whose assets are stolen for redistribution. Such an event would destroy a LOT of economic value, basically what happened to Venezuela
"Hardly anyone defends it wholesale"
I wish this was a true statement, I really do.
"Those people who are choosing to live differently in the wealthy nations, they are promoting real change by demonstration. Those people who are taking care of the poor and depressed and deprived peoples of the world, they are promoting real change. Those people who are consuming less of the world, as a matter of moral and ethical principle, they are promoting real change. Those people who are committing themselves to what humanity will need in the future and not simply the fashions and fantasies of humanity, they are part of real change."
From a book I most warmly recommend for everyone, for encouragement during the uncertain times now and in the future.
*Marshall Vian Summers: Building Global Security* (free to read online)
Thanks for sharing!
Hey! It's Diadelics, I wrote the article you linked in the description, and I just want to say that I really appreciate the extra attention here and this video is really good. As another leftist from Texas, I really appreciate it, genuinely.
crazy to see that there are people from the US who are leftist, even in this country hope is not lost
This needs to get pinned
@@beerenmusli8220 _Did_ they say "extremist"?
@@beerenmusli8220 No, in the same way that calling yourself "right-wing" doesn't mean that you're far right, social-democrats are "leftists" and they are not extreme at all.
@@beerenmusli8220 Because it’s an accurate description
This kinda hits home hard especially when you look at the world right now or even how most countries are structured. I definitely a lot of in Kenya, my home country. Thanks, JT for putting out the message about this.
What an awesome way to describe capitalism and socialism! Thank you!❤
I know the episode didn’t mention it but there’s the entire section where Fisher talks about mental health under capitalism. We’re told that mental health crises or depression are just “mental illnesses” or biological, and that they are in no way preconditioned by an atomizing, alienating, commercialized capitalist society. But the question of mental health is just one example of how capitalism has been able to turn our heads away from substantially criticizing it and punish those who do with terrifying precision.
It's very dumb to suggest that this issue stems from capitalism and not technology itself
@@neo-filthyfrank1347 I think it’s sorta a combination of both.
@@waluigiisthebest2802 Not in any significant sense. Technology will inevitably improve because systems that use it better survive better and that which survives better in the short term always outcompetes that which doesn't.
The idea that life can be hospitable to anything but the most worthless of humans if technology continues to progress is pure delusion.
We've clearly been insufficiently domesticated into the role of worker-drone.
look into mental illness in China and Nkorea bro and educate yourself
Also just the other day I saw a video of a woman from the UK crying that she could not afford to pay her bills and had to choose between gas and electric. She chose electric to cook for her children. Yet people who believe capitalism is the only way will tell that woman that she needs to work harder instead of addressing how our system needs to change. People working two jobs to survive should NOT be the norm.
The other day I saw a clip of Rishi Sunak pretty much saying that some proposal made by labour was gonna turn this country into some sort of socialist nation. Just one suggestion of helping working families made him have that response.
Better phrase for you, comrade: Survival shouldn't be a subscription service, and living shouldn't be DLC.
@@LexYeen i love this phrase lol
@@Huskyfish14 Feel free to redistribute it as far as you like, I'm not a Words Cop.
@@LexYeen
I'mma have to run off with that too. 😉
If you think about it, it's kind of like asking a person from a thousand years ago what a world would be like without absolute monarchies ruling most of the known world. Sure, a learned person might be aware of the smattering of republics that existed at the time, but those would be considered outliers and would never become the norm. A world where secular republics make up the majority of world governments would have seemed as foreign to those people a thousand years ago as a world without modern capitalism seems to us
I hope we don’t have to wait a thousand years again 😭but that’s probably wishful thinking on my part
Your are confusing economics and politics here 🤣
@@ravioli1381 *points at the rise of Communism and Libertarianism* That’s because the two have always been linked, and especially for the past century
@@jrus690 "What Republics existed a thousand years ago?"
Venice, Florence, Geneoa, Pisa, Iceland, Córdoba, Novgorod, Athens, Carthage, Rome... Do you want me to continue? There are quite a few more.
"Capitalism, like Liberal Democracy, is the system that we got from the enlightenment."
Not quite. Capitalism has more to do with the rise of industry during the 16th and 17th century and the influx of raw goods from overseas expeditions/colonies than it did with any Enlightenment thinking. And modern capitalism is very much a product of the Industrial Revolution. So in that sense it is rather modern.
If you're referring to how I pointed out economics and politics have always been linked, that's economics in general. Of which Capitalism is a relatively young system. So in that regard you are correct.
"Current day Communism and Socialism have merely renamed the old monarchies with a one party state and dictatorship."
Glass houses my friend. I could point to the Robber Barons of the 19th/early 20th century US and point how they behaved like the tyrannical, petty lords and kings of England that the US claims to have fought so hard to free itself from.
That aside, regardless of how you feel about them, systems like Communism and Libertarianism are at their cores political systems and ideals that include economic philosophy as their foundation. Thus to say that economic ideals and political ideals aren't linked these days is foolhardy.
@@ravioli1381if we have to wait another thousand years, our capitalistic world will reign our nature. Meaning we fucked
"Hasn't everything else been tried and failed?" He typed amidst the imminent collapse of human society and world ecology brought about by... Capitalism.
@Trainrhys There's no planet B. You seem to have forgotten the irreversible damage the profit incentive has caused to our flora and fauna. Hundreds of species are extinct and countless more endangered. Do you truly not see the impact because it has yet to concern you personally? Does the climate have to become unlivable before you recognise our doom? Or perhaps more likely, you only care for the present, the short-term consequences and have completely ignored the fates of future generations possibly including your next of kin... Need I remind you of the cost of living? Millennials can't afford homes of their own despite working multiple jobs. As a result, younger generations have to adapt to this reality and make the conscious decision to have fewer children or remain childless altogether. Surely, society is perfect, right? Renting apartments is human nature after all /s Your fear of a hypothetical boogeyman shouldn't outweigh the horror of reality. The planet is dying and we're collateral damage who'll be taken with it.
@Trainrhys A mansion is a status symbol. With the abandonment of class, the need for extravagance will fade. There's no need for competition if all our needs are taken care of. It's only when competition is a rule built into the game that greed becomes commonplace and even an expectation. The only people who are driven by that notion are the ones flaunting their wealth. It's useless when class no longer exists.
Besides, the existence of mansions infers private property and that's not encouraged by Socialism. No more landlords.
Don't say "we" when you mean "you"
The capitalists committed coups, regime changes, assassinations in order to emerge as the dominant system. The structure of society always changes with time. No wonder why they pledged to uphold the imperialism charter
Capitalist realism is such a massive and terrifying thing. I have, on multiple occasions, caught myself (unfortunately not before saying it) thinking of *friendship* through that lens which, paired with a strong moral code and a heaping helping of depression, leads to the belief that if I’m not benefiting you in a tangible and quantifiable way, I don’t deserve to be your friend.
Like those posts about how you should move on if your friends are not investing or on the "grind" and are happy with their place in life.
Like there is som sort of ladder to constantly be climbing.
I was struck by the embodiment of that in right-wing dating advice: they present human relationships as purely transactional. It boggles the mind.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I think I have also struggled with this.
Relationship costs just like everything else
crazy how many even left-wing people view friendship this way
"Humanity can't live in a utopia, even if we did have everything we ever wanted, we would give it up just to feel the rush of breaking the rules" Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I have a feeling that is more true than we would all like to imagine.
Why would anyone go hungry for the thrill! Sounds like white privilege.
real shit.....
@Johnithinuioian a tale as old as time
did you even watch the video? that is an assumption based off nothing being peddled as immutable fact. just because competition exists in an economic system that rewards it doesnt mean it is human nature. its pessimism for the sake of excusing the inadequacies of the status quo.
Capitalist Realism is only about 100 pages long. everyone interested should definitely read it! It has a lot of great examples of how insidious this mind set really is on our culture! my favorite being the 'live 8' "concerts to end homelessness". the hardest pill to swallow was his reflections on bureaucracy forcing people to leave because they have no way of fixing it themselves. oh the irony that we live in now. thanks for the great video!
These mindsets are the reality.
The videos implys that market rules the world, and this is a simple/small mind view of the world.
Otan, arabic families, couple other countries, some brotherhoods and small group of people. These are the rulers of the world. They manipulate market. Market is just the tool… whatever we do with the tool is what matters, not the tool itself
I think u mean live aid
Tbh, I feel it’s important in modern era to read works like Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, Giovanni Gentile’s Fascist Manifesto, and maybe something by Milton Friedman just so that people learn what the extremes are in each direction and what they believe in that makes them different
@@Theviewer100 Live Aid was in 1985 and it was about raising money for aid to people suffering from the famine in Ethiopia. Not homelessness.
@@mysteryuser7062 i agree, in so far as most of us seem to only get our information from tweets, news paper headlines(not the articles themselves), and from pseudo-intellectual youtube videos like this one here, instead of reading books on these topics. If not only for the fact that books contain a magnitudes more information.
I believe there's a strong argument that monarchy and feudalism were capitalism. When the means of production were land and human workers, the feudal strategy of becoming rich through ownership of land and serfs (or "free" peasants paying rent in labour) was income through ownership of the means of production.
As technology advanced so that fewer serfs were required to produce food and the rest became available for other tasks, capitalism got more sophisticated and the rich started building factories as the new means of production they needed to own in order to continue deriving an income from other people's labour. Technology advanced, but it's still all capitalism.
This is why education is so important. I recommend this channel on my show pretty often.
Can you direct me to some socialist education that will give me a realistic view on why a fully socialist worker system will provide a better life for someone like me who right now has a decently well paying job (that I'm mostly content with though not always) and who is disciplined and saves and can invest to feel very hopeful about my future and enjoys that someone with the means and discipline can invest and have compound returns from the spending of others who choose to spend?
@@SGyru To cut to the chase, if you make more money from investments than from your wages, you will likely be worse off in a socialist state. You are also likely in the top 1-3%. If you're below that, then your material conditions would significantly improve, as an ownership system inherently takes value produced by the working class and gives it to the owning class. That value would be now available to be democratically reallocated to/by the workers in various ways, often including free/subsidized healthcare, housing, education, and public infrastructure, as well as additional financial and practical support for raising children. The total value of society's production would be democratically available to society. You would also likely have democratic control of the leadership and policies of your workplace/company. Take the national gross income of your country and divide it by the number of working adults (maybe count children as 0.5 people), and that would be a reasonable approximation of the sum of your new income and the value of the public goods/services made accessible to you.
A good very early intro for me was the essay "Value price and profit" by Marx. It can be a little wordy, but gives a relatively quick description of how labor produces value, and then how value is split up between owner and worker. This alone is a relatively good ideological argument for the results I mentioned above, but if you go to Hakim's channel on youtube he has many videos recommending books and articles on various topics, including this one!
@jackiechan8653 lol
@Jakie Chan
Be respectful.
Don't be rude.
@@SGyru I think another thing you should consider is the lives of others. Your life is good, and that is great, but there are millions, hell, billions of people who're not exactly as lucky. Under socialism you'd still maintain a good life, everyone would. To me a degree of selflessness is required.
I always find myself wishing I could send my folks these videos. Im a terrible debater and I can never quite explain this stuff in a way they’ll understand or accept. This is so well put together that I feel like it might at least break down the barrier. The “no working alternatives” is something I hear a lot within those conversations, so unfortunately it’s probably a lost cause.
I can't debate well, but I find right wing people usually interrupt you, use whataboutisms, and generally engage in fallacies.
That's because the right wing media they listen to use that argumentation, so they're steeped in it.
If you still want to try, look into street epistemology (check out Aron Ra on this). Basically, the Socratic method. Ask questions. Don't make statements at all. Get them to lay out their beliefs, because there are absurdities in there.
The problem is that they'd need to watch a lot of other videos to even start understanding the problem. Otherwise they'll just be hit by a brutal wall going against their beliefs and reject everything.
The problem is that debate is one of the worst ways to have a conversation and change someone's mind. It puts both people into the position of needing to "stand their ground" and commit to their already existing ideas, rather than legitimately considering that they could be wrong about things.
If you need some inspiration, check out Daryl Davis. Black guy who befriends klansmen and then gets their robes as trophies when he tears down their narrative. Dude is my personal hero
An easy way to dismiss most self proclaimed Socialists/Communists is to ask if they own a house, retirement plan, or savings account? Most have none of those because they’re not actual working people with real jobs. Working Class people have those three things or at least work towards having them
JT, this is one of your best yet. I saw it on Nebula yesterday and I couldn't wait to leave this comment here. I've heard/read hours of analysis on capitalist realism and this essay feels more impactful than much of the literature.
Side note, did anyone else enjoy imagining Hakim's smug grumbling at the mention of Kropotkin's writing? Angry Leninists make life tolerable.
Thanks so much! I really like how this one turned out
Lenninists are a pretty big contributor to Leftist disunity, am I right? Just wanna say to them, “Get out of the past, yo. The seeds of the failure of that movement were planted by its founder and your failure to realize that is kinda cringe, yo.”
@@kyleeames8229 and they reply, in chorus, " How dare you? Here's another book or pamphlet about how disagreeing with me on anything makes you objectively wrong and stupid and evil."
@@jamesdietert1998 perhaps you should try to listen to the Deprogram hahahaha
lenin is on the same side dawg
I'm a Nigerian. Growing up under the capitalist mentality I'd fantasize about how one day I'd get rich, own my company and meet humanity's needs while making lot's of money. Growing I started noticing conflicts in myself that kept me from believing these dreams. Whenever I came up with an idea that wasn't necessary to human needs, I felt a resistance on thinking further. Took me a while to realize that that resistance came from me stopping myself from thinking how to make people want what they didn't need. I took a closer look at society. Most of the consumption was on wants and not needs. I looked at needs. And saw that needs were already met quite satisfactory. I also noticed a trend in capitalism. People get rich by creating wants. Then they make enough money(capital) to divest and monopolize need industry. If it was agriculture, a billionaire had the capital juice to buy over farming businesses at every level below him and monopolize it into one empire that answered to him. These trends were unethical to my humanity and my Spiritually and what my religion teaches. On further looking at the western society I noticed it was the very chronic lack of the same humanity values I had in my society (which is eroded to model the west) that made the west such an 'efficient' capitalist machine. And the lack of these social values is what may probably lead to the desired fall of socialism even if I were to take hold in the west. Socialism was never meant to be just another economic model. In fact hearing the word, it sounds like one wants to say society without actually saying society. A true human society. Without a strong sense of humanity and spirituality which usually has been historically seen only to be successfully and effectively immortalized through religion, socialism would fail. It's worth a try but it would fail. And which religion you might ask? Well Christianity was dropped for it's infantile ability or should I say inability to keep up with the growing consciousness of the people. So which religion? I have no answer for that. But i will say this; a religion which truly connects man firmly to the earth, realistically keeps him in touch with the very ground he stands on while encouraging him to look up to the sky in aspiration to fly(metaphorically). When our foot wares spoil, we get a better one. When our car becomes too old, we get a better one. When technology becomes too unreliable, we improve on our scientific understanding and make better technology. Religion and spirituality is the only thing I've seen where when we outgrow it, instead of getting a better one, we regress. We simply appeal to our baser desires. What i do know for a fact is that when humans have agreed to do something something in the name of a god (essentially choosing to live life BEYOND our humanity) we seem to do really great. But when we decide their is no god (honestly at this point whether one exists or not doesn't outshine the social implications and necessity of believing in one) the very same needs that that god filled in us is not extinguished. We simply fill it up with something else. Celebrities, consumerism. I guess what I'm trying to say is at the very least, humanity brings the best of itself into one concept and call it god. That way, no lesser being or person(s) gets to replace it. This is a necessary missing component for this socialism
Wow, you actually put my thoughts into words.
As an atheist, I dont necesarily completely agree with your take on requiring a religion to build great things, but I agree in the sense that, in an age "without religion," other, more harmful things have become our substitutes, and since we believe we are "without religion" we are unable to identify the belief systems, ideologies, "higher powers" etc, which, although they dont take the form of deities, moral codes, etc, function in a similar way. We need to underatand that religion arises from a fundamental part of humans beings: faith. We need faith, and if we pretend we have no faith, then other faiths sneak in to our thinking.
Regardless, you provide a phenomenally insightful reflection on your journey. Thank you comrade.
@@philipdamian7346
"If you don't worship Allah you worship plenty of others"
Whether that's your desires or pleasure/pain
The god of the dollar & the dinar
Or yourself
And plenty other
@@philipdamian7346 I'm glad we could find common grounds. Honestly if I wasn't born into the religion I'm currently in and had to deal with the Abrahamic religions like Christianity, I'd probably be an atheist too. This is why I've come to realize that at the very least even if one does not believe in the existence of a sky daddy like most religions portray God, mankind should be able to immortalize the best aspects of it's society into something that serves as a standard for society. If society could recognize this real human need, we would all be better for it. Many people today seem to have an arrogance when they talk about certain legends that tried to preserve certain moral values in other cultures. They degrade their significance to children's tales. But when you look at their lives and that of others you see in a metaphorical sense, the space for what they discriminate filled by something else.
Tl;dr?
Also, white girl from a Nigeria, don't see that often 👍
You should make a video on how we could have a general strike one day, and how our economy and our government works against workers. Using the recent legislation stopping Railroad workers from striking. And the benefits of Wildcat strikes.
Legislation against strikes is anti-democratic thus illegal and no one should follow illegal rules and those people will be finished politically.
Railroad strikes really have an influence, if we could use that to help, it would change the system.
@@nishant54 "we rule on the people's mandate"
hey can we like, be allowed to get sick
"send in the national guard"
being against unions is being against democracy, simply as
If everyone quit the world would change for the better
@@Nota-Skaven this is why you need a REVOLUTION
As Zizek said, Capitalist Realism is "simply the best diagnosis of our predicatment." Many here have felt the general malaise that he puts so cleanly into words. It's well worth reading, whether or not you land in the same place that he does.
I did not understand the intro, capitalism is the only thing that exists???
@@opticalreticle YOU are capital. Everything you do is capital. Capitalism is simply YOU owning YOU...Everything else, someone or something external owns You. Get it?
@@DieselRamcharger oh I get it now, thanks
@@opticalreticle Yes. Communism and Socialism have always failed in every real world attempt, meaning Capitalism is the defacto system. At least it provides the Global Village, something we take for granted these days
@@mysteryuser7062exactly.
People forget that nothing else has ever worked
I really like your thoughts. It feels good to disrupt my capitalist bubble. Now I think about the thesis that everyone that puts in more than the average person has to be rewarded in some way. May it be money or applause or something else. Otherwise this person will slowly lose motivation. That was always true to me. Now I think about it. Didn’t get far yet. But thanks for making me question stuff that seems unquestionable to me
Funnily enough I have never had a problem with thinking about a better alternative. But I think it's because I have made many idealistic worlds in my head and I think it's helped me realize how much better things can be.
please share some i would love to hear
Ooooh sounds cool :) i kinda have the same thing in my head as well
having that ability can also give one perspective on just how great the world is now in overall retrospection. by no means am i saying that the world can't be better.
Tell us then genius, what's your amazing idea better than simple capitalism?
Maybe you were priviliged?
The fact that this great video against capitalism inevitability ends with an ad of Audible, owned by Amazon, the most capitalist company out there, is somehow driving this home even more.
i burst out laughing at that part.
Yeah, and like every single critique against capitalism, no matter how valid, there is NEVER a decent alternative given. "Why It's So Hard To Imagine Life After Capitalism", well get our imagination going, give some examples of how it would be better without breaking our entire quality of life by going back to sticks and stones, or trading the tyrant of capitalism for another.
@@Chestyfriend that’s not the point of this video, the point is to make people aware of how capitalism has been engrained into our mindset.
@@sillygoofygoober7931 Which is also false, because the vast majority of western nations are a mix of capitalist and socialist, leaning more towards capitalist. And plenty of people remember communism, totalitarianism, anarchy and several other forms or lack of government. There are plenty of example of those in today's world. The problem is not that "we can't imagine a world without capitalism", it's "we can't imagine a BETTER world without capitalism", and this video does nothing to change that. It's just yet another rant on capitalism. Yeah okay, we get it, capitalism bad. So suggest something better? And a serious suggestion, not just wishful thinking based on unproven concepts and theories.
@@Chestyfriend isnt the video saying the exact same thing as you do? i mean you literly use Quotes from the Video idk if you watched it all.
But to give you an answer, i dont think capitalism is bad in all ways, but in the end of the Video he quetes someone who says something like "not everything can or SHOULD be done for profit" and best examples for me are hospitals, schools or trains etc. Some things clearly shouldnt be managed by private people or at least not for profit.
And if you can combine that with the general concept of capitalism and just change specific stuff like that from time to time, then i think a lot more people would be fine with that already.
I sometimes support this idea without realizing it. You’ve opened my mind, thank you.
Please share it with your friends and family
read marx and lenin
These other book recommendations are trash. Read some Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell
Right? It’s like the saying a fish doesn’t recognize it’s in water…
The other people here telling you to like educate yourself pisses me off 😅As if you all don’t have biases….
That’s red scare being effective
“All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible." Frank Herbert.
It's hard because a society founded solely on selflessness can be easily ruined by a greedy few. "One bad apple ruins the bunch."
There are definitely things that can be exploited - however, it is possible to make contingencies for stuff like this - just like there are some that exploit foodstamps (as is said, the problem is more complex than that, but that's for another time), but it is so few that it doesn't really make it worth it to abolish the program for everyone who uses it as it is supposed to be used.
Problem: Socialism is not based on selflessness. It doesn't even require it.
That’s how we got here
@@projectpitchfork860 it's not? So it's based on forcing people to do things they don't want to? Please explain.
“Cough nestle cough apple cough Tesla ““
You’re shaping history, JT. This is incredible stuff
Calm down young man .
@@joshuamarx8209 hehe
@@joshuamarx8209 ever heard of an exaggeration 😂
Somehow humans seem to have lost a clear vision of why we even have economic systems in the first place. It's like we took a look at metrics that measure just pure economic growth without any qualitative aspects once and then decided that this, this is the most important thing for us. It's like in grinding smithing in skyrim and expecting all the stats to grow.
Some people just point "Capitalism=Commerce in their minds.
Actually I blame the influence of mathematics on this. Academia has become obsessed with quantitative research over qualitative research because quantitative research is “smoking gun” research. I have a degree is research and the further along one gets in their studies the harder it becomes to assert the validity of qualitative research. I find that depressing.
Fr every year they want more 'economic growth' but can't see that if we keep on this destructive path we'll destroy the planet
Kids in school need to be shown this video!!! Great content learned lots from this
It drives me crazy that NO ONE can even try to imagine life without backbreaking capitalism. The capitalists have us trained like Pavlov dogs to never consider any other idea, to the point of aggressive defense of our "masters"
@@professorcheckmate so whats youre alternative, professor checkmate??? All you just seem to do is complain and have a defeatist attitude.
That's why a lot of capitalist "criticism" in media and fiction rings hollow for me. I don't want to criticize it, I want to see it gone.
What's the plan then?
It reminds me of how people train horses to never leave the hitching post... they tie them to it when they're young but once the learn they can't get away, they stop trying. The leash can then just be wrapped around the hitching post loosely with the horse none the wiser.
I agree with you Komrade🇨🇳
I seen a story of a man that owned a restaurant and decided to divide the profits with all employees..they all ended up making 84 a hour. Kinda nice
Tells you how much the boss takes home.
@@joshuamarx8209or how much would be possible if all parts of a system would be rewarded by their success as a whole.
“Sometimes gorillas punch each other and that’s why you deserve to be poor”- really well said, it makes it sound as absurd as it actually is!
It isn't absurd at all. The tangent about cooperativity being just as much a part of nature as competition is laughable and that's not even the worst mistake in the video.
@@neo-filthyfrank1347 Tell me why you think cooperativity is not an important part of nature? Most groups wouldn't survive without each others free help.
@@neo-filthyfrank1347 Hello from ex-USSR citizen. Please tell me more about cooperativity being, I wanna laugh my ass off, buddy.
@@holdenparker179 K go live in a American hood let’s see how long you can cooperate
@@oskarkuelz2706 yes but humanity isn’t one of those Stalin has murdered multiple people within his circle of trust
Sociologically, this was an interesting video.
I'd like to ask a few questions:
A) is there something inherently ethically good or evil in "capitalist realism" and/or "communist realism?"
B) How do you allocate scarce resources efficiently?
Не могу назвать себя в полной мере англоговорящим, и тем не менее, я хорошо понимаю все, о чем говорится в этом видео и во всех других на канале. Общее мировозрение сильнее языковых барьеров, и проблемы у нас одни и те же. Мы сможем решить их вместе.
Удачи всем нам!
Да, трудно будет но можем.
I can’t call myself a full English speaker, and yet I understand everything that is said in this video and in all others on the channel. A common worldview is stronger than language barriers, and we have the same problems. We can solve them together. (Google Translate)
@@peterburns9861 i agree
Who's walking right there!? Left, left!
I think this analysis is reflective of why the same people protest that gender binary is “just biology” despite the incredible complexity of human physiology. Thank you for putting this argument into the clearest form. I’ve seen it in yet.
Especially considering that the evolutionary purpose of sexual reproduction is to create a randomizing effect. The idea that a system whose purpose is randomization could produce a perfect binary system is nonsense.
Can’t believe I caught this video so early. Honestly scary that the majority of the public is so blinded.
Omg I haven’t seen you on my feed in months!
IMMACULATE video. I’ve been trying to communicate this same idea to my liberal friends for a long time, and one of them actually sent this to me and said they liked it. Perfectly done
yup brainchip time baby think of me when ur putting it in
It's like comedy, people like it when they think it's true but it's offensive when it's not true to their experience. In my experience, I have been talking about socialism for 20 years, everything around me loves the idea of socialism. If you look at academia, the vast majority of professors and most students are at least sympathetic to socialism if not loudly in support. So this video doesn't ring true to me at all; it's not an unexplored concept, it's a rejected concept because we did in fact explore it and millions of people are dead because of it.
it's a dumb idea
@@gorkyd7912 your comment is extremely confusing and the way you’re using words doesn’t make any sense. Like you’re assuming everyone should know what you’re saying…? Are you saying people have died over socialism or capitalism?
I thought the needless inclusion of background music distracted from its points.
Your video reminded me of the disdain with which the word "socialist" is often treated in Western literature (even fiction). I always wondered why, if it's supposed to be someone who is focused on society and its needs. But if governments exist for people's sake (and if they don't fulfill their role in protecting the people, then what's the point of having them?), why has socialism got such a stigma attached to it?
It is treated with disdain because it's an inefficient and unethical system. This seems shocking if one takes socialism as something good by definition, just because it says "social", just because it claims or even sincerely pretends to help society. On top of that, there are a couple self proclaimed socialist leaders who turned into corrupt dictators.
Socialism is bad because it requires a centralized violent power to forbid workers from organizing themselves into certain ways. Those ways do not harm anyone and are in respect of everybody's rights. Socialism forbids workers from taking full advantage of the principle of division of labor and designating someone with the specialized role of managing capital (which the video improperly defines, I recomment reading wikipedia's definition). It is also often based on the idea that the capitalist is necessarily an exploiter, but modern economic theory has already explained why that's not the case.
If instead by socialism you mean welfare statism (which is not socialism), then it has the immoral aspect of doing charity with the money of others, which is not real charity. Welfare states can only be financed by taxing a mostly capitalist economy. The nordic countries, for instance, have welfare states AND a much higher economic freedom than the USA, meaning it's easier to carry out a capitalist business there. Argentina, on the other hand, is a failed welfare state, because it does not allow capitalism to flourish and therefore it runs out of money.
@QuesadillaQuest808 It's not utopian, it's distopian. Even if we magically reached perfect socialism/communism, it wouldn't be sustainable and there would be suffering. There is nothing wrong with chasing a utopian vision of the future, it's just that this one in particular doesn't work, while others might, and orient us in the proper direction.
@@MrTomyCJ Where'd you get the idea that socialism is a system characterized by a totalitarian and oppressive rulership (presumably by a privileged few), with bureaucratic elements running the economy?
@@MrTomyCJThe demonization of socialism and it branches shows well on that comment.
The argument about the suffering is bs.
Capitalism is much, much greater catalist for tyranny in every way. It killed billions of people and still kills millions per year.
It revolves around passive or active violence, war, exploitation...
The former socialism experiment was greatly altered by the fact that capitalism tried its utter most to destroy any attempt at opposition, because it KNOWS socialism is better, and because of its very principles, threatens the money and power of the little elite.
" Socialism has always failed " - again, bs. They were under sanctions, constant sabotage, seclusion, and military threat. Perhaps they would have been successful if treated as equals and allowed to stretch their legs, trade ect. Their resort to strict control was the only way to secure themselves.
There are plenty of videos about those topics, from this channel and others, explaining better and further than i can.
@@MrTomyCJ "Socialism is bad because it requires a centralized violent power to forbid workers from organizing themselves into certain ways. ": but surely this is capitalism word for word? strike breaking? union busting? the state violently suppresses threats to private property, especially when they are made by workers expressing a desire to democratically control their workplace. in fact i think you've unintentionally come up with a great and simple critique of how capitalism restricts the freedom of the masses to organize themselves and their economic production because it allows that power to accumulate unequally in the hands of individual capitalists.
additionally, i think in the communist manifesto itself it says that the roles of management would be determined by the workers, democratically, perhaps by popular vote or with an elected representative. the details of the workings of any society are determined by its participants, anyhow, so however you can imagine a management role being filled, not by private ownership being its sole qualification, is fair game.
I would just love to imagine a world without money. Ever since it has existed, people deny any idea that proposes a potentially better world without it
Right, but money does not define Capitalism, it's important to understand that money may still exist after or during a socialist transition.
@@hflx money does define capitalism. Its all about the money, or they wouldnt do it. But I agree in the sense that, money itself isn’t a problem, but something that gets currupted. Money can be helpful but capitalism doesnt allow that. Greed and power always wins unfortunately.
@@friendlymexicano Still better than socialism
@@unknown_codec_404 How so?
@@hflx thats what i was meaning. Money CAN and DOES represent capitalism. but not in the way people may think. I agree with your statements, my statement was not necessarily about stating just a fact, but including my opinion that, Capitalism when it comes down to it, it’s about greed and power. Value is subjective… what one thinks is valuable may not be true for another of course. It devalues others work to get to the top. You cant be completely ethical when you participate in capitalism it’s impossible now. I totally agree with what youre saying. But money is what keeps it going, using human labor and devaluating what their work is really “worth” is all to make a profit for yourself/ business. My perception of money is different than yours but Im not denying the facts. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Sir your channel is loaded with BARS. Future leaders could learn quite a lot from you. Please keep educating, love the content🔥
Since finding your channel I've normally watched on Nebula but wanted to stop by here and say thankyou for your concise and insightful commentary. Really brilliant work!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your support
Generation X here - wanted to let you know that I am thankful you mentioned the Anarchist Piotr Kropotkin and more and more people are beginning to seriously think about Anarchism here in the UK (at least), this has been exemplified for me by my Anarchist comments on mainstream news outlets such as The Guardian no longer being met with uneducated drivel and derision, but instead by thoughtful and reasonable questions and understanding.
The tide may be finally turning after centuries of lies from the self interested classes thanks to the widespread availability of information that undermines the lies of sociopaths.
Truth need only whisper, but lies require constant and loud reinforcement.
Keep up the good work old boy.
I'm in my third year of university and one of my, like, non-negotiable classes is philosophy and the pursuit of a good life, so we've been talking about liberalism and capitalism a lot and this video has finally given me some framework for talking back to the neo-liberal people in my class who literally can't imagine a world outside of capitalism and talk within the ideological framework set out for them by capitalism. Thank you!
Here's the main issue. Know why socialism/communism fails? It's always tried out on a nation that's poor. Redistribute poverty and all you get is more poverty. For poor nations capitalism is the best system. All nations start off poor. Rich nations can go communist and nothing would really happen. 99% of people would be happier and 1% of people would get very angry. No rich nation has tried it though. The economy would take a hit. The 1% and their businesses will move elsewhere. GDP will start to fall for a few years... panic... Then naturally every person starts their own small business and compete with one another. Eventually gdp stabilizes. Monopolies seize to exist. Everyone is an entrepreneur. Stabilization. Caveat? Technological stagnation. The issue with every one being a small business owner? Not having wage workers and huge teams for break through advances (the only upside for monopolies).
@@juliosoto6566 East Germany?
@@jorsoodlang East Germany is the perfect example to what I'm saying. East Germany was richer than the West while communist. The war then wiped them both out and both became poor. Since both were poor the capitalist one went ahead. But if the war never happened and they both stayed rich..m then the communist one would have been the one ahead.
@@jorsoodlang Haven't you noticed every time a rich country is experiencing some sort of economic crisis they implement socialist ideals to restimulate the economy? When poor socialist countries experience economic crisis they turn to capitalism. Have a rich capitalist country implement more capitalism while in crisis and have a poor socialist nation implement more socialism while in crisis and both would inevitably collapse. Solution is simple. More socialism for the the rich capitalists and more capitalism for the poor socialist nation. Keep at it until you find the optimal point (varies for each country depending on current wealth). When in doubt and forced to pick between socialism and capitalism... stick to capitalism. Better to collapse because of massive unequal wealth than to collapse because of no wealth.
I’m a Senior Finance Major that also likes Philosophy too. I don’t really agree with much of this video simply because you cannot imagine a version of the current world that exists today because of Capitalism without Capitalism. It does not exist, whereas Capitalism is the current reality built by centuries and centuries of trade. The “Global Village” is perhaps the greatest feat of humanity to date.
Socialism/Communism do not actually exist in any tangible way in our world, so it’s easy to imagine them as never existing. In every attempt at either, neglect from the other countries/firms and reduced trade has caused them to collapse and abandon anti-capitalist ways. China had starvation because they couldn’t just import food from Australia, because they were Capitalist and that was bad. Today with Capitalism, China simply imports food and supplies from other capitalist entities. Capitalism makes it easier for people to get the goods and services they want, whereas the others do the opposite
In conversations like these it is important to understand what things are. For example Capitalism is a system of free trade. Socialism is a form of governance that also extends and controls trade.
Incorrect definition. Capitalism is an economic system in which some people derive income from the ownership of the means of production which other people need to use to do work which creates value. This may mean they own farmland that other people are farming, or they may own factories that other people are working in, or they may own houses that other people need to keep themselves out of the weather - but in all cases, they are obtaining income for themselves by owning something that another person needs to use, and that income comes not from selling the item, but from renting to or employment of that other person.
You can have capitalism without free trade. You can have socialism with free trade. Socialism requires that the workers own the means of production, which may mean that every factory is owned by a cooperative owned by the workers in that factory. The government doesn't have to be involved at all in how they run their business.
@@tealkerberus748 I wasn’t seeking out an opinion I was stating a fact. You are incorrect. Socialism deals with the running of a country not just a company. As such, the company is owned by the people not the workers, the profits are shared by all, and the rates for service are capped. Capitalism cannot function in a system that limits choice or trade. To use your example how can a capitalist rent out the land that he doesn’t own? How does a new company break into the market when the people’s options are limited?
this dude needs to have a 2nd rewatch, obviously wasnt paying attention to his defining of definitions
WOW, heavy. This could be debated for hours...days. Let me simply say what an outstanding video this is and what a great job you did as host. It's this kind of thing that we need more of on UA-cam and elsewhere to provoke thought, debate, introspection.
Thanks so much!
I suspect that your assertion that "it could be debated for hours...days" is only because we're not configured to update our thinking in realtime.
Having two people speak (or shout) arguments at each other isn't a debate, it's just monkeys chattering. Simple exchange of information doesn't take all that long, but one must be open to new data, or to corrective logic (also, the presenter is well served to have their information available in a format that is accessible, credible, and easily verified.)
Being told one has bad data is difficult to correct, even if the better data is readily available and verifiable, but being told one isn't reaching a logically-consistent conclusion is both a blow to the ego, and likely requires significant rewrite of cognitive processes. (Good bloody luck with that.)
Please watch this in 10 years and lmk if this guy was right. Enjoy your carbon tax.
@@MrDefinitionMan Hi I would just like to let you know that your comment is very confusing, and I cannot for the life of me understand whether you are condemning them or just commenting on something. This is nothing against you, I just honestly can't infer your meaning from what you said.
@@MrDefinitionMan do you agree with the video or not? i dont get your comment buddy hahahaha
I would love if you covered Fisher's notion of cybertime crisis, which appears in post capitalist desire, a scattering of lectures and other writings. Fisher tries to articulate how communucation technologies produce the feeling of time scarcity, which leads us to permanent states of hurried/manic emerency in which nothing substantial can be done. Before his death, Fisher points to cybertime as a powerful force supressing our ability to resist and reconfigure society.
That part of the video really touched me. Being so focused on the follies of the human race on my daily life, it's easy to forget that there are a great number of genuinely good people as well
Star Trek is a grand sci-fi example of a post capitalist society. Everyone has their needs met but. Ciscos father runs a restaurant. How does that work? How do Starfleet personnel buy things at Quarks? How does Picard justify owning a vineyard with a manor house when it seems most people live in efficiency apartments? Capitalism is hard to get over.
Much as I'd love to write an essay exploring this fascinating subject, and one dear to my heart, I'll just observe that in human history there have been many systtems, monarchy as the most obvious, that were almost universally found worldwide, and for thousands of years no one could imagine a way of displacing it, although certainly there were various alternatives conceived of and sometimes used. The idea of an unstratified society isn't new, but it has yet to arise. My thesis is that only when planetary events force humans to find and adopt another method of relating to one another and meeting human needs (not wants, but needs) will another system evolve. It is only when an economic or governmental (or religious) system fails, usually culminating in a farily spectacular period of chaos and suffering, that human societies try something different. It's only after you've stripped the bolt that you're forced to figure out some other way of removing it, to put in practical terms.
We had a huge portion in our history when meeting only human needs and not human wants was the top priority. Then we acquired fire.
religion has always been there all the time. even today islam is conquering the world, specifically, conquering former nations which now are downgraded to multicultural, feminine, weak, atheist countries. or plots of land to be better used, as seen from the perspective of those doing the invasion.
@@IntoTheVoid1981 guy put it so clearly that he is a bottom-feeder in society by talking about needs. complete lack of ambition, very common in beta-male internet dwellers.
that caos you are talking about is coming, and the result of it will be the inevitable elimination of defective genes that mother nature is best at. you can rest assure a weak system in which humans, as living being we are, are not even reproducing, and are most definitely not expanding into space, is not something mother nature wants, and mother nature always gets what she wants. alternatively, singularity will happen and machines will be doing the expansion. one way or another, the design of existence makes it so that living being multiply and expand, so any attempt to subvert that design will be crushed at some point in time.
So I guess we just have to wait for climate change to fuck us all to have a real improvement in our economic system.