Technology ConnectionsIn re: some conversations I've had in other places (real and online)
A lot of people in leftist circles seem to begin conversations on step 8 and are surprised when the person they're talking to isn't receptive.
Ya gotta start on step 1.
There's a whole host of good people out there who - believe it or not! - are still using cold war vocabulary. They have not read the theory and whipping out "capitalism bad" freaks them the fuck out.
They usually want the same thing as you do, but it's your job to help them see it. And it starts with meeting them where they're at. Step 1.
Bob Collins@TechConnectify
I'm waiting. Unless you are redefining terms, "capitalism bad," is just ignorant.
I'm waiting. Unless you are redefining terms, "capitalism bad," is just ignorant.
@BobCollins so, to answer earnestly, what people mean when they say that is usually "power structures which form through unchecked greed and hoarding of wealth" but instead they just say capitalism.
@BobCollins and if I may be so bold, *the problem* as I see it is that to some people,
capitalism = commerce
or
capitalism = markets
or
capitalism = unplanned economies
and leftists are usually speaking about the outcomes of unchecked capitalism - literally having a different conversation without considering what the other person understands the word to mean.
Cyberspice@TechConnectify @BobCollins The problem is that the US doesn’t have capitalism. It has monopolies, cartels, government supported restrictions to trade. In capitalism you have lots of competition. The US is designed to avoid competition. Competition with one another. Competition with companies elsewhere in the world. You end up with Oligarchs. Its not a free market economy. Every time mickey mouse ages out Disney gets the copyright laws extended. Edison was great at getting patents, others did the inventing. None of this is capitalism as you would see in an economics book.
ChemicalTribe@cyberspice
The inevitable result of capitalism is always resources pooling into fewer and fewer hands. The key is, who wants the protections, and who does that benefit. Disney has the power to make their own laws with copyright that benefit only them. That's the opposite of democracy. But that's how capitalism works. People can ignore that, because it isn't part of the definition, but that's like naively thinking the USA is @BobCollins @TechConnectify @BobCollins
The inevitable result of capitalism is always resources pooling into fewer and fewer hands. The key is, who wants the protections, and who does that benefit. Disney has the power to make their own laws with copyright that benefit only them. That's the opposite of democracy. But that's how capitalism works. People can ignore that, because it isn't part of the definition, but that's like naively thinking the USA is @BobCollins @TechConnectify @BobCollins
a democracy, and no, not the "But but representative republic!" nonsense. The USA was founded on conservatism and capitalism, championed by its founding fathers, and both are anti democracy.
@BobCollins
@TechConnectify @BobCollins @cyberspice
@BobCollins
@TechConnectify @BobCollins @cyberspice
@ChemicalTribe @BobCollins @TechConnectify @BobCollins I think I will call this US Capitalism then. Because, for example, I can pick from many companies to be my electricity supplier. I know that’s not possible in many areas of the US.