Shouting
At The Devil:
“Fuck You, Capitalism!”
By Jason Miller
10 November, 2007
Countercurrents.org
“America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number
one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient
role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you’ve lost
all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced.
And in the end, the product doesn’t belong to you. The only way
you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don’t care about making
a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve.”
–Tom Morello
of Rage Against the Machine
Does
my profanity offend? If so, accept my sincere apologies for having the
audacity to use a vulgar expletive in reference to the malignant force
that is raping the Earth and murdering its sentient inhabitants. Then
take my ‘deeply sincere’ pleas for forgiveness, and with
the aid of an unlubricated rod of significant diameter, ram them firmly
up the collective asses of the plutocratic bags of shit who comprise
the ruling elite in the United States.
Capitalism, capitalism. How
do I loath thee? Let me count the ways….
1. Few would argue with the
conclusion that greed, selfishness, ruthlessness, and egocentrism are
qualities that all of us humans possess, to varying degrees of course.
Equally compelling is the argument that nearly all of us are capable
of acting with kindness, compassion, justice, honesty, generosity, and
empathy. Yet despite the sweeping epidemic of unnecessary suffering
caused by torrential waves of avarice, self-centeredness, and brutality,
our filthy moneyed elite, their well-compensated sycophants, and countless
millions of deeply inculcated members of the working class defend the
sacred cow of capitalism with the zeal of the Siccari. What a brilliant
way to conduct human affairs and organize ourselves socioeconomically!
Not only do we embrace the inevitability of our human frailties; we
willfully and perpetually embrace a system that ensures that the worst
elements of the human psyche will predominate AND which amply rewards
those who act the most reprehensibly.
2. One of the idiocies advanced as a logical argument to justify the
continued existence of the abomination of capitalism is that while it
may be flawed, it is still better than any alternative. If capitalism
is the best humanity can do, it’s time to cash in our chips and
leave Earth to our non-human animal counter-parts. They may not have
opposable thumbs and formidably sized frontal lobes, but at least they
don’t engage in the systematic destruction of themselves and the
rest of the planet. However, before we act too hastily and engage in
mass Seppuku, perhaps it would make more sense to implement a mass reorganization
of our socioeconomic structure, basing the new paradigm on far more
egalitarian, sustainable, democratic, just, and rational principles.
Or we could just keep destroying each other and the fucking planet….
3. Capitalismo has raped
Central and South America nearly to death. Unlike the “Land of
the Free,” most of those horribly victimized nations have a vibrant,
thriving, and well-organized Left to stand in opposition to the scourge
of humanity and the Earth. US-sponsored death squads, torture, disappearances,
privatization, “free” trade, deregulation, union busting,
evisceration of social programs, coups, and vilification of leaders
with the audacity to defy the status quo of avarice on steroids have
assailed our southern neighbors since we in the United States (the self-appointed
champions of capitalism) began our wholesale exploitation, imperialism,
and neoliberalism by “acquiring” half of Mexico. Let’s
see now. Remind me again. How many invasions has that “dire threat”
to humanity named Hugo Chavez launched? How much “collateral damage”
has he inflicted?
4. Capitalism is an anachronism
that long ago out-lived its usefulness (except to the morally rotten
parasites comprising our de facto aristocracy) and has proven itself
to be an abject failure as a means of human interaction and organization.
It’s one step removed from feudalism, for Christ’s sake!
(Oops! Sorry, I forgot about mercantilism—the transition to capitalism
made such a difference). One of humanity’s strengths is our capacity
to evolve. Given that, why in the hell do we stubbornly cling to a system
that enables a fraction of a percent of the population to live in OBSCENE
opulence while 35,000 of our fellow human beings die of starvation-related
causes each day? Are the rest of us truly inane enough to believe that
asinine myth that any of us has a REALISTIC chance of becoming the next
Bill Gates, if we “just work hard enough.” Or that there
is an ounce of moral virtue in pursuing the accumulation of excessive
wealth?
5. Resting upon the “pillars”
of greed, selfishness and hyper-competitiveness, capitalism is irrational
and unstable. Crisis and resource wars are chronic and inevitable. How
could we expect it to be otherwise? Unleashing some of the ugliest aspects
of the human spirit and creating artificial shortages in a world of
abundance (by allowing a select few to hoard most of the resources as
“their property”), capitalism doesn’t exactly engender
an environment of peace and brotherly love. While our filthy ruling
plutocracy has allowed a degree of socialism to diminish their power
to rape, pillage and plunder, they only did so to quell social unrest
during times of serious instability (i.e. The New Deal). Meanwhile,
reactionary elements in our “democracy” are consistently
scheming to eliminate the use of public monies to actually benefit the
public. Witness George Bush’s ongoing demands for an open purse
to fund our insanely bloated military and the war crimes we are committing
in Iraq. Compare that to his recent refusal to spend an additional $35
billion to provide health care for 3.9 million children. Bush and the
moneyed interests for whom he is fronting are inflicting gaping, cankerous
wounds upon humanity and the Earth. How much more obvious could it be?
(And this administration isn’t an aberration; they are simply
bold enough to reveal their agenda—that’s the scary part).
6. Thanks to our slightly
adulterated yet plenty virulent infestation of capitalism, the United
States is not the “Christian nation” it touts itself to
be. While we certainly abide by the Golden Rule in the sense that “he
who has the gold makes the rules,” there is little about the manner
in which we conduct ourselves as a nation (particularly in terms of
foreign policy) of which the person meeting the Biblical description
of Jesus Christ would have approved. Let’s just run through a
few highlights. We have killed millions of Iraqis via two invasions
and barbaric economic sanctions (the sanctions alone killed over half
a million children—they’re on your tab, Bill Clinton)—and
these are people who NEVER attacked us nor posed a true threat to our
“national security.” We arm and support Israel, the diseased
enforcer of the mental illness known as Zionism. Ethnic cleansing. Now
there’s a spiritually nourishing Christian pastime for you. We
revere, idolize, and empower talented, “beautiful” people
whose moral evolution came to a screeching halt at about age five. They
are our CEOs, politicians, celebrities, athletes, billionaires, pundits,
and Wall Streeters whose smug, hubristic “all-American”
mugs, talking heads, and ‘surgically enhanced’ bodies are
blasted into our homes 24/7 via Fox, CNN, ABC, and a host of other disseminators
of the fetid garbage of infotainment. Sorry folks. Calvinism is about
as close as our culture comes to the compassion and love modeled by
Christ. And with John Calvin in the saddle, we fall significantly short
of that mark. As his unwitting disciples, we are imbued with cynicism
and self-hatred (we are, after all, “original sinners”),
a sadistic desire to inflict ample doses of punishment for the smallest
of transgressions (hence the US having the largest prison population
in the world—comprised largely of non-violent drug offenders)
and the notion that being rich means one has acquired God’s stamp
of approval. (Thoughts of camels, needles, and kingdoms of heaven keep
throwing me into a horrid state of cognitive dissonance in my desperate
efforts to be a good little capitalist by embracing Part III of the
Calvinist doctrine…..). Somehow I don’t think Christ had
capitalism in mind when he preached the Sermon on the Mount…..
7. Let’s consider sustainability
and consumerism for a moment, shall we? Two more of capitalism’s
noxious, life-extinguishing qualities are its demand for infinite growth
and its unavoidable “dilemma” of excess production. Problem
number one is insoluble, but we can simply let our grandchildren worry
about our insane insistence on maintaining a system demanding infinite
resources from a finite world. As for excess production, that one is
simple. We have the most advanced agitprop industry (Madison Avenue)
and the most powerful delivery devices (the mainstream media) in the
history of humanity churning out alluring appeals to consumers to buy
what they don’t need, can’t really afford, and may never
even use. Surplus schmurplus….
8. As an “added bonus”
to the wounds it inflicts upon humanity as a collective, capitalism
also causes serious character malformations in individuals. As infants
and young children, human beings naturally believe themselves to be
the center of the universe. In order to “succeed” (and sometimes
just survive) in the rat race of capitalism, as we mature we begin viewing
our narcissism as an attribute. Rather than shedding it, we nurture
it with the tenderness of the most devoted of mothers. Looking out for
number one, careerism, an obsession with winning, acquisitiveness, and
putting money and appearances ahead of principles and people are considered
to be virtues in this violently seething cesspool we euphemistically
call a culture.
9. Perhaps most disturbing
of all is the way in which capitalism’s relentless advocates have
managed to bamboozle billions of people into equating it with democracy.
Diabolical to its core, but sheer genius nonetheless. Concluding that
capitalism and democracy are somehow synonymous is a bit like saying
that Dick Cheney and the milk of human kindness relate to one another
in even a very remote fashion. (Have you seen the myriad pictures of
his evil grimaces floating around the Internet? Despicable creature
that he is, he doesn’t even attempt to mask his malevolence).
Capitalism is naturally hierarchal, authoritarian, and brutal. Corporations,
the legal vehicles for the plutocracy to maximize their profits while
minimizing liability, are structured as tyrannies. What the hell is
democratic about dog eat dog, law of the jungle, and every man for himself?
Besides, if we uber-capitalists here in the United States are truly
“democratic,” and we “elected” a depraved idiot
like W to what is ostensibly the most powerful position in the world,
what does that say about us?
George Bush, Dick Cheney,
et al aren’t anomalies or accidents. They are the naked face of
savage capitalism evolved to its ultimate and inevitable state, which
is embodied by corporatism, monopolism, cronyism, imperialism, and fuck-everyone-but-the-rich-ism.
Slice it, it dice it and
spice it any way you prefer. A pile of shit is a pile of shit by any
other name. Capitalism is just that from the standpoint of compassionate,
moral, and intelligent human beings. One exceptionally virtuous person,
Archbishop Don Helder Pessoa Camara, who was a progenitor of Liberation
Theology and an unwavering champion of the poor, once remarked, “To
examine capitalism is to indict it.”
Unfortunately, capitalism
remains the 800 pound gorilla in the room. There is little doubt that
its countless millions of fiercely loyal minions amongst the working
class and poor will continue heeding their indoctrination, daring us
to pry their copies of Atlas Shrugged “from their cold dead hands.”
And we can count on the fact that the likes of the Mars heirs, Richard
Mellon Scaife, and their ilk are not destined to experience profound
spiritual awakenings anytime soon.
Yet there is hope. Capitalism
exists in a state of perpetual crisis. Inequality is on the rise, globally
and domestically. Our lords and masters are beginning to fall victim
to their own hubris as they practice their predations more and more
overtly. Palliatives can only delay the system’s inevitable collapse
for so long. Sooner rather than later the deepening undercurrent of
social unrest will burst the levees of injustice asunder.
Relative to what’s
coming, the Great Depression was a mere warm-up. Yet in adversity there
lies opportunity. Our US gulag, often referred to as the prison industrial
complex, will serve as excellent quarters for the irredeemable scum
stalking the corridors of power in DC, the Walton clan, Larry Ellison,
and the rest of the parasites atop the capitalist pyramid.
Or perhaps things will take
a more Jacobin turn and we won’t need to waste any more precious
resources on these predatory sociopaths….
Fuck you, capitalism; fuck
you…..
Jason Miller
is a wage slave of the American Empire who has freed himself intellectually
and spiritually. He is Cyrano’s Journal Online’s associate
editor (http://www.bestcyrano.org/)
and publishes Thomas Paine’s Corner within Cyrano’s at http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/.
You can reach him at [email protected]
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