When I was very young, I had not read Marx.
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When I was very young, I had not read Marx. I was a socialist because ‘feelings’. It ‘felt’ fairer to aim to create and maintain a society that had humanitarian and egalitarian aspirations - something beyond simply perpetuating the law of the capitalist jungle.
I, like I suspect many others, thought that the right and left were arguing about moral and economic structures of societal organisation.
Then I actually read Marx.
1/ -
When I was very young, I had not read Marx. I was a socialist because ‘feelings’. It ‘felt’ fairer to aim to create and maintain a society that had humanitarian and egalitarian aspirations - something beyond simply perpetuating the law of the capitalist jungle.
I, like I suspect many others, thought that the right and left were arguing about moral and economic structures of societal organisation.
Then I actually read Marx.
1/I am neither blind nor naive. The vast majority of political systems that used Marxism as their ‘model' did not end up treating their populations any better than the alternative. In many cases, it was worse. The manufactured famines, the repression, the deaths…in the millions.
People in capitalist systems seem to die in quieter, less spectacular single events but I always wonder, if it were possible to keep count, how it would compare.)
2/
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I am neither blind nor naive. The vast majority of political systems that used Marxism as their ‘model' did not end up treating their populations any better than the alternative. In many cases, it was worse. The manufactured famines, the repression, the deaths…in the millions.
People in capitalist systems seem to die in quieter, less spectacular single events but I always wonder, if it were possible to keep count, how it would compare.)
2/
None of that takes away from the fundamental reality that, 200 years later, Marx was still right.
Wealth accumulation is not just a driver of economic disparity. It always inevitably leads to power disparity. Because wealth is power. Period. Sometimes obviously, sometimes quietly.
Our willingness to embrace the collective delusion that a minted coin, a printed bill of currency has some intrinsic, concrete value has been both a method of organising exchange, and a misery to humankind. 3/
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None of that takes away from the fundamental reality that, 200 years later, Marx was still right.
Wealth accumulation is not just a driver of economic disparity. It always inevitably leads to power disparity. Because wealth is power. Period. Sometimes obviously, sometimes quietly.
Our willingness to embrace the collective delusion that a minted coin, a printed bill of currency has some intrinsic, concrete value has been both a method of organising exchange, and a misery to humankind. 3/
What I grew to understand is that whenever people put ideology before basic humanity, whether on the left of the right, things got ugly.
Moreover, that as humans we have two really destructive tendencies that I don’t think are ‘fixable’ in the near future: humans are motivated by competition and we crave absolutes.
We’re drawn to narrative coherence - the competition that creates the heroic narrative - and our yearning for absolute answers - that provide emotionally satisfying ‘endings’ 4/
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What I grew to understand is that whenever people put ideology before basic humanity, whether on the left of the right, things got ugly.
Moreover, that as humans we have two really destructive tendencies that I don’t think are ‘fixable’ in the near future: humans are motivated by competition and we crave absolutes.
We’re drawn to narrative coherence - the competition that creates the heroic narrative - and our yearning for absolute answers - that provide emotionally satisfying ‘endings’ 4/
The nasty reality is that humans are animals. We all die. We can die sooner or later. We can live experiencing joy and contentment or misery and anger.
People say they would rather live shorter but happier lives. But the reality is that when confronted by death, like every other living creature, most would rather scratch out a few more days or weeks of being alive, even if it is in abject misery.
And nature is no model. It’s pitiless. Nature doesn’t care how much you hurt. 5/
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The nasty reality is that humans are animals. We all die. We can die sooner or later. We can live experiencing joy and contentment or misery and anger.
People say they would rather live shorter but happier lives. But the reality is that when confronted by death, like every other living creature, most would rather scratch out a few more days or weeks of being alive, even if it is in abject misery.
And nature is no model. It’s pitiless. Nature doesn’t care how much you hurt. 5/
We created social organising structures specifically to cushion ourselves against the cruelty of nature - both internally (our wired drives to satisfy ourselves) and externally (to create artificial environments that protect us from the dramatic swings of paucity and plenty).
So we have created systems of customs, norms and laws in an effort to protect ourselves. And yet those systems all, to one extent or another, can evolve to impose the same cruelty that raw nature has. 6/
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We created social organising structures specifically to cushion ourselves against the cruelty of nature - both internally (our wired drives to satisfy ourselves) and externally (to create artificial environments that protect us from the dramatic swings of paucity and plenty).
So we have created systems of customs, norms and laws in an effort to protect ourselves. And yet those systems all, to one extent or another, can evolve to impose the same cruelty that raw nature has. 6/
Strangely enough, it was in interacting with my brother, who is experiencing psychosis, that I really came to a better understanding of how I really felt about the world and society.
We all hallucinate. We all have delusions. Non-psychotics simply have a faculty for sharing their delusions. That is what a society is.
So this insistence that any one of us knows what is REAL is simply moot. We agree to participate in this or that delusion. This isn’t a bad thing. This is who we are as humans. 7/
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Strangely enough, it was in interacting with my brother, who is experiencing psychosis, that I really came to a better understanding of how I really felt about the world and society.
We all hallucinate. We all have delusions. Non-psychotics simply have a faculty for sharing their delusions. That is what a society is.
So this insistence that any one of us knows what is REAL is simply moot. We agree to participate in this or that delusion. This isn’t a bad thing. This is who we are as humans. 7/
We agree to participate in the delusion that a disc of metal (a coin) has a value beyond the metal it’s made of - and that that value is not quite fixed.
We agree to participate in the delusion that the legal system (even the fairest and most humane one) gives us the satisfaction of justice. When in fact quite often it doesn’t.
We agree to participate in elections to confer immense power onto individuals who will represent our interests. When in fact they often don’t.
8/
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We agree to participate in the delusion that a disc of metal (a coin) has a value beyond the metal it’s made of - and that that value is not quite fixed.
We agree to participate in the delusion that the legal system (even the fairest and most humane one) gives us the satisfaction of justice. When in fact quite often it doesn’t.
We agree to participate in elections to confer immense power onto individuals who will represent our interests. When in fact they often don’t.
8/
But sometimes they do. And that is the key.
Sometimes currency is practical. Sometimes people do get justice. Sometimes elected officials actually DO serve our interests.
Our overall aim, I think, should be to better the odds. And to try and avoid the trap that all ideologies promise - some shortcut to absolute perfection.
So it is not out of any ideological orientation that I say… we need to get rid of these billionaires. Because they lessen the odds of success by any societal measure. 9/
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But sometimes they do. And that is the key.
Sometimes currency is practical. Sometimes people do get justice. Sometimes elected officials actually DO serve our interests.
Our overall aim, I think, should be to better the odds. And to try and avoid the trap that all ideologies promise - some shortcut to absolute perfection.
So it is not out of any ideological orientation that I say… we need to get rid of these billionaires. Because they lessen the odds of success by any societal measure. 9/
Individuals with enormous personal wealth are fundamentally anti-social forces. The power their wealth affords them skews or defeats every collective aim of a social order.
It doesn’t even matter what happens with the money we relieve them of. As long as it is sufficiently dispersed.
We are not going to achieve the aim of having joy and contentment in our lives, as individuals or as a group, without this.
10/
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Individuals with enormous personal wealth are fundamentally anti-social forces. The power their wealth affords them skews or defeats every collective aim of a social order.
It doesn’t even matter what happens with the money we relieve them of. As long as it is sufficiently dispersed.
We are not going to achieve the aim of having joy and contentment in our lives, as individuals or as a group, without this.
10/
So yes, I sound like a socialist.
But in reality, what I am is a person who gets joy from living in a community with other people and would prefer less misery and more joy.
I want less grand narrative and more practical contentment.
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So yes, I sound like a socialist.
But in reality, what I am is a person who gets joy from living in a community with other people and would prefer less misery and more joy.
I want less grand narrative and more practical contentment.
@Remittancegirl I think this as the final "volley" is super-on point - because what tends to be missing from all the power/money/system dynamic, of which ideologies etc. are just explanatory frameworks, is the fact that, yes, we're animals, but we're SOCIAL animals. We're as hardwired for community as we are for survival itself; in fact they can't be separated in us. What those frameworks tend to do is supplant our fundamental sociality with externalities & we need to explicitly fight this.
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J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
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@Remittancegirl I think this as the final "volley" is super-on point - because what tends to be missing from all the power/money/system dynamic, of which ideologies etc. are just explanatory frameworks, is the fact that, yes, we're animals, but we're SOCIAL animals. We're as hardwired for community as we are for survival itself; in fact they can't be separated in us. What those frameworks tend to do is supplant our fundamental sociality with externalities & we need to explicitly fight this.
@jwcph @Remittancegirl I love "radicalized by decency"
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@jwcph @Remittancegirl I love "radicalized by decency"
️@jwcph @Remittancegirl @nachtet i snatched this from somewhere around the internet.
