Re:Champions of the 401(k) Lament the Revolution They Started
by eli_gottlieb on Monday January 02, 2017 @07:20PM
(#13305635)
>Now, there are certain ideologies (democracy, free market, capitalism) that are considered as the apex.
At this point, I would say capitalism is eating both democracy and free markets.
Re:Champions of the 401(k) Lament the Revolution They Started
by ivraatiems on Monday January 02, 2017 @09:33PM
(#13306216)
Not capitalism. End-stage oligarchocapitalism.
To address some of the other comments in this thread: this idea that someone has to earn the right to live has not, historically, been the norm. Pre-modern societies tend to lean more towards values emphasizing community rather than values emphasizing individuals. There is a lot to say about this, philosophically, when you start looking at how modernity changed things.
One of the weirdest notions of modernity is this idea that humans are at the apex, with the implicit narrative that what is current will always be the best. Human brain achieved higher intelligence than any other living organism on earth, therefore humans are the apex predators. During the colonial era, the colonial powers considered themselves civilized ... and everyone else were savages, somehow lesser. Now, there are certain ideologies (democracy, free market, capitalism) that are considered as the apex.
There is something very broken about modernity. I'm not suggesting pre-modern notions are necessarily better. I do think this narrative of 'being the best' has blinded our modernist sensibilities, and we have yet to find a satisfactory answer beyond modernity.