Re:Why Capitalism Creates Pointless Jobs
by heynowletsgo on Saturday March 25, 2017 @10:59AM
(#13955967)
But to think people decide to work because either they want things or because the mass media convinces them too is really missing the point of the issue. Maybe that's why you or I or many people do things but the vast majority of work being done is by people being forced to work by a ruling class who demands they work when the only real reason is so they don't have time to improve the real problems they have. Because the ruling class is the problem they have.
Re:Why Capitalism Creates Pointless Jobs
by boomboomsubban on Saturday March 25, 2017 @09:40AM
(#13955572)
Even if you have the right to do something, it can still be evil. Capitalism has been given plenty of rights that turned out to be evil, slavery is the simple example.
If the ruling class decides what to try and what is considered an error, both those statements can still be correct.
Re:Why Capitalism Creates Pointless Jobs
by thomasrognon on Saturday March 25, 2017 @10:39AM
(#13955860)
It's interesting that slavery existed for millennia, and then virtually disappeared within a century or so of the emergence of capitalism.
Re:Why Capitalism Creates Pointless Jobs
by forkLding on Saturday March 25, 2017 @10:48AM
(#13955908)
I wouldn't say that, slavery is still existent as alternative forms around the world, not discounting the fact of so-called sweatshop slavery
Re:Why Capitalism Creates Pointless Jobs
by boomboomsubban on Saturday March 25, 2017 @02:23PM
(#13956894)
So only committing an evil for a couple centuries means it's OK? As I still see it as a fine example of capitalism given the right to do something that was evil.
Capitalism does not necessarily imply in slavery, actually some could even argue the opposite: that a desperate mass of 'free' people feeds and operates the economical machinery in a much better way. That was the breakthrough of the Ford model (workers that could buy cars).
Of course, assuming that you meant the classical meaning of the word slavery.
This does not invalidate your general argument though.
Nevertheless, the author uses "evil" persuasion techniques himself. At one point, he appeals to the "evil elite" meme:
> The answer clearly isn’t economic: it’s moral and political. The ruling class has figured out that a happy and productive population with free time on their hands is a mortal danger (think of what started to happen when this even began to be approximated in the ‘60s).
Later, he says it was just evolution:
> Clearly, the system was never consciously designed. It emerged from almost a century of trial and error.