New Student

[Mercury]

I chose the username Mercury for many reasons. First being my obsession with ancient Rome, the later being my connection to capitalism. Im a student in college working toward my studies in business, accounting, economy, and phycology.
(Mercury is the god of travel and trade)
I'm here to see if I cant learn a bit about the left. As a capitalist im sure some of my views don't match up exactly, but my social views are quite the same.
For example: Im actually learning about discrimination in the work place and social injustices as part of my career choice.

[Q]

Welcome :)

If you have political questions, you can ask them in the Learning forum. That's why it's there after all!

If you have questions about your account, don't hesitate to send me a PM or ask here.

What, no Freddy Mercury reference?

What are your own political views? Are the capitalist in the US-spectrum (Democrat/Republican), in the UK spectrum (New Labour/LibDem/Tory), in perhaps another spectrum altogether? Also, if you get restricted (meaning you'll only be able to post in the "opposing ideologies" subforum), that is nothing personal. Just policy. Enjoy your stay.

[Mercury]

Sure thing:
"Money may not buy happiness, but it can sure give it!"
-Freddy Mercury

When it comes to Democrats and Republicans, I just avoid them entirely. Its always one failure after another. I don't bother. My own political views are simple: open market. I see the modern consumerism as a driving force of humanity. As long as the money is flowing then quality of life goes up and the population remains sustained.
As the business motto goes; "There are no problems, just opportunities."

Things like racism, sexism, etc... they get in the way of a healthy society by dividing people. For the true benefit of a capitalist system people need to get together and exchange goods and services. I don't understand the vilification of it myself. Capitolism has utterly torn down the walls that divided so many nations and lifted mankind up to new levels. So many nations try to keep it out and their people suffer for it. North Korea and South Korea are a great example. You gotta let the world in and give the people what they want... and make a profit doing it.

[Psycho P and the Freight Train]

Welcome. Peter Griffin, cabin clown. *extends handshake gesture*

[#FF0000]

Things like racism, sexism, etc... they get in the way of a healthy society by dividing people. For the true benefit of a capitalist system people need to get together and exchange goods and services. I don't understand the vilification of it myself. Capitolism has utterly torn down the walls that divided so many nations and lifted mankind up to new levels. So many nations try to keep it out and their people suffer for it. North Korea and South Korea are a great example. You gotta let the world in and give the people what they want... and make a profit doing it.

I mean, South Korea was worse off than North Korea for quite a stretch there, and even when they started doing well after the West sought to specifically build them up economically, the South Korean government was extremely authoritarian. It is now, to an extent. A lot of the hyper-capitalist Asian countries are, really.

I think you're taking an extremely rose-tinted view of capitalist society and it's association with racism. Racism, sexism, and these bigotries that establish like a de facto social hierarchy aren't just an unfortunate freak occurrence.

But there'll be threads in the future to discuss this, I'm sure. Welcome!

[Remus Bleys]

I doubt you are a capitalist. Just a reactionary.
Hello

[Criminalize Heterosexuality]

When it comes to Democrats and Republicans, I just avoid them entirely. Its always one failure after another. I don't bother. My own political views are simple: open market. I see the modern consumerism as a driving force of humanity. As long as the money is flowing then quality of life goes up and the population remains sustained.

That's obviously not the case, though; just look at the former Soviet Union, where an increase in market mechanisms in the nineties resulted in a drastic drop in the quality of life etc.


As the business motto goes; "There are no problems, just opportunities."

Opportunities for profit, for the bourgeoisie, which rarely translate into positive improvements for other classes. Imperialist war, for example, is a major business opportunity.


Things like racism, sexism, etc... they get in the way of a healthy society by dividing people. For the true benefit of a capitalist system people need to get together and exchange goods and services.

But capitalism isn't something ahistorical, emerging from some sort of state of nature where everyone is equal. Processes in the feudal era sharply distinguished between an emerging bourgeoisie and the proletariat; it is the bourgeoisie that needs to "get together and exchange goods and services". As for the proletariat, it is in the interest of the bourgeoisie to have a supply of unpaid female domestic labor in order to free up male proletarians for intensive work. Hence misogyny. It is in the interest of the bourgeoisie to maintain the "traditional family" in order to ensure the reproduction of the proletariat and to ensure the early training of workers to obey authority. Hence homophobia and transphobia. Finally, it is in the interest of the bourgeoisie to divide the workers along these lines - men vs. women, queers and trans* people vs. everyone else - and also along racial lines, in order to limit the impact of the labor movement on their profits. And that's not even mentioning imperialism etc.

[consuming negativity]

Sure thing:
"Money may not buy happiness, but it can sure give it!"
-Freddy Mercury

When it comes to Democrats and Republicans, I just avoid them entirely. Its always one failure after another. I don't bother. My own political views are simple: open market. I see the modern consumerism as a driving force of humanity. As long as the money is flowing then quality of life goes up and the population remains sustained.
As the business motto goes; "There are no problems, just opportunities."

Things like racism, sexism, etc... they get in the way of a healthy society by dividing people. For the true benefit of a capitalist system people need to get together and exchange goods and services. I don't understand the vilification of it myself. Capitolism has utterly torn down the walls that divided so many nations and lifted mankind up to new levels. So many nations try to keep it out and their people suffer for it. North Korea and South Korea are a great example. You gotta let the world in and give the people what they want... and make a profit doing it.

Oh man, you weren't kidding when you said you needed to learn about the left. Be prepared to feel like every economics class you took was a waste of time.

[ThePeoplesProf]

Welcome, Mercury.


...Opportunities for profit, for the bourgeoisie, which rarely translate into positive improvements for other classes. Imperialist war, for example, is a major business opportunity.

But capitalism isn't something ahistorical, emerging from some sort of state of nature where everyone is equal. Processes in the feudal era sharply distinguished between an emerging bourgeoisie and the proletariat; it is the bourgeoisie that needs to "get together and exchange goods and services". As for the proletariat, it is in the interest of the bourgeoisie to have a supply of unpaid female domestic labor in order to free up male proletarians for intensive work. Hence misogyny. It is in the interest of the bourgeoisie to maintain the "traditional family" in order to ensure the reproduction of the proletariat and to ensure the early training of workers to obey authority. Hence homophobia and transphobia. Finally, it is in the interest of the bourgeoisie to divide the workers along these lines - men vs. women, queers and trans* people vs. everyone else - and also along racial lines, in order to limit the impact of the labor movement on their profits. And that's not even mentioning imperialism etc.

Good points comrade (in re: sexism, homophobia and transphobia). I would recommend reading up on social reproduction theory to see more how women's unpaid domestic labor has been the backbone of the capitalist system (e.g. Lise Vogel, Silvia Federici, Martha Gimenez). As for the intersections of LGBTQ oppression and capitalism, I can't recommend highly enough John D'Emilio's essay "Capitalism and Gay Identity".

As for racism, it's crucial to note that it has its roots in slavery and the slave trade without which industrialization (and thus capitalism) would not have been possible. I highly recommend Eric Williams's classic study: Capitalism and Slavery. Also, C.L.R. James's The Black Jacobins shows the inextricable links between the French and Haitian Revolutions, with slavery and the slave trade as the backdrop of the development of what we know as capitalism today.

I'll give the final words to Marx himself:


Direct slavery is as much the pivot upon which our present-day industrialism turns as are machinery, credit, etc. Without slavery there would be no cotton, without cotton there would be no modern industry. It is slavery which has given value to the colonies, it is the colonies which have created world trade, and world trade is the necessary condition for large-scale machine industry. Consequently, prior to the slave trade, the colonies sent very few products to the Old World, and did not noticeably change the face of the world. Slavery is therefore an economic category of paramount importance. Without slavery, North America, the most progressive nation, would he transformed into a patriarchal country. Only wipe North America off the map and you will get anarchy, the complete decay of trade and modern civilisation. But to do away with slavery would be to wipe America off the map. --Letter from Marx to Pavel Vasilyevich Annenkov; Dec. 28, 1846


The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production. --Capital Vol. I, Ch. 31; 1867

[Q]

OP is restricted and can no longer reply to this thread.

Closed.