Productivity and Alienation

[*Hippie*]

So I was talking with a working class person who is not a comrade, he is on the side of the Cappies.
So "human nature" came up and I pretty much said human nature is a myth.
He said it is human nature to want to be productive and contribute to society. I suppose this has some truth to it.
And I said Capitalism does not bring about that feeling of contibuting to society and he disagreed. For me, when I work, I feel alienated from my work. I know someone else is profiting off of my work. I work as a market research person so I basically call people, get their opinions and my company then sells that information back to companies who use it to manipulate consumers into purchasing their product.

I am not sure if I am posting this in the right section. But I basically wanted to say that I would feel so much more fulfilled and satisfied with my work if it was actually somehow helping the people, the society as a whole rather than making other people rich. <_<
I don&#39;t know how people decieve themselves into thinking Capitalism is helping society or that it is even humane.

Cappies making money off of the labor of the people is nothing short of theft. In a just society they would be in jail where they belong. When will people realize that Capitalism is exploitative by it&#39;s very nature.
Sorry for the rant, just wanted to express some thoughts. :)

[*Hippie*]

Also, said person cleans pools for the bourgeosie, how is that contributing to society? God forbid the Cappies don&#39;t have clean swimming pools, when there are people all over the world needing a clean shower and clean drinking water. ;)

[Amusing Scrotum]

Also, said person cleans pools for the bourgeosie, how is that contributing to society? God forbid the Cappies don&#39;t have clean swimming pools, when there are people all over the world needing a clean shower and clean drinking water.

Cappies are sensitive folk. Imagine just how terrible it would be for them to have to swim in a pool that wasn&#39;t sparkling. :lol:


He said it is human nature to want to be productive and contribute to society. I suppose this has some truth to it.


I would say its more a human instinct that people maintain. A kind of hunter, gatherer mentality.


And I said Capitalism does not bring about that feeling of contibuting to society and he disagreed. For me, when I work, I feel alienated from my work. I know someone else is profiting off of my work. I work as a market research person so I basically call people, get their opinions and my company then sells that information back to companies who use it to manipulate consumers into purchasing their product.

I worked as a telesales person. Selling double glazing. Though I quit after two weeks, partly because I was crap at it and partly because I felt very deceitful, trying to flog things to people who don&#39;t need them. By the way, this was before I became a Communist. So I can say from a personal viewpoint, working as something that is basically un-productive and devious. Is a drain on your basic human emotions. I think a lot of workers&#39; feel this way, its just, like many have said before, they don&#39;t yet realise there is a solution.

[*Hippie*]

I worked as a telesales person. Selling double glazing. Though I quit after two weeks, partly because I was crap at it and partly because I felt very deceitful, trying to flog things to people who don&#39;t need them.

Many of the people at my work also used to do sales calls. I told them once I didn&#39;t think I could ever sell anyone something unless I actually used the product and knew it was a good product and they couldn&#39;t understand why I feel this way.
I feel really bad talking to nice elderly people on the phone knowing they are usually the targets of those kinds of sales.
The world is pretty scary. The Cappies don&#39;t give us breaks from consumerism even safe in our own homes&#33;

[Jimmie Higgins]

Originally posted by *Hippie*@Sep 30 2005, 04:26 AM

I don&#39;t know how people decieve themselves into thinking Capitalism is helping society or that it is even humane.

Cappies making money off of the labor of the people is nothing short of theft. In a just society they would be in jail where they belong. When will people realize that Capitalism is exploitative by it&#39;s very nature.
Sorry for the rant, just wanted to express some thoughts. :)
People "decieve" themselves because they don&#39;t believe there is any better option. In my view, the combined efforts of McCarthyism in the US and Stalinism in the USSR and other countries have shown workers in the US that "socialism" isn&#39;t a viable option.

And I&#39;m not convinced that people do "decieve" themselves in thinking capitalims is good anyway. Most people I know hate their jobs and being powerless and only "decieve" themselves in thinking that they can somehow "bypass" being a worker in capitalism through hoping to own their own business or be self-employed in some other way. I don&#39;t think that shows approval of the system, rather it shows that people don&#39;t think there is an alternative, so they look for the least worst option within the system. Even in the left and activism, people often try and look towards reforms and making a "better" version of capitalism.

[Amusing Scrotum]

Many of the people at my work also used to do sales calls. I told them once I didn&#39;t think I could ever sell anyone something unless I actually used the product and knew it was a good product and they couldn&#39;t understand why I feel this way.
I feel really bad talking to nice elderly people on the phone knowing they are usually the targets of those kinds of sales.
The world is pretty scary. The Cappies don&#39;t give us breaks from consumerism even safe in our own homes&#33;

The worst thing was the blatant lies we were telling people. We&#39;d have to make them think they were getting free windows, so that they would arrange an appointment with us to have their windows measured. Then when the person would go round, he would basically try to sell them the windows.

The worst part is that they are allowed to get away with this.