Jimmie Higgins
13th October 2005, 23:45
THe market is like an eating disorder made into a societal system. Once a bag of sweets or chips is opened, everything must be consumed until the bag is empty. Then another bag must be opened and the process of extracting every bit of candy or crumb of chip or chocolate residue left on the wrapper resumes way past a healthy or "full" state, but the eating builds its own momentum until there is a sudden sinking feeling in the stomach and the process is suddenly reversed. Total destruction and chaos and a landscape of ripped wrappers and destroyed carboard boxes are all that remain.
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Capitalism is like "That 70s Show" in that I hate it so much and it's really not as funny as people claim it is!
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"Class War, in the Desert Mirage"
Life for a worker in capitalism is like you're wandering through the desert, dehydrated and near death and you come across a man with no arms sitting in an empty bathtub next to a water pump. 20 feet away on the top of a sand dune there is a small shack.
You ask the man for some water. He tells you he dosn't have any except for what he needs for his bath, but a man in the shack will sell him some water in exchange for some ice. He then explains that if you punp the tub full of water for him, he will give you a handfull of ice.
You agree and once you had pumped enough to fill the tub half-way, another man comes out of the shack with a bucket and fills it from the bathwater. THe man from the shack returns two more times as you grow sore from pumping the water into the tub. On his final return to the tub, the man from the shack brings the bucket back full of ice and he dumps it into the tub. The armlessman then seperates out three of the floating cubes with his feet and offers them to you as he promised.
As the sun sets, you enthusiastically stumble through the sand to reach the shack. The other man is wating for you there and offers to sell you some water for one ice-cube. You hand it over and the man accepts and says: "Ok, hold out your cup". You reply that you have none and he offers to let you rent one for three pieces of ice.
You run back down to the tub and ask the man for a piece of ice, but he says it's all melted. He adds that he wouldn't give you some even if he had any left because he didn't have any more work for you to do that day. "Tomorrow" the armless man says, "I might need some things to be done".
Back at the shack you tell the man that you only have 2 pices of ice left but you would really like some water. He gives you the option of an one-cube ice-loan if you give him two pices of ice tomorrow. The alternative he offers is to pour the water poured directly into your cupped hands, but points at a human skeleton in the corner of the shack and warns that you would probably only be able to get a few gulps worth at the most.
Remebering that you could get some ice from the man in the tub the next day, you choose the first option. THe man offers to loan you 2 ice-cubes (one to help pay for the cup and one to put in your cup) in return for only three ice cubes the next day. You decline and drink-up.
You sleep outside and almost get frostbite in the freezing desert night. THe next morning you wake and go to meet the man in the tub only to discover that there are 3 more desert-wanderers who've lined-up to see the armless man.
THe first wanderer gets the job of emptying the tub in exchange for two pices of ice at the end of the day. The only other job left to do is to fill the tub with clean water. THe armless man offers to pay one of us three pices of ice to do all the pumping or one piece of ice each to pump 1/3 of the time. You can't pay back your debt with one piece of ice let alone be able to get some more water, so you offer to do all the pumping and remind the armless man that you have experience. One of the wanderers quickly counters and offers to do all the pumping for two ice cubes. Now, you need at least one ice-cube in order pay off half of the debt and keep the intrest on your ice-debt down. You say you'll do all of it for two pieces of ice -- and that you have more experience and can do a better job. The last wanderer offers that the remaining wanderers and you should all just do a part of it and get one piece of oce each. The man in the tubs says doing all of the pumping for two pices of ice would still be a better deal for him than paying a total of three pieces. At that point, desperate, you offer to do all the pumping for one pice of ice. "Sold" says the man in the tub.
That night you pay off part of your debt to them man in the shack and go to sleep thirsty, but with a clear concious. THe next morning you go back and, again, try to underbid the other wanders for jobs of filling and emptying the tub. THis continues for four days in which sometimes you suceede in getting ice and sometimes you just ended up thirsty. On the fourth night, the wanderers approach you and say that all of you should team up and ask the armless man for tow pices of ice each for doing both the filling and emtying the tub.
You agree to this plan - emptying the tub is just as easy as filling only part of the tub, why should emptying pay twice as much as filling 1/3 of the tub? You give your demands the next day at the tub, and the man refuses but counters that he will go back to offering 1 cube a piece for each of them to fill a portion of the tub. THere is intense discussion between you and the wanderers until you all decide to tell the man that he will have to stay in dirty water until he agrees with your demands. Angry, the armless man explains that he won't be bullied and the wanderers are free to go out to the desert and try and find another underground pocket of water to pump, but until then, he gets to decide what to do with his water.
Later that day, the man from the shack comes down to the tub. He sees the condition of the dirty and quickly evaportating water and says that the water is worse than usual, it dosn't meet his standards, and he won't pay for it.
THe next day the man in the tub still refuses to pay and the wanderers refuse to pump. The water is now green, mostly evaporated and probably tastes more of sweat than water. When the man comes from the shack he is furious and says that his supplies of ice are melting. THe two men confer and the man in the tub agrees to pay two people 3 cubes a piece for filling and emptying the tub. To their suprize you decline and demand that use of the tub and the pump be given over to you so that the tub could be filled with enough water to be shared by everyone.
The national gaurd is called in and all the wanderers are slaughtered. You remain but now do all the jobs for two cubes alltogether.
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Capitalism is like "That 70s Show" in that I hate it so much and it's really not as funny as people claim it is!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Class War, in the Desert Mirage"
Life for a worker in capitalism is like you're wandering through the desert, dehydrated and near death and you come across a man with no arms sitting in an empty bathtub next to a water pump. 20 feet away on the top of a sand dune there is a small shack.
You ask the man for some water. He tells you he dosn't have any except for what he needs for his bath, but a man in the shack will sell him some water in exchange for some ice. He then explains that if you punp the tub full of water for him, he will give you a handfull of ice.
You agree and once you had pumped enough to fill the tub half-way, another man comes out of the shack with a bucket and fills it from the bathwater. THe man from the shack returns two more times as you grow sore from pumping the water into the tub. On his final return to the tub, the man from the shack brings the bucket back full of ice and he dumps it into the tub. The armlessman then seperates out three of the floating cubes with his feet and offers them to you as he promised.
As the sun sets, you enthusiastically stumble through the sand to reach the shack. The other man is wating for you there and offers to sell you some water for one ice-cube. You hand it over and the man accepts and says: "Ok, hold out your cup". You reply that you have none and he offers to let you rent one for three pieces of ice.
You run back down to the tub and ask the man for a piece of ice, but he says it's all melted. He adds that he wouldn't give you some even if he had any left because he didn't have any more work for you to do that day. "Tomorrow" the armless man says, "I might need some things to be done".
Back at the shack you tell the man that you only have 2 pices of ice left but you would really like some water. He gives you the option of an one-cube ice-loan if you give him two pices of ice tomorrow. The alternative he offers is to pour the water poured directly into your cupped hands, but points at a human skeleton in the corner of the shack and warns that you would probably only be able to get a few gulps worth at the most.
Remebering that you could get some ice from the man in the tub the next day, you choose the first option. THe man offers to loan you 2 ice-cubes (one to help pay for the cup and one to put in your cup) in return for only three ice cubes the next day. You decline and drink-up.
You sleep outside and almost get frostbite in the freezing desert night. THe next morning you wake and go to meet the man in the tub only to discover that there are 3 more desert-wanderers who've lined-up to see the armless man.
THe first wanderer gets the job of emptying the tub in exchange for two pices of ice at the end of the day. The only other job left to do is to fill the tub with clean water. THe armless man offers to pay one of us three pices of ice to do all the pumping or one piece of ice each to pump 1/3 of the time. You can't pay back your debt with one piece of ice let alone be able to get some more water, so you offer to do all the pumping and remind the armless man that you have experience. One of the wanderers quickly counters and offers to do all the pumping for two ice cubes. Now, you need at least one ice-cube in order pay off half of the debt and keep the intrest on your ice-debt down. You say you'll do all of it for two pieces of ice -- and that you have more experience and can do a better job. The last wanderer offers that the remaining wanderers and you should all just do a part of it and get one piece of oce each. The man in the tubs says doing all of the pumping for two pices of ice would still be a better deal for him than paying a total of three pieces. At that point, desperate, you offer to do all the pumping for one pice of ice. "Sold" says the man in the tub.
That night you pay off part of your debt to them man in the shack and go to sleep thirsty, but with a clear concious. THe next morning you go back and, again, try to underbid the other wanders for jobs of filling and emptying the tub. THis continues for four days in which sometimes you suceede in getting ice and sometimes you just ended up thirsty. On the fourth night, the wanderers approach you and say that all of you should team up and ask the armless man for tow pices of ice each for doing both the filling and emtying the tub.
You agree to this plan - emptying the tub is just as easy as filling only part of the tub, why should emptying pay twice as much as filling 1/3 of the tub? You give your demands the next day at the tub, and the man refuses but counters that he will go back to offering 1 cube a piece for each of them to fill a portion of the tub. THere is intense discussion between you and the wanderers until you all decide to tell the man that he will have to stay in dirty water until he agrees with your demands. Angry, the armless man explains that he won't be bullied and the wanderers are free to go out to the desert and try and find another underground pocket of water to pump, but until then, he gets to decide what to do with his water.
Later that day, the man from the shack comes down to the tub. He sees the condition of the dirty and quickly evaportating water and says that the water is worse than usual, it dosn't meet his standards, and he won't pay for it.
THe next day the man in the tub still refuses to pay and the wanderers refuse to pump. The water is now green, mostly evaporated and probably tastes more of sweat than water. When the man comes from the shack he is furious and says that his supplies of ice are melting. THe two men confer and the man in the tub agrees to pay two people 3 cubes a piece for filling and emptying the tub. To their suprize you decline and demand that use of the tub and the pump be given over to you so that the tub could be filled with enough water to be shared by everyone.
The national gaurd is called in and all the wanderers are slaughtered. You remain but now do all the jobs for two cubes alltogether.