"The capitalist system which dominates the world is based upon older social systems such as feudalism, and inherits from them a kind of "caste" system in which money replaces birth as the indicator of rank" - Something obtainable through a variety of means - be it hard work, theft or innovation.
"illusion of opportunity" "believing better things are around the corner" - Therefore all of us in jobs (whether we enjoy them or not) are ignorant of this great conspiracy and naive in our desire to educate ourselves, perhaps bring new lives into this world and do our best to educate them?
"The struggle to gain status and power within the system is an aggressive and competitive one" - Indeed it is, and from this the world has managed technological, social and economic advances that were sorely lacking in other systems of government.
"backstabbing, slander and other forms of socioeconomic rape" - If in doubt make use of emotional descriptions. Your interpretation may be that the majority of the capitalist world works by the aforementioned - I'd have to disagree. I see too many people everyday who don't subscribe to the above - yes some people choose that route to get ahead, and some of them get ahead by doing it. Others choose a variety of methods, and more still get comfortable and choose not to pursue career-ladders and rat races further. Ambition and dedication are great catalysts for achievement - but I'm probably being naive and blinkered by saying that
"either pushing yourself up or your rivals down" - Believe it or not but I reckon you can 'achieve' without resorting to either of those. Understand what it is you're being paid to do - if you have no fundamental objections to it then do the best you can at it and sometimes it'll get recognised. But like so many things it's not efficient and you don't always get your just rewards/deserts - but that's not enough for everyone to mutate into backstabbing individuals.
"and annoyances like public opinion can topple even the mightiest giant" - And now my most controversial point. The 'general populace' don't always do, or believe the right thing (shocked inhaling of breath from all around). In the UK we have daily papers like the Express and the Daily Mail which specialise in whipping the 'general' public into a frenzy over whatever takes their fancy - the Sun newspaper, one of the biggest selling papers takes it in turns to lamabast homosexuals, foreigners, the rich, beggars and a variety of football teams. Now I ferverently hope that the whole of the UK does not subscribe to these views, but in some cases the majority do, and with the right goading it's not too difficult to generate a mob mentality. In the middle ages we had witches burnt at the stake, and people put to death for petty crimes or crimes against the 'state' (what a lovely catch all term don't you think?). Were these right? Did the general populous turn out in their masses to watch hangings? Was there widespread approval? So it would appear... Is it right? Well to me no.
Personally I'm happy with learned members of my society establishing laws and guidelines as to how I should live my life - yes I give up a certain amount of 'freedom' by doing that, but I like living in this society, I can look back on some achievements, I can see some failures, but I put them all down to me and the randomness of life. I've seen WTO demonstrations, Carnivals Against Capitalism and various others and have seen aspects there that hold no interest to me. I don't want to live in an anarchy, I want laws, I want politicians (not all of them, and not the same ones for too long - power does corrupt, of this I do believe) and I want a society where people have the choice to be everything from backstabbing bastards to peace loving pacifists.
With respect to free-speech (back on topic), I believe the Internet, Gnutella and Freenet now provide us with the greatest opportunity for freedom of expression ever. I dislike the idea of nastier sides of human nature being presented but feel that it's up to parents to create well adjusted individuals who can make their own decisions, and attempt to establish a values system where race and sexuality (amongs others) are not a basis for making decisions.
fin ------- Apologies for rambling.
Re:After Skimming the Article...
on
Silicon Hell
·
· Score: 1
A wonderfully biased piece of journalism. More than a suspicion of figures and facts being chosen to support one view, with no balancing information. Junk.
Slashdot Mirror
nt
"The capitalist system which dominates the world is based upon older social systems such as feudalism, and inherits from them a kind of "caste" system in which money replaces birth as the indicator of rank"
- Something obtainable through a variety of means - be it hard work, theft or innovation.
"illusion of opportunity"
"believing better things are around the corner"
- Therefore all of us in jobs (whether we enjoy them or not) are ignorant of this great conspiracy and naive in our desire to educate ourselves, perhaps bring new lives into this world and do our best to educate them?
"The struggle to gain status and power within the system is an aggressive and competitive one"
- Indeed it is, and from this the world has managed technological, social and economic advances that were sorely lacking in other systems of government.
"backstabbing, slander and other forms of socioeconomic rape"
- If in doubt make use of emotional descriptions. Your interpretation may be that the majority of the capitalist world works by the aforementioned - I'd have to disagree. I see too many people everyday who don't subscribe to the above - yes some people choose that route to get ahead, and some of them get ahead by doing it. Others choose a variety of methods, and more still get comfortable and choose not to pursue career-ladders and rat races further.
Ambition and dedication are great catalysts for achievement - but I'm probably being naive and blinkered by saying that
"either pushing yourself up or your rivals down"
- Believe it or not but I reckon you can 'achieve' without resorting to either of those. Understand what it is you're being paid to do - if you have no fundamental objections to it then do the best you can at it and sometimes it'll get recognised. But like so many things it's not efficient and you don't always get your just rewards/deserts - but that's not enough for everyone to mutate into backstabbing individuals.
"and annoyances like public opinion can topple even the mightiest giant"
- And now my most controversial point. The 'general populace' don't always do, or believe the right thing (shocked inhaling of breath from all around). In the UK we have daily papers like the Express and the Daily Mail which specialise in whipping the 'general' public into a frenzy over whatever takes their fancy - the Sun newspaper, one of the biggest selling papers takes it in turns to lamabast homosexuals, foreigners, the rich, beggars and a variety of football teams. Now I ferverently hope that the whole of the UK does not subscribe to these views, but in some cases the majority do, and with the right goading it's not too difficult to generate a mob mentality. In the middle ages we had witches burnt at the stake, and people put to death for petty crimes or crimes against the 'state' (what a lovely catch all term don't you think?). Were these right? Did the general populous turn out in their masses to watch hangings? Was there widespread approval? So it would appear... Is it right? Well to me no.
Personally I'm happy with learned members of my society establishing laws and guidelines as to how I should live my life - yes I give up a certain amount of 'freedom' by doing that, but I like living in this society, I can look back on some achievements, I can see some failures, but I put them all down to me and the randomness of life. I've seen WTO demonstrations, Carnivals Against Capitalism and various others and have seen aspects there that hold no interest to me. I don't want to live in an anarchy, I want laws, I want politicians (not all of them, and not the same ones for too long - power does corrupt, of this I do believe) and I want a society where people have the choice to be everything from backstabbing bastards to peace loving pacifists.
With respect to free-speech (back on topic), I believe the Internet, Gnutella and Freenet now provide us with the greatest opportunity for freedom of expression ever. I dislike the idea of nastier sides of human nature being presented but feel that it's up to parents to create well adjusted individuals who can make their own decisions, and attempt to establish a values system where race and sexuality (amongs others) are not a basis for making decisions.
fin
-------
Apologies for rambling.
A wonderfully biased piece of journalism.
More than a suspicion of figures and facts being chosen to support one view, with no balancing information. Junk.