The Guilfordian

Issue date: 4/15/05 Section: Forum

Media Credit: www.universityofthepoor.org Death to Capitalism Throughout the World Dimitri Stakheyevic Moor, 1919

Here we are in 2005, over 15 years since the victory of capitalism over communism. Since I wasn't born until the end of the Cold War, I feel like I missed something. The way I see it, we defeated an ideology that says all people should be looked upon as equals. Instead we have championed an economic ideology that creates a class system where the richest people control the main aspects of life. This has made the world entirely unequal. While I am not promoting communism, I am also not convinced that it is in the best interest of the world for us to continue using capitalism.

I see capitalism making me want to compete with, and grow to hate, others. Capitalism would not exist without competition. In order to advance in this society, someone must be beaten out. Since our competitive economic system is an influential aspect of American culture, this competition leaks into other areas of people's lives. This makes us work against each other far more than we work together and help each other.

The basic premise of capitalism is that people want a lot of material "stuff." Not only that, but as a status symbol, everyone wants to have even more than the next person, so he or she will do all that it takes to make others fail. There is nothing wrong with a company lying to or deceiving the general public so that they will buy some unneeded crap - there's always some new product that everyone must have.

It's sad that I can't go anywhere without being bombarded by corporate slogans and seductive advertisements forcing lies down my throat so that some rich person can get even richer. It's impossible to watch a basketball game on TV, or programs on the History Channel, without a commercial break every five minutes so that someone can tell me why I should buy their product. I can't even look in a magazine to read or educate myself without finding someone telling me about something that I must have, but don't need. Half the items in my mailbox are advertisements trying to get me to buy something else. Truthfully, all of those products on the market are pretty much the same things. It doesn't matter if it's Pepsi or Coke, Sprint or AT&T, Nike or Reebok; someone is getting rich at the expense of others.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools