The Attack on Capitalism Is an Attack on Free Will
Free will is a mixed bag. Obviously some seriously destructive things come from it. And yet, I don’t see people willing to give it up. I’ve seen people willing to turn themselves over to sadists — get some high off of that — but that’s still that person’s choice, and it is a choice that can potentially be revisited if the sadist turns out to be less impressive than originally believed.
It may be because the masochist might change their mind that free will is something sadists are determined to strip away from people. In other words, it may be the desire of sadists to act out their fantasies on someone else without restraint and without consequence. It may also be arrogance — where they think they should be worshipped as false gods.
Our society is in the throws of a takeover of sadism. Having boundaries is evil. The free will of others is considered evil. It doesn’t matter if the tyranny results in a large death toll; it’s a worthwhile sacrifice because it destroys the free will of the masses. And that is a laudable goal in the minds of malignant narcissists and/or sadists.
The article, “The growing popularity of degrowth.” (Thompson, 2024) is an interview with the author Kohei Saito who wrote the book Slow Down. “Akielly Hu, Grist’s news and politics fellow, discussed the growing popularity of degrowth with Kohei Saito — a Marxist author whose 2020 degrowth manifesto quickly turned into a bestseller in Japan and beyond. (The English translation, called Slow Down, was just released last month.)” (Thompson, 2024) The article’s author, Claire Elise Thompson defines degrowth in this way, “If you like the idea of a perpetual three-day weekend, you might be one of a growing cadre that supports the concept of degrowth: a school of thought aimed at shrinking economies and moving away from GDP growth as a metric of success, while instead emphasizing universal basic services and social well-being.” (Thompson, 2024) In the article, Kohei Saito’s philosophy of slow growth is discussed. Kohei Saito’s belief system stems from Marxism. She describes this as a utopian prospect. First off, forced tyranny has usually been considered dystopian, not utopian. But Akielly Hu appears to be buying into a world where people are made happy by being given an extra day off a week. “Hu was also inspired by Looking Forward’s drabbles in writing the lede of her piece, which paints an image of a degrowth future: Imagine a world where you work three or four days a week. In your free time, you play sports, spend time with loved ones, garden, and engage with local politics. Overnight shipping, advertising, and private jets no longer exist, but health care, education, and clean electricity are free and available to all.” (Thompson, 2024)
Meanwhile, people would exchange any meaningful work for a job where you are just given a stipend in exchange for going through the motions. Only you won’t have to go through the motions for as many days a week. There would also be no discretionary income, no savings, no upward mobility. There will, I’m sure, be tight restrictions on what they allow you to buy. In fact, that is pretty much what Kohei Saito says, “‘But at the same time, we should start talking about the need to reduce the number of cars, for example, or industrial meat consumption, or frequency of flying. Maybe we should ban private jets. Maybe we should ban domestic short-distance flights because we can take trains. These things must be also prioritized.’ ” Kohei Saito continues, “‘The problem with the existing mainstream green capitalism discourse is they never talk about reducing our excessive consumption and production, because that’s not something capitalism can accept. For everyone to live a decent life on this planet, the Global North needs to give up what is unnecessary. That’s not something capitalism can do.’ ” (Thompson, 2024)
So meat is out, trips beyond a certain distance from your house are out, and I’m guessing medical care that prolongs your life will probably also be out since it not only adds to the price of socialized health care, it also causes an unnecessary carbon footprint. The article “Our pets are part of the climate problem. These tips can help you minimize their carbon pawprints.” by Kimberly Richardson states the following about unhealthy pets. Kimberly Richardson quotes Gudrun Ravetz with Vet Sustain as saying, “Avoiding animals with known health problems will reduce the need for veterinary intervention, which has a carbon footprint, and most importantly will reduce unnecessary suffering in terms of poor health and welfare.” (Richardson, 2022) I’m assuming the same would apply to human beings with health problems.
I suppose some people like the prospect of allowing someone else to make all their decisions for them — actually I know that those types of people exist. The global elite are trying to sell their total domination and control as a utopia where you are just taken care of — where you have no worries and are safe. But that world doesn’t exist in this life, and it’s certainly not going to be delivered by people with a depopulation agenda.
In the end, capitalism is the economic system that signifies free will. And just like free will, it can be destructive. The best solution would be a society of people who take personal responsibility for themselves and self-regulate. Then, hopefully, the good would outweigh the bad. But the people steering the ship aren’t interested in Christianity and desire to cut God out of the world. They want a society of people who will admire their narcissism and obey and worship them. But how do you accomplish both a narcissistic /sadistic bent in society while still having a society that won’t self-destruct: tyranny and social control. And tyranny and social control require a new economic state-controlled system such as communism or fascism.
By the way, an eerie thing happens when fascists say you can rest more. At the concentration camps in WWII they tricked people into the death line by promising the sick, the elderly, and the children a less arduous workload. Work won’t set you free, but it’s a bad sign when they no longer value your work. After all, how many ways do they have to show they don’t believe in the intrinsic value of human life? So it’s not good they no longer see us as useful to them at all.
(Richardson, 2022)
Richardson, Kimberly. (2022, September 27). “Our pets are part of the climate problem. These tips can help you minimize their carbon pawprints.” CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/15/us/pets-climate-impact-lbg-wellness/index.html.
(Thompson, 2024)
Thompson, C. E. (2024, February 21). “The growing popularity of degrowth.” Grist. https://grist.org/looking-forward/the-growing-popularity-of-degrowth/
jenniferalicechandler 