Our economic system, based on hidden violence.

I cannot claim full credit for this idea, all the brainwork was done by enviornmentalist and human rights activist Derrick Jensen and i strongly advise picking up his new book "Endgame".

At first glance the social consequences of the current economic system may not seem violent. But, when one does not give themselves to the system it is easy to see how it is run by a hidden violence. If one follows the pressures of college and work then it is easy to provide housing, food, and basic essentials for oneself and ones family.

However, if one refuses to participate in the labor, someone will come and take ones house away, and if one refuses, a police officer with a gun will come and kick one out by force. If one goes into a grocery store starving needing food to live another day but does not have the money to pay for it, that same police officer will refuse ones right to eat and kick one out of the store without food. If one tries to take the food anyway, the chance of being put under arrest exists.

It is almost impossible in most modern cities to live off the fat of the land so to speak. If one wants to fish, it requires a license. If one wants to hunt, it requires a license and certain requirements must be met in order to have the privilege to hunt or fish. If one decides to disregard the license and hunt or fish anyway and is caught a fine is issued, if one doesn't have the money to pay the fine they risk being put in jail. It seems either one get's arrested or dies if they choose to not work for a living or survive off of someone who is working for a living. This realization brings a lot to the table, its almost like a slavery in disguise.

Just some food for thought.

Ramble On ATS.

Well done my friend. I find it ironic that many people think other forms of government and economies, such as communism or socialism, etc, are evil and should be avoided, when capitalism is the embodiment of evil itself. And a democratic republic is the best form of government for capitalism to thrive.

Capitalism just gets worse and worse the longer time goes on. The gap between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat will continue to increase every year, and something will eventually have to happen. The government can only "fix" things for so long before the floodgates open.

The only function of a state is to manage the antagonism between classes, between those who own the means of production and those who only own their labor power. I personally would rather spend a day working, which is no different now, and KNOW that anything I need I can get, and many of the things I simply only want, as well.

We can trace much of this exploitive tendency to this cheer leading of self righteous justification.

English Standard Version (©2001)
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

When those who succeed in this system take it as validation of their superiority they automatically make the assumption that those who do NOT succeed are less than truly human and hence part of what God intended them to dominate. Generally speaking of course.