You don’t need to have an ideological position to recognise that capitalism is rotten to the core. It is a massive lie from start to finish; but, like any lie that is repeated time and time again, the lies become “truth.”
Whether you are in the middle of a supermarket or the middle of a war, you are surrounded by a cushion of lies, designed to both confuse you and comfort you and always aimed to make you believe that you have no power.
A trip to the supermarket wraps you and traps you in a continuous orgy of deceit: “special offers,” “sales,” “promotions,” two for one (five for six if you’re not very careful), false advertising, sneaky deceptions, misleading labelling, “healthy options” that turn out to be anything but, “loyalty” cards; and just to enhance your experience even further there is self-service checkout—just for your convenience. And, of course, choice. More choice than you know what to do with, but you have choice! Just don’t mention the waste.
It’s only a short hop over to war. Because we are the goodies, we are not directly affected by actual war, but don’t let that inconvenient fact get in the way of our tacit support. We are given an “enemy,” and it’s plain sailing from there on. Russia is this, China is that, Cuba is the other; and then there is Iran . . . Iran? Well, what can you say about Iran?
Unlike the lies in supermarkets that are designed to get you to buy stuff, the war lies are designed not so much to get you to buy in to the wars but to ensure that you don’t oppose their wars. That will do nicely. When the usual lies miss their target you are offered the comforting notion of “humanitarian interventions.” That will do the trick.
There are lies to cover every aspect of life
Emigration?—Freedom to travel. Immigration?—Cultural diversity. Refugees?—Yes, but not for “economic” refugees; and never mention what caused the refugees to come in the first place.
National news?—Wall-to-wall coverage of the US “elections.” International news?—Whatever the US State Department says. Environment?—Science will take care of that, with a little carbon trading thrown in for immediate effect. Consumerism?—Recycle. Advertising?—More choice. Drugs?—What?
Fraud and corruption?—Social welfare cheats. Inequality?—Trickle-down; and so on.
But, socialism didn’t work! This still trips off the tongue as fluidly, and erroneously, as always. Despite all the failures and disasters of capitalism, you seldom hear that “capitalism doesn’t work.”
There is always an excuse for every occasion, despite the fact that we live in an overwhelmingly capitalist world. Look at both the national and international world, and we have capitalist wars, hunger and starvation, deliberate promotion of religious intolerance, preventable disease, widespread and shocking inequality, inhuman living conditions, ever-increasing incidence and dependence on drugs, slave labour, widespread people-trafficking for sex and labour demand, inadequate or no health care . . . the list goes on and on.
Add to that the constant propaganda spewing out from all the media, banging the drums of and for war, more consumerism, more individualism, more “control” over non-compliant countries or political forces. Just to season all that, sprinkle on a big heavy dose of widespread, unrelenting “surveillance” (isn’t that such a nice word for spying?).
To top all that off, something has to be done to prevent countries or political and social movements from rejecting all the above. If you attempt to step out from the world described above, the capitalists have any number of “reasons” to cause you to reconsider. Straight-out military attack works very well, especially if you have nothing to fight back with. Otherwise, brace yourself for a long, hard, bumpy road of sanctions (illegal, unilateral, coercive measures). Naturally, these sanctions are always applied for the good of the people living in the targeted country.
It is not only the United States that applies these people-friendly acts of deliberate impoverishment but also our masters in the European Union, with the wholehearted support of our government.
Nothing is sacred. Even the most ardent conspiracy theorists cannot begin to imagine the social, economic, labour and political grooming and engineering going on behind the scenes of the management of the covid-19 pandemic. All will be revealed, and, like the sanctions imposed against defenceless populations, it will all be for your own good.
Capitalism doesn’t work (well, it works well for the 1 per cent, it has to be admitted). Socialism cannot be blamed for any of the ills of the world we live in today, yet capitalism manages to evade any responsibility.
While you do not need ideology to see that, you certainly need ideology to build an alternative to it. But first things first. Before people accept socialism they have to reject capitalism. Considering all the above, it should be a simple task, but it’s not. This is our challenge.
