So in case you didn't notice, I missed two weeks of posting, sorry about that. I believe I had a reasonable excuse for the first week though, because I totally felt like death. Whatever cold/flu whatever that was hitting the East coast of the USA (and might still be here) took me down hard. And it took all but one of my co-workers down at the same time. It was an interesting week at work, what with the chorus of hacks and nose blowing. Last week I was on the tail end of it all and probably should have posted but I lost track of time during the day and it just didn't happen. And that type of thing just kept happening throughout the whole week, so here we are.
I don't really have anything specific I want to write today. Not that I haven't been reading a lot and gathering up a lot of fodder for social commentary, but if I'm not in the right mood trying to discuss either of those is exhausting and I don't do it well. Case in point, someone asking about universal income at a dinner I was at, me saying we should abolish capitalism, and the conversation going nowhere because it was difficult for me to fully articulate why I think that. Keep in mind, I'm a budding leftist. I haven't read much of the material needed to bring up hard facts/figures off the top of my head, and most of my knowledge right now revolve around small facts that I learn and my feeling that the current system never really worked because if it had then why haven't we fixed the problems of poverty, starvation, and climate change yet? Look at the technology we have. Look at the number of videos on the internet about "this plate is fully compostable" or "this robot cleans the oceans" or "this shampoo has no plastic bottle." Yet, none of those initiatives seem to really get off the ground. Not to mention, individual pollution is minuscule compared to that of factories. Yet even though climate scientists have essentially said we're screwed if we don't fix this by 2050, I don't see a whole lot being done by companies to fix it. All of this combined with the fact that some studies show there are about five times as many empty domiciles for rent as there are homeless people in the US (Truthdig 2012), and that there are people in the US who are homeless but still work 40 hours a week(McCoy, 2019)...Well, that doesn't give me warm and happy feelings about capitalism. So even though I said I wasn't going to talk about it, I did. Go figure. The story told by McCoy? It was right across from my work building. I walk that stretch of road every day and see people in tents or huddled under blankets. I'm pretty sure I saw the altercation mentioned, when Monica was yelling at the clean-up crews. It was a few minutes before a conference call, I was dialing the number, and I looked out the window and saw a woman yelling at the people dragging her belongings away. It might not have been the woman referenced in the story; it might have been another person saying the same things. Another person who is trying so hard to keep on his/her/their feet but failing because the system we're in works against them. Some people may say that this system we're in is a bastardization of capitalism, and pure capitalism isn't like this. Pure capitalism will actually work. But I don't think that's true. And maybe it's partially because I haven't actually read Ayn Rand and just can't picture it. Maybe human beings are "just greedy" and the system isn't at fault. But what if it isn't that humans are "just greedy?" What if a system like capitalism, or at least the version we currently have, is the reason humans are "just greedy?" I see a system around us that rewards being greedy. It rewards looking out only for yourself. It rewards the hoarding of money (which by they way, is totally made up and doesn't actually mean anything unless you're in a system that forces it to mean something). And when you are rewarded for being greedy? Then that is what you become. And evolutionarily, those people who are "best" at being greedy and ignoring others? Well they're in prime position to reproduce. There's a reason the highest ratios of psychopathic traits are in CEOs. This turned into a very deep and dark post, and I apologize. But sometimes when I'm writing and can actually search for my references/facts I make better arguments. I do not want this to turn into an online argument. I just needed to express some of the inner worries and stresses of my life. Feel free to give your own opinions or point me towards other articles that support or don't support my views. Just don't turn it into an argument. Next week I'll have a happier topic. Maybe a book or movie review... Happy Reading! References: McCoy, T. (2019, March 22). Homeless, living in a tent and employed: The changing face of homelessness in the U.S. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com Truthdig. (2012) Vacant houses outnumber homeless people in the U.S. Retrieved from https://www.truthdig.com/articles/vacant-houses-outnumber-homeless-people-in-u-s/
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AuthorThe author is a librarian who reads "too much" (is there such a thing?) and talks just as much. As an aspiring author she gets bogged down by grammar rules when she just wants to forget them to make a sentence flow, but never seems to be able to. She appreciates thoughtful comments and constructive criticism, but internet trolls beware, she's read enough fantasy novels to know how to defeat the monsters. Archives
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