Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Economic Lessons from the Playground
I HAVE a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son, so I spend a lot of time these days at the playground.
Which is fine. I like playgrounds. I like any place where it's possible to make monkey noises without anyone thinking less of you.
The one challenging thing about the playground, though, is that you have to do a lot of resource management. Because there's always some moment when my daughter and another child decide, more or less simultaneously, that they want to ride the last open swing.
Which means I have to launch into The Speech, the one that begins, "OK, honey: there's just one swing left and this nice little girl wants to play on it now. So we're going to have to share. I know it's hard to share, but we can do something else fun for a few minutes, and then we'll get a turn.''
Does this work?
Sometimes.
The rest of the time, you wind up in Tantrumville.
But that's part of growing up. It doesn't mean you stop giving The Speech. Because we all want our children to learn how to share. We all know that there are a limited number of swings in the world at large, and our children are eventually going to have to learn how to defer their own desires for the sake of the common good.
In fact, most parents are mortified when their children refuse to share on the playground, when they hoard toys, when they decide it is their right to smash a sand castle they played no part in building.
These basic rules of the playground are sometimes given a more sophisticated, adult name: socialism. Which makes all us good parents de facto socialists.
Welcome, comrades!
I mention all this, of course, because opponents of President Obama have attempted recently to turn "socialism'' into a slur. Displaying the zeal exhibited by naughty children the world over, they have equated socialism with fascism, Stalinism, and even Nazism.
For the record, they are wrong. Socialism is a theory of economic organization that calls for equal access to resources for all individuals, along with a method of compensation based on the amount of labor expended. Translated into playgroundese: Everyone should have a turn on the swings, and if you built the sand castle, you get to play with it.
Socialists also argue that capitalism concentrates power among elites who exploit this power for gain.
And here it probably makes sense to mention last year's Wall Street meltdown, which led to our current recession. It was caused by - you guessed it - a concentration of power among elites who exploited this power for gain. It's that old story about the one group of children on the playground who grab all the toys in sight, break them, and leave the rest of us to fend for ourselves.
If the president were a true socialist, he wouldn't be handing out billions of our tax dollars to the greedy chief executives who helped cause this mess.
But the real question here is this: Why are Americans afraid to express their morality in the political arena in the same way they do as parents?
Do we honestly believe that the principles of fairness and equity we so ardently seek to instill in our children will someday have to be unlearned if they are to avoid being branded by some "patriotic'' loudmouth as un-American?
Can you imagine trying to justify to your child the cruel economic inequalities we routinely accept as part of "the American way''? That multimillionaires deserve tax breaks? That providing health insurance to our poorest citizens is some form of civic indulgence? That some children still go hungry in this country, while others live in mansions?
These facts are not ironic, folks, they are evidence of an ongoing moral tragedy, the one in which a nation of parents chooses to ignore the simple lessons of kindness they once taught to their children.
- Posted in
78 Comments so far
Show All"Why are Americans afraid to express their morality in the political arena in the same way they do as parents?"
Because for decades the corporately controlled media has drummed into peoples heads that socialism is bad and liberals are evil. Remember if a lie is repeated enough it will be believed as a truth. It happens all the time.
Yeah, and also, most people have fallen for the mistaken notion of trickle-down economics, Reagan's "float all boats" theory, that if you let rich people keep their money they will create jobs, wealth and opportunity for the rest of us.
What nonsense!
The great Thom Hartmann has shown that rich people don't invest their extra wealth in more hiring, building more factories, etc. but put their money in the financial markets. This is what causes excessive speculation and creates bubbles, and eventually leads to instability and collapse of our market economy. He has shown that you can correlate these economic cycles of boom and bust to the tax rates for the rich.
So, hey, are you done with that swing yet?
Wonderful analogy.
Many people are unaware that their thinking is controlled by the metaphors they use. In fact after many years of teaching, I've had many students that are metaphor blind. It's not a bad thing, but they seem to be unable to shift their outlooks on life. They have an outlook that prevents them from walking in the shoes of someone to achieve an understanding of that person.
" Displaying the zeal exhibited by naughty children the world over, they have equated socialism with fascism, Stalinism, and even Nazism."
Spank a teabagger!
First of all, if your child is throwing tantrums then you're not a very effective parent.
Secondly, socialism is defined as state ownership of the means of production.
However, the author's point is valid. Our children are born with goodness in their hearts which we determine to beat out of them - physically and/or emotionally - as they grow older. There is something sick in the American culture which demeans our better nature (kindness and love) and exalts cruelty, heartlessness, and selfishness. For some reason, Americans and Brits fear honest emotion unless it's destructive.
q
Paul Wilden
"First of all, if your child is throwing tantrums then you're not a very effective parent."
Are you kidding? That would make virtually all parents ineffective.
"Secondly, socialism is defined as state ownership of the means of production."
No, what you're describing is Communism. The definition of Socialism is something of a moving target but "state ownership of the means of production" is clearly in the extreme of left wing ideology, straight out of Marx.
You are confusing the words "socialism" and "socialistic."
And - yes - many, many parents are very ineffective.
q
No, I'm not confusing anything, Socialism and Communism are two different things, similar but different. Socialism allows for much of the economy to be owned privately while Communism eliminates private ownership altogther. What you were describing was Communism.
To say "many, many parents are very ineffective" is not the same as saying that all parents of children who've ever thrown a tantrum are ineffective.
This might be the place to recommend the documentary video "Capitalism and Other Kids Stuff". I've uploaded the .torrent file to the onebigtorrent.org site.
Go here to download it by bittorrent - I'll keep my computer on overnight for seeding
http://onebigtorrent.org/torrents/7372/Capitalism-and-other-Kids-Stuff--Newer-quotFancyquot-Version
All these ridiculous buzz words! Depression is todays reality and what's the solution,A fifth of this nation can't put food on the table,cause we are in THE MOTHER OF DEPRESSIONS,
When one per cent of the pop.holds all the wealth,(the present depression is a variation on the theme) because although that is true today, these one per cent thieves,hid their wealth in off shore banks,NEVER TO BE FOUND EVER AGAIN and live elsewhere,
Unlike the depression,that resulted in the French and Russian revolutions.Those particular revolutionaries were not subject to Fox news and the peasants,who knew they were starving,did not have to reference TV to figure out what was going on.
In America,the masses rely on playground articles and fox pundits to tell them who to like,what to think and who is to be scapegoated this week and the rest of the lies.The masses are mostly apathetic and even unaware.It has not occurred to most people,that if you spend a million dollars a minute on the,here a war, there a war ,everywhere a war war,you are going to be broke.As we are! California,with a bigger economy than Brazil,has no money in the pot today and many other states,are in the same duped state.The big boys and cronies have moved out with their loot and changed it into yuans and euros and the dollar,the new peso is dead.
Post second world war,the Brits were broke,So broke, that for a few years,food was still rashioned.We are headed down the nasty depression path.China is not lending us any more spending money.So how all this plays out to the duped in denial,when reality sinks in, will be major.
This is becoming the playground from the article.
Secondly, socialism is defined as state ownership of the means of production.
-----------------------------
Not by modern socialists, it's not. That's an outdated state-socialist/state-capitalist definition.
By modern socialists, socialism is: worker ownership of the means of sustaining life/creating wealth. Or, in other words: ownership of the job by the person doing it.
Mairead --
Thank you! I can stop going "Aaaaarrrrrggghhhhh ..." while reading Quickstepper's comments.
Whew.
It's amazing how many still cling to that outdated definition, isn't it.
Quickstep, do you have children? Most children at some point, maybe 2 or 3, will go through a tantrum-challenge stage. A tantrum is a disqualification for whatever the child wants. Once, when my boy was 3, my wife and I brought him to a department store, and he started screaming at the top of his voice (I forgot what it was he actually wanted), but not only did he not get what he wanted, we promptly left the store (which made him scream all the more). He did not throw many tantrums after that, if my memory serves me correctly.
Regardless of the quality of parenting, there is no perfectly behaved child. In fact, children will generally test their parents every step of the way; it is part of the learning process they go through. I think parents can harm their children by being too permissive as well as too strict and overbearing. The right kind and amount of 'discipline' helps the child to develop self-discipline, so that he or she can achieve balance and live more fully.
America tantrums to get what it wants.Are not IRAQ/Afghanistan/Congo and anywhere else that they run rough shod over,which would be most of the planet, GIANT TANTRUMS
Definitions of words are fluid like all language.
There are variations on all themes.
It used to be that the only difference between communism and socialism was the route taken towards the goal:
socialists preferred democratic means,
communists willing to use violence.
Marx and others took stabs at defining a new style government based on equality.
Times have changed.
A new model is needed that gleans the good of government
and discards the chaff.
I, too, noticed the narrow view.
All parents don't rear there kids as "western culture parents" do.
Tantrums aren't mandatory or universal.
But, the article reflected a connection in behaviors.
Like, is litter the problem or a symptom?
bad analogy with the swing and socialism.
socialism is when Steve's little daughter cleans the swing of dirt or snow in the morning and then Steve comes and says "Now let these other kids use the swing and you go clean yourself another one".
And Capitalism is when Steve's rich neighbor, in collusion with the community's Chamber of Commerce and Dept. of Parks and Recreation --- a sweetheart, backroom deal --- buys up all of the playground equipment, puts a fence around the park and charges admission with variable rates (the most expensive fee being when the weather is sunny and warm).
What you've described, Oppie, is corruption, as opposed to either capitalism or socialism, which is cancerous to both. In their ideal both capitalism and socialism can be effective, with capitalism having shown itself (in terms of material well being - which is the root purpose of any model of economics) to be the more effective.
What nonsense! Why are the nations that enjoy the most uniformly high levels of well-being in their region, (Scandinavia, France, the Indian state of Kerala) rather socialist?
The privatization of the playground is the perfect analogy. If you think it is "corruption", please remind your state an local governments as they sell, for a "fair price" all you communities commonly held resources.
Socialism:
dictionary.com - a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
Wikipedia - Socialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on the amount of labor expended.
A socialist playground and its swings would be owned by the community and/or those who built and maintain it. Inasmuch as most parks and playgrounds are provided and maintained free (no membership or admission fees) by local government, paid for by taxes, we have 'socialist' playgrounds already.
Usage, sharing, of public property is another matter. Kids are born 'good', and also selfish. They are not going to be like their parents when they were kids, they are probably not going to grow up to be like their parents - they are new unique individuals whose gifts and personalities will be revealed over time. But whoever they become, they require training as humans, and guiding them toward a more humane future is rewarding, frustrating, and absolutely necessary.
Hey, don't listen to quickstepper up there. Every child has at least one tantrum in their lifetime, or they're not normal. I remember distinctly being mortified as I was trying to leave a friend's house with my 3-yr old daughter. She wouldn't let go of her friend's $2 plastic shopping cart and my friend and I were both tugging on our daughters while their little hands fiercely gripped the cart. What did I do? Of course I went directly to K-Mart to get my daughter her own shopping cart!
Enough of that, I thoroughly enjoyed this article and I think it is a very good description of how the world ought to be. I think if we could all stop bickering about gay marriage and abortion that we could see that most of us really fall into the leftover group. If we could work together we could tell those capitalists they can't play if they can't play nice!
"Of course I went directly to K-Mart to get my daughter her own shopping cart!"
You did exactly the wrong thing. You taught your daughter to misbehave in order to get what she wants.
However, you are correct to say that adults should build a world which they can explain easily - and happily - to their children.
q
I'm in complete agreement, still chuckling from the absurdity,
but why argue?
"Of course I went directly to K-Mart to get my daughter her own shopping cart!"
"Thus reinforcing the cultural bias that women are only good as consumers and housekeepers.
Or is it just play training as a future homeless person?
The playground metaphor has a meta-metaphor of the magical playground apparently always existing, it has no history of the circumstances that gave rise to the concept, those who gave rise to the notion and design. Nor does it recognize the situation in which poverty knows no playground.
Suspended in time and context - reach backward and theres a void. Maybe thats why there are so many things that go around in circles in parks.
i feel like i just hijacked the swing
As regards morality, I wish to point out that one sin specified by the Buddha consisted in "hiring others to do one's work." It is not a sin to invite others to work at one's project if the benefits of the project are shared equally among all; it becomes a sin when one pays off the hireling with a wage while keeping the benefits of the project to oneself. (Contrast this with the diminished morality of the gospel story of the ten talents.)
Employment is abuse. Employment is coercion. Employment is extortion. We have a moral imperative to see that none go hungry, that none are homeless, and that all receive health care -- and we have a social obligation to see that the amount of work entailed in all of this is equally divided among the capable.
I did not know that about Buddha, but it reinforces many things I have been trying to express, myself...thank you for that interesting tidbit...'work' could be physical, mental, emotional, spiritual...
currently, we live vacarious, outsourced lives, and do so as the very definition of success...this will have to change for anything else to do so...the individual must engage life's necessities at the physical level...
Left unsupervised, some children become the schoolyard bullies.
This can involve physical beatings or mental torments.
To become a bully, form a mean and nasty gang.
Pick on each single other, repeatedly until victimes capitulate.
and give up money, rights and privileges, or serve to provide suffering for entertainment.
So it is with NATO , United States, Australia.
This gang of military muggers, beating up each and every poor loner in turn, on the playgrounds of this former paradise world.
The ongoing acquisition of global wealth through financial swindles.
The ongoing corruption and control of supposedly democratic parties and politicians.
The ongoing war to steal land from Palestinians.
The ongoing occupation of Iraq, never to end before the oil does.
The ongoing war in Afghanistan, to occupy the significant pipeline routes.
The ongoing civilian murders in Pakistan, to provide training and entertainment for drone jockeys, and support the failing war in Afghanistan.
The ongoing pressures on Iran, to stop anyone that might resist the bullies any which way they can.
The big bullies collaborate together , and continue to spend develop the latest bully techniques of assault, surveillence and control.
They have the biggest concentration camps, the most crowded jails, and the most destructive weapons. They make the best poisons, the finest Uranium dust, the hardest warheads, the most long lived pesticides, the whitest phosphorous, the most nuclear weapons.
We hear the most tendatious lies, the greatest excuses.
They pay the biggest bribes, the most dishonest media, and the richest exploiters, and pay the least tax.
The most expensive and numerous soldiers in the world, with the greatest number of military bases. Once installed, almost never to be removed.
All that enforcement stuff cost an awful lot of money and human lives to keep running.
So you, you and you must pay up the cost. Or Else.
On the philanthropic side there is the cruelest treatment of war refugees and native peoples. On the concern for long term understanding of science and our place in nature, we have the fattest, richest and biggest consumers. The makers of world polluting waste and carbon emissions. The major contributers to and owners of the means of making climate catastrophe.
And they call themselves THE RIGHT.
This is the way of THE RIGHT.
God has given them THE RIGHT.
They give themselves the right to control your land, your life, your nation, your reproduction, your freedom, your health care, and your childrens future, or lack thereof.
No bully wants their rights taken away.
They call you poor losers.
Sioux Rose
B3nign: Powerful post. So very painfully true.
A bully is a bully only as long as you let him be one. Usually when challenged, they run.
Shut down the pentagon and the capital, and keep them shut down. End the murderous war(s). End the bailouts. End the police state. Break down the MIC, big agro, financial, pharma, telco and media.
There will be blood. But you can be damn sure we'll see "change".
If the "media" decides to show up, fine. If not, that's okay too. They aren't the ones in power, the looters, the murderers.
Not too much to shoot for--is it?
Have a nice day. :)
Bullies do get nurtured by unexpected help. You have to cut them at their source or reduce it as much as possible.
Bullies don't always collaborate. Sometimes they do but when they think they got it all, they'll kill their own allies out of fear.
You forgot to mention one thing about climate mess and bullies. There are some dingbats who ignore good ideas aren't so complicated to carry out and they call themselves "progressive" when they ain't. If you just tell people to stop filling up their tanks, they'll think you're bullying them and will look at Big Oil as their God. But give them a healthy environmentally friendly alternative and make it affordable and then they will look at you and not Big Oil as their saviors.
very well analysed.
NOTICE in fact , in view of your observation:
THE UNITED STATES - ALWAYS, ALWAYS - leads "the world community" as it ALWAYS claims in doing something repeatedly against ANY nation or people that doesn't toe the "washington consensus" US led IMPERIALISM - which is basically a "Northern world" or "european" concoction or more SPECIFICALLY an ANGLO-SAXON concoction
presently in its apotheosis in "AMERICA" - in "sanctions" or what were formerly called "blockades" ...
ALWAYS getting a "group" together that it trumpets as "THE WORLD COMMUNITY" - (complete with also strong-arming MOST of the "conscript" countries that are too weak to oppose the USA) to "isolate" a particular "threat" nation of the moment.
right now - it has IRAN, VENEZUELA, CUBA - as the most prominent examples...
to "cripple the oppressive regime and give the people freedom and choice" as it ALWAYS trumpets..which is of course the "choice" to BECOME america's NEW POODLE.
take not of that pattern. it's exactly the way a Bully in the playground behaves ...circling a weaker person, with a gang, to "demonstrate" to OTHERS looking on not to DEFY the leader of the gang ..or ELSE they TOO would be SINGLED OUT.
notice always the SINGLING OUT of a weaker opponent.
that's america's habitual game of bullying.
they did it with CHINA for example: for decades refusing to acknowledge china under Mao Zedong..because HE put a stop to WESTERN imperialism that began in the 19th century and robbed china of 2 centuries of independence . but ONCE china decided to be the Dragon that wakes up and come BACK to a continuation of its already previous 3,800 years at least of being a GReAT POWER - what could the USA do ?
it backs off from ANY signs of "isolation" and "sanctions" doesn't it?
teh BULLY MET ITS MATCH that , upon waking up, says:
"we're NOT frightened of YOU". and THAT dragon showed the rest of the "neighbors" (in asia) - "there is another way"...other THAN bowing to the TACTICS of teh BULLYING by "isolation" by america.
they FOUND that they could get AROUND the waking dragon INSTEAD and try to regain THEIR independence FROM the American Bully and THAT is exactly what is now happening.
ALL that had to happen was - for a country to PROVE that WITHOUT BOWING to the united states - and doing what IT decides is best for its own destiny as a nation - china - the BULLY is REALLY IMPOTENT when a strong enough person stands up to him.
excellent analysis B3 America is a teenage country.I watched Hu and Obomba tonight on chinese TV.The body language was interesting of all of these players. Hilla Hun Clinton,seated in the audience,appeared to be seething.Obomba looked like he had been called to the principal's office and Hu looked like the principal .The only thing I could make out from their double talk, was that China is going up and America is to go down.I was reading a book and half listening."They make the best poisons"The Iraqi birth defects a consequence of these poisons(cyclops even,beyond imaginable),from dumping nuclear waste there.The bad part of all of what you have said is,what goes around ,comes around.indugent teenagers sometimes have to learn the hard way.
NO, they must be "CAREFULLY" taught.
Good post but most folks on this forum aren't old enough to understand it.
q
Stop throwing darts.
Age isn't a qualifier.
"Age isn't a qualifier."
For understanding allusions to works of a bygone era, age is the strongest qualifier.
q
It's a nice reminder that kids really do think this way ---- fairness / sharing.
There's a current TV ad (unfortunately for a bank) which uses similar, kid-based images/scenes about fairness:
In the ads a slick man (presumably a competitive banker, not the ad sponsor) offers two little girls a pony.
He gives the first girl a toy pony, and then leads out a real pony for the second girl ---- wherein the first girl looks cheated.
The ad ends, as you can guess, with the narrator saying "At ____ Bank, we don't mislead you." (I actually forget the name of the bank --- probably the because the premise of the ad seems unbelievable for any bank).
But Almond has hit on a deep truth --- that kids expect that the fairness and non-trickery of Socialism is how society should work --- not only in the 'playground' but in life.
In fact,I remember reading years ago that when asked where the phrase, "From each according to their ability, and to each according to their need", came from, that a vast majority of American citizens guessed --- The Constitution!!
With the U.S. now fast approaching the highest GINI Coefficient of Income Inequality in the world --- surpassing Russia and China, and close to Robert Mugabe's dictatorial plutocracy of Zimbabwe --- the U.S. really needs 'Capital Reform' (as in 'land reform', as in redistribution of the most egregiously unfair hording of whatever is the most important resource in a given society).
In phony 'Banana Republics', which are really controlled by an entrenched ruling-elite of land barrons the reform is called 'Land Reform'.
Whereas in the global ruling-elite corporate/financial Empire --- which controls our country by hiding behind the facade of its two-party 'Vichy' sham of democracy --- the resource most maldistributed by the entrenched capitalist ruling-elite could (and should) be corrected by a similar process called 'Capital Reform'.
http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarymanage.php?submit=view&did=14557
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Speaking of that ad, until the very end, the viewer is given no clue that it is for a specific bank. Our tax dollars for the bank bailouts at work !
It's interesting and reassuring that the very *highest* shared value in the world seems to be fairness.
Economists doing field research using various tools such as the Ultimatim Game find that "homo economicus" is a figment of rightwing imaginations. Real people consistently sacrifice to punish those who are being unfair.
In the UG, a substantial (several days' wages) sum of money is put into play by the researchers. One of the two participants (A) must offer the other participant (B) part of the money. If B accepts, they divide the stake accordingly. If B refuses, the experimenter takes back the money and A & B walk away empty handed. There are no second chances, so both A and B are under pressure.
What the researchers are finding, 100% across cultures and almost 100% across economic strata, is that most As offer approximately half, usually a little less but sometimes exactly half and in a few cases a little *more* than half (characterised by the A as being a matter of honor).
In the infrequent cases where A low-balls B, "homo economicus" theory states B will take the money anyway because it's basically coming for free. BUT what almost always happens is that B will refuse, sacrificing a still-significant gain in order to punish A for his/her greediness.
"I like any place where it's possible to make monkey noises without anyone thinking less of you."
Then she must LOVE the US Congress.
But to complete the analogy..the USA has claimed full spectrum dominance of the playgroud, and spends its time pissing in the sandbox, then charging the other kids for "packing sand"
LOL, mujeriego, great post.
Yes, as you say, "full spectrum dominance" is the playground behavior of this EMPIRE bully --- which now controls our country by hiding behind the facade of its two-party 'Vichy' sham of democracy.
"Full Spectrum Dominance" is also sometimes called "Rods from the gods" --- relating back to the Empire's DOD bullies wanting to have several technologies (like Predator Drones and 'Global Strike' same day delivery of weapons systems) for which there is no defense and from which there is no possibility of escape, but which can be launched with no danger to their own Empire --- ie. a Dr. Strangelovian wet-dream --- and now they can jerk themselves off with imperial impunity, immunity, but no maturity!
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
All true but suppose we redefine the meaning of "fair" and alternate the priorities as to whose turn it is? You see my friends, we are an amoral society which makes it very easy for the ruling class to play us against each other. It does not matter who you work for. The ruling class has ways to control who you give high priority to. Take my example. Where I work at, my company is always under tremendous pressure by a variety of government agencies and departments it does business with to give them higher priority over us choosing to help our local businesses. Is it moral or not? Those government agencies and departments are theoretically supported by the taxpayers and those departments and agencies are controlled by highly political people who are very cutthroat and ready to turn any company that doesn't comply to political whim over to government scrutiny. A lot of us including myself fight tooth and nail to try to overcome the pressure and give our local businesses a helping hand but being fair is easier said than done.
Even within government, and I've worked with different companies tied to different agencies and department, what goes on between the big monied goons and the government staff can get real interesting. A friend of mine once gave me a transcript on a hidden meeting between Dept of Energy which his company contracts with and the oil and solar interests. The staffers try to give the solar interest guys their turn to talk but slick oil goons always have a monetary trick to take control of the conversation and psychologically make the solar interest guys say "uh, yeah it'll cost alot". From there, Big Oil wins.
As you can see, money and psychology without the guns can control who gets the higher priority. In a dog-eat-dog cut throat society, they always say "It may not be fair but that's business !"
my "FAITH" is that - Americans are no WORSE as individuals than any other person from other countries are. americans as individuals - left to the exposure of unalloyed, undefiled, honest truth - can be and ARE as GOOD as any other person on the planet ...however - even inherently good people - when under a social pressure that beyond their individual capacities to overcome in order for them to FUNCTION within that society's pressures - become CORRUPTED as time goes on..and then it is passed on generation by generation - so that the dogmas that ARE corrupting become the character of the succeeding generations of individuals.
in this case:
CAPITALISM IS a CORRUPT and CORRUPTING concept and belief system. and in a way, americans are TRAPPED within that circle of CORRUPT THINKING and PRINCIPLES so that they IMBIBE that corruption DESPITE themselves or despite what is inherently good in them as HUMAN BEINGS outside of and beyond and despite being americans.
in a sense then, it is the very IDEA of "america" as a capitalist state and culture that IS the root of the problem.
MY FAITH is in the inherent goodness of americans as human beings like everyone else on the planet. but also , i think it takes a very , very strong will and sense of ethics for any american to overcome the CULTURE of CORRUPT economics that is ultimately self-defeating, destructive, cruel, exploitative, unjust , unfair and hypocritical and even ...ANTI-SOCIAL.
I feel so sad about this because americans HAVE shown countless examples of INDIVIDUALS of such great empathy and compassion and sense of justice and kindness and generosity and self-sacrifice for the sake of others - EVEN CHILDREN americans who, for one reason or another , however they were brought up - or despite influences of upbringing in their lives , maybe even in things or concepts that are or might be "strange" EVEN to their peers or parents -
show such UNBELIEVABLE HUMANITY and beauty of spirit in their actions and what they "dream about"...
I mean to say - i regularly read (and seek news) of MERE CHILDREN among americans that do such AWE-inspiring acts or intents of kindness towards others :
a boy tries to sell his toys to help out his dad who is out of work due to the economy - merely shrugging off:
"you can't eat toys...but my dad needs help to put food on the table"...and stands under the sun in street corners selling his toys...or collects funds selling lemonade to send to victims in Katrina or fires in california...
another teen starts up some project to bring CLEAN DRINKING WATER and simple but efficient and cheap hand water pumps to africa so his fellow children can have clean water to drink...
i mean -- these and COUNTLESS more examples of what ought to be the "TRUE AMERICAN" spirit abound in the place called "america"
but FORCES of GREED and SELFISHNESS abound EVEN MORE - that one always FEARS for THESE children and people like that and what they REPRESENT:
the most beautiful reason for being a human being:
to bring some joy, some respite, some ease from indigency or suffering or want to others much less privileged than they.
i mean -- my GOD - even if i am not religious - MY GOD !
what WEALTH americans could bring to the world and all civilizations if only that kind of humanity was what it was BUILT ON as a SOCIETY, as CULTURE, and in its practical applications, as an ECONOMY and POLITICAL system...
A SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY of simple things , simple truths:
BEING a source of belief , faith in one's fellow human being because one is surrounded by people who make it their life's highest AMBITION to BE "my brother's keeper".
for that kind of society , imo, would NEVER want. it would never LACK for all the things that make living worthwhile.
EVERYONE would be "competing" to help another human being or being someone's "angel" because EACH ONE would be so blessed with SO MUCH to give.
it would be a society - as well as the world society -
where MATERIALLY, SPIRITUALLY, PHYSICALLY, ECONOMICALLY< INTELLECTUALY, CULTURALLY..
"EVERYONE is WEALTHY and wealth becomes IRRELEVANT" (HENRY CK LIU...Asiatimesonline writer)
everyone is honored. whether a farmer, a street sweeper, a leader of a factory operation, a musician, a doctor, a driver, a school teacher,
each one never having to FEAR that he or she will ever be "alone" when in need - and NEVER have to fear for "insecurity" when unable to work or move any longer ...
and THEREFORE ALWAYS READY to be THAT help to someone ELSE in less able position.
everyone willing to SHARE their knowledge , their expertise, in any situation that calls for them without NEED to "expect remuneration" - for fear of "losing" -
because it is the most natural thing to just share what one has in knowledge and ability so that others can be even more fulfilled as human beings , just as ONE will also become more and more fulfilled as one partakes of what others ALSO are willingly sharing with him or her .
THAT would have to be - as far as our present ability to define social constructs - PURE SOCIALISM. ..in which even the concept of "market" no longer has any meaning at all.
but truly :
"ONE FOR ALL and ALL FOR ONE".
the PERFECT society which human beings are CAPABLE of creating.
I don't think capitalism is all bad but putting regulations in favor of people over corporations could help.
Other than that, great post and fantastic examples of good deeds from individuals. There has to be some way to put it all together and use that power to counter the top monied ones.
Sioux Rose
TEDDY: You define the world I, too, would prefer to live in. I think these potentials are latent in human beings just as you say. Like clay, most can be molded and that's where society's overt and covert shaping devices come into play. When big money and or military muscle gains the power to define the agenda, then the molding process results in a pyramid of selfishly-geared persons. They are forced into that model as they believe they must fight each other over the remaining crumbs. When I read about so many out of work, I wish some of their numbers would develop their own entrepreneurial spirits and figure out ways to be of service. Great profit might not become the immediate fruit, but generally if we do the thing(s) we are good at, the thing(s) that are needed, we will find (as the Rolling Stones sang) "we get what we need." I have lived this way and while my income has been a parabola, the rent was always paid, there was always food, and basic needs were covered. Too many in America confuse their needs with false desires, and that reminds me of the ingenious children's book by Dr. Seuss, "The Lorax." There Seuss essentially explains the theories of Bernays crossed with PT Barnum by explaining how "thneeds" are fashioned by a business ethos that knows no boundaries but growth to the point of species' extinction. The truth is indeed out there. It's a shame so many have been programmed so thoroughly as to no longer notice it.
SIOUX_ROSE i MISSED you so much - i was wondering and getting worried why I couldn't catch your writing here!