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Gotta start them off young
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2024
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Late Stage Capitalism
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Ye the world was a peaceful place before capitalism, there were no wars, no slaves and no ...
checks history books
Oh no
Oh no no no no
Scale. It's about scale and centralization. Sure there were slaves but capitalism made more than ever in human history. Sure there were wars but capitalism made them bigger and further away from the rich nations committing them's population.
It's about scale. It's like comparing a single thief to a crime syndicate of organized thieves and saying "well there has always been thieving"
Yes. But never with so much damage.
Wouldn't completely agree here. There has simply been a massive technological advancement if we compare, for example, the "norse raids" with "european raids". Europeans could transport more and travel further. Also, there have been way more people alive if we compare those timeframes. Global population has grown steadily.
Don't get me wrong, capitalism certainly had a certain impact, but pretending like capitalism is the sole source is dishonest at best and stupid at worst. There have always been powerhungry people. Capitalism just gave everyone a chance to be power hungry instead of just the select few that were born into places of power.
Something I'd also like you to keep in mind that every communist regime that wasn't 50 people on a deserted island has resulted in a disaster for the population and surrounding countries. The soviet union has waged more than 15 offensive wars, for example georgia, poland, finland, iran, czech etc., which is almost as much as the US which has existed for like 250 years at this point. So pretending that communism is completely free of the things you criticize capitalism for is pretty dumb tbh.
And theres the rub. You are willing to grant this system that HAS committed great evils every kinda leeway in the book. You'll handwave away any kind of evils it has committed as "well those things just happen, and its not really capitalism as a systems fault" but when it comes to communism you will do away with those same excuses. So lets play the game where no system has excuses, count the bodies and then compare then? Or we excuse both for their human failings, count the bodies and compare. Either way you cut it, capitalism comes out worse, so you wont do that. You'll excuse the one and not the other. It's the only way you can see past your bodies.
Yes, because there is no system that's perfect. You have to accept shortcomings. Nowhere have I said that capitalism is the perfect system and solution to all of humanities problems, but when I look at the raw numbers, it's dozens time better than practiced communism.
With the introduction of capitalism, extreme poverty rates have decreased MASSIVELY, from ~85% during the 1800s to 9% today. It has set the stage for economic growth, technical innovation and improved living conditions for many many billions of people. Only thanks to capitalism, we even have stuff like the internet.
On the other hand, we look at practiced communism, and all of those states that attempted it either collapsed rather quickly (soviet union) or is a authoritarian hellhole like North Korea, Laos, Cuba or Vietnam. The living conditions in these countries are disastrous, political freedom basically non-existent. The only country that is still communist (or rather socialist) on paper and very successful is china, but only because they have massively adapted to the modern world and are actively employing capitalist ways for their economy. However, the country is still an authoritarian shithole like the 4 I mentioned before.
Depends on who you ask, and when, I guess. For instance, if you asked one of the nations conquered by the Mongols, they would've said that empire was the largest enslaver in history.
Considering this was the largest contiguous empire in human history, the exploitation and damage was pretty extensive.
More people had access to more people. Not complicated.
Capitalism is broken. It kills and needs to be completely broken down.
Communism is also broken. It kills and should not be pursued again by a major power.
This post is fucking stupid.
Yes. Capitalism is a tool that allows us to scale industry up. Good or bad. Just like fire is indispensable for our society, but if you don't regulate it properly, it will burn things down.
Capitalism allowed for scaling things up. Assholes got a hold of it first and used it to scale up slavery and wars. Doesn't mean it is inherently evil.
Sure, it is an imperfect and dangerous tool, but by far the best we have.
Mmmm, that's what you say. But take a step outside what you were taught all your life and it is soon revealed as an ideology that you bow down to worship, defend against any criticism, and demand all others bow down to it as well, no matter how they feel, on pain of their total subjugation.
There is a difference between ideology and objective reality.
My goals in life and what I want the world to look like are part of my ideology. Capitalism being a useful tool to achieve them is (or isn't, if I am wrong) objective reality.
So you know nothing about the extent of pre-industrial slavery? Because it dwarfs the tiny bit they bought over to the Americas.
Anything to excuse the white man ey wizard?