On Fictional Abyss Between Capitalism and Socialism

I want to address the trendy argument about capitalism vs. socialism.

I believe the abyss between the two to be mostly fictional. 

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Yes, there are formal differences between them – but the meaningful difference lies elsewhere.

Imagine you have a mother. Like a normal human being, you instinctively and culturally know that you are supposed to respect your mother, treat her well, and make her generally happy – because she is your mother. It is not theoretical. It is a feeling.

Now imagine, something down there in your mind broke, and you decide to either sedate your mother or tie her down, surgically remove her kidney, and sell it at a profit. You have just crossed the line of humanity, broke something important, and hurt your mother tremendously. But it DOES give you a competitive advantage over everybody else whose morals, instincts and culture do not allow them to do such a thing.

If you then start tricking or tying down other people and selling their kidneys, too, you make more money. You also become a maniac but you can always frame it as a POV and try to recontextualize, right?

You are now a leader of the pack, richer than others, assuming you can convince everybody that your actions prove your superiority, and not your dangerous insanity.

Now. If the community in which you live consists of people to whom your actions are an insane atrocity, they will either expel, or isolate, or punish you as a criminal. If the members of your community are not sure of themselves for this reason or another, you have a chance of confusing them and securing your position at the top of the food chain, legally.

Existentially, it matters very little what kind of ‘ism’ you attach to the world you create. What matters is that it started with selling your mother’s kidney. Both capitalist societies and socialist societies have sacrificed other people in troughs, have abused nature, and disrespected the spirit. So yeah, the distribution chain and the slogans might be different – but the deep underlying principle of kidney-selling is still in plain sight in both systems. In both of them, it is okay to disrespect, trick, and abuse others, as long as you can follow up with a punch in the face and a campaign of psychological disorientation. Oops, public relations.

I made this example so extreme to make a point. In human history, there are many factors, many players, and cultural changes often happen over multiple generations. After a while, nobody remembers how things started, and what the ‘pioneers’ were like.

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If you replace your mother from the example with nature and other people, then I just told the story of how various Western civilizations ‘defeated’ ‘indigenous cultures.’ (By ‘indigenous cultures’ I mean the cultures that predated Judeo-Christian and Buddhist nations all over the planet.)

‘Indigenous cultures’  weren’t primitive at al! In fact, they were rather civilized, unlike the barbarians who came after. Being civilized didn’t let them cross certain lines. So when the barbarians came, they took over by playing by an entirely different set of rules inside their heads.

Of course, people who live today are forced to adjust to the morals and cultural norms of today. It is impossible to live today pretending that we live in the world of yesterday.

Of course, technology can be wonderful. But it is like a pill. When used wisely and in context, it can be medicine and make our lives sweeter. When taken irresponsibly, it can become a drug that kills you.

The subject is massively bigger than any intellectual or academic debate can possibly address. For practical purposes – or for the survival of our species for that matter – I believe that each of us would greatly benefit from trying to look on the inside for answers. If only we could stop debating about damn systems.

Lenin monument: Ferran Cornellà, via Wikimedia Commons. George Washington: Gilbert Stuart (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)