by Khomar (529552) on Monday April 24, @09:38AM (#15189398)
(Last Journal: Thursday March 31, @11:37AM)
With every passing decade, capitalism looks more and more like slavery, and I NEVER thought I would say that.
We are not slaves to capitalism. We are slaves to greed. We are one of the most overworked [familiesandwork.org] nations in the world. It is not so much that our employers or our government are demanding this from us. It is that we demand it from ourselves. We want that new boat. We want that bigger house. We want that bigger/better car -- and it better be new! We want that new entertainment center. We want that new computer/flat panel monitor/video card. We want the lifestyle we see our parents having, but instead of working and saving for it over a lifetime, we want it now. We are so driven by our desire for more stuff that we have become enslaved to it -- even to the point of racking up personal debt we can never hope to pay off. It drives every moment of everyday of our lives.
As we scurry around trying to get more stuff, we are missing the very moments and those important relationships that make life on this planet have any meaning. When was the last time you invited someone over for dinner just to hang out? When was the last time you were invited for dinner? When was the last time you visited your neighbor? When was the last time you actually sat down and did nothing but watch a sunrise? Or looked at the stars?
Purhaps this is the inevitable result of capitalism. It relies upon our own greed to drive us to work and succeed, but it also gives us the freedom to make our lives the way we want to. But when one is given greater freedom, one is given greater responsibility. No one is forcing us to work overtime (you have the freedom to pursue another job/career). No one is forcing us to go into debt so we have to work more(you can always say no to that new luxury). While there are exceptions to this (victims of disasters, diseases, etc.), I think most of us would agree that we have placed a lot of our burdens upon ourselves. We don't really need a newer car. We don't really need a bigger house. We don't really need and 60 inch DLP HDTV flat panel television set. We don't really need a new computer (let's face it, a Pentium III will still run most of today's software and it would be better to spend quality time with family and friends than another few hours playing the latest FPS). We buy these things not because we need them, but because we want them. And we overwork ourselves to get them or to pay off the debt we accrued while buying them.
We are the ones who allowed "the system" to destroy us. We are the ones who fell hook-line-and-sinker for the marketing pitches and hype -- who believed in our hearts that newer is always better. We are the ones who felt that we just had to keep with the Joneses or we would -- what? Have less stuff? We have no one to blame but ourselves.
