1 Feb 2024 7:13 am
(PART IV OF IV)
With that said, it would be in error to confuse my opposition to the artificial competition between workers that capitalism fosters and natural and healthy forms of competition, such as sports. Competition for competition's sake benefits people, while, for example, pitting workers against workers for capitalism's limited employment opportunities is very destructive for the individual and society. Moreover, beyond the competition for sex partners between a few people on "Gilligan's Island," and assuming that everyone wouldn't already be having sex with everyone else, it would be imperative for those few people to band together to some degree to increase their chances of surviving. Had "Chuck Noland" been able to animate "Wilson," then common sense would dictate that they would work together to shield themselves from the elements, collect food and water, and build a raft. That demonstrates that, save for competition for its own sake, cooperation is superior to competition.
Cannonpointer: "I'm every bit as anti-capitalist as you are. I have authored multiple threads distinguishing free enterprise from capitalism and distinguishing capitalism as statist and parasitic."
That's interesting. Please direct me to one or two of those threads. Thank you.
Cannonpointer: "But rose-colored glasses, a revolution never won, and fairy tales about the dragon within the human heart being a creation of an economic system (as opposed to the precise reverse) are of no service whatsoever in finding a better way. Nor is demanding that Moroccans share a polity and an economy with Argentinians likely to bear good fruit.
I've not proffered fairytales, only down-to-earth and practical solutions to the world's working-class' socio-economic predicament.
I wrote: "As a supporter of the Socialist Industrial Government concept, I'm in favor of workers' ability in a futuristic socialist commonwealth to recall the elected members of the said industrial government immediately. http://www.slp.org/pdf/statements/siu_chart.pdf [Cannonpointer's] comment, "The worker who votes HIMSELF and HIS generation extra cookies won't pay the long-term price for the short-term benefit,' is reminiscent of the fourth and final photo in this thread's first response post by 'Skans,' 05 Jan 2024, 6:03 am. It shows a bar of soap and two men in a shower with the caption, 'How Socialism Works,' with the subheading 'Free Stuff, You, Government.' And, of course, the bar of soap is the 'free stuff.'"
Cannonpointer: "Skans is a weak jawed halfaqueer who roots for the transgenderization of humanity." How charming.
I didn't discuss "Skans." I only mentioned his use of the meme above to manifest a point. The point, which Cannonpoint didn't address, reads as follows and in part:
"That type of thing [Skan's meme] has been forever put forward by the apologists for capitalism and, sadly, their working-class supporters. It's a con job intended to prevent workers from understanding that they produce all economic wealth through their labor power alongside nature. Ergo, it's calculated to make workers feel guilty about accepting 'free stuff' when they and they alone produce that 'free stuff, what little there is."
Accepting "free" healthcare or "free" higher education doesn't constitute being enslaved by the government any more than getting "free" police and fire protection embodies being enslaved by the government. Again, it's a bait-and-switch designed to ensure that the vast majority of free stuff keeps flowing to the non-productive capitalist class.
(END OF PART IV)
http://www.slp.org/pdf/statements/siu_chart.pdf
Be well
Good day
"Harvey Mushman"