The Splitting Gut of Capitalism: Has Our Wealth Doomed us All?
Opulence. Wealth. Privilege. These are among the cardinal principles that drive all Western societies. Every day, we wake up early and work hard, so that we can earn money and buy bigger homes, bigger cars, upgrade for our instant communication devices that let us brag about all the fancy restaurants, cars, clothes and rings we have in our lives. We want to make our equally possessed friends jealous.
And when I speak about possession, do not think I’m bringing up some antics about spirituality. The only spirit I’m talking about here is not religious in any means. It is a spirit that presumably is born of greed, an inherent human trait that can be curbed if we want too. But do we?
The image above is shocking because we are truly wealthy. The brats living in communes and saying they are ‘standing tough’ against the 1%, because they are part of the ‘poor’ 99%, are delusional. Yes, there is corporate greed in America, but like most Western nations, we have no true concept of poverty.
And if we do, it’s a shame because our nation can spend billions to further demolish a third world nation, yet support politicians who complain when too many people may ask for ‘some healthcare’ for their children. We are a greedy people. How many of us, including Occupy Protestors, would be willing to give up all of our amenities to help starving children in Africa or the Mideast?
How many of us would give up one of our cars to help fund electricity infrastructure and running water to remote villages in Iraq? Hey, we put Saddam in power and then helped destabilize the country with numerous bombs and sanctions. Can we now be held to task for something more important, like helping the people there?
Of course not. We are the land of the fat of the lamb. We indulge in capitalism and we are possessed by it. Darwin may say, “only the strong survive” and at the end of the night, we may be touched by an image I presented to introduce this Op-Ed, but we will go to Outback, order a onion stack and Cola, and hey, it’s Saturday! Let’s go out to a bar with some friends. Why not, we’re rich.
And we are rich. By any sense and standards, most Americans, British, French and whatever other G8 or even G20 nation you want to throw in is primarily rich. There is no excuse for any of its citizens to live in absolute poverty. Even our “poor” here have it good, albeit our discrepancy in wealth.
I write all this today because as we are having our economic downturn and the ‘world’ is fearful because families cannot afford their 5 bedroom 4 bathroom home for 3 people, a cat and a dog, or make the next payment on their BMW 5 series or heaven forbid, the government has to cut back on every budget but the precious war budget that is bigger than the economies of most nations, there is an odd justice if it all comes crashing down.
Do we deserve to struggle a bit?
From the perspective of America, we have survived economic downturns. The Great Depression was presumably horrible for the poor in this nation and the 1970s was terrifying too, as even oil was short with a poor economy. But lo and behold, America still stands and Americans are generally just as wealthy as ever.
So as you read my little blurb from your iPhone or flat-screen, top model computer system, feel free to share the image with your friends on Facebook. Tell them about your awesome weekend and the 5-star Vegas hotel you’ll be hitting up for the new year. But just know, that in some village children are living with maggots in their bellies and genocidal dictators hunting them down in a field. Know that starvation, nature or just plain neglect will send many children into the throes of orphanage with no government to intercede in their lives. Know that your new iPhone with the vital ‘speak and it carries out your search’ feature could have repaired some kid’s left-damning cleft lip or fed, clothed and educated 5 kids.
We have exploited the world. America and England, the very smiling Queen with a crown of jewels on her damned head, were built on the blood of exploitation. Africa was ravaged. Native Americans were robbed in America, while countless people across the world were raped, ripped and destroyed for profit by the British Empire. The fruits of our nations were sowed under the blood and tears of agony of other nations. And while we all enjoy the jewels of the empire’s victory and exploitation of the poor, wearing upon our heads the crown of our wealth, know the people whose forefathers we exploited to establish said wealth still struggle and if anyone is the “99%”, it is them.
It is time for self-reflection. It’s said Rome did not fall because it was weak, but rather the people were too strong in self-indulgence. It is only a matter of time before the increasing greed and girth of desire of a nation reaches a critical point where it bursts at its very seams. And believe me, we’ve all been at the table of plenty for a long time and our bowels are full of sh*t. How long before we burst and are left dead in the wastes of our wealth?
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Author: Rachel Aschner-Barsky
Former circuit gymnast and now retired from the sport, I'm now embarking on a career in my field of college study: journalism. These guys at ChristWire have hired me and I do not plan to back down for my "crazy liberal" views. Join me and let's bring the biased 'conservatives' down a notch or two.
6:08 pm
Butthurt much?
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6:10 pm
Barsky, if you have such a big deal about this why don’t you just go adopt some children. I’m not going to feel guilty about buying a big house or sports cars. I work hard for it.
And I’ve adopted three children in Africa before you even try to go there.
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6:20 pm
I sponsor over 20 of those Afro kids each month. They send me fake letters most likely written by the foundation every few months and I hang them up on my bathroom wall.
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7:49 pm
1. Calling them “Afro” is insulting.
2. You hang the letters on your bathroom wall? How about in your dining room or living room? It just goes to show that you don’t actually give two shits about them as human beings; you only care about making yourself look good both among your peers and in front of “god” so you’ll get into heaven.
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9:20 pm
If Tyson was like that, Claire, he would hang them in his dining room or living room.
How many African children have you adopted, Claire? I keep pictures of my Africans in my wallet, so I can show them to nurses and other doctors I work with. They really get excited and all sentimental when they see how much I care for those kids. You should stop being so hateful and help us make progress.
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9:26 pm
Sorry, but unlike you, I wasn’t born with a silver enema up my ass, Adam. My parents give to a number of charities and I give to one, since I’m in school and only work part time.
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9:29 pm
Don’t try to belittle my charity because I was born wealthy. I recognize the blessing of what my parents left to me and do not live off their hard work, I still work hard and make my own living. I use the wealth they left me to greatly enhance the life of others, including these three children that I’m determined to see through college, a successful career and having their own high-powered careers and lives.
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9:32 pm
“including these three children that I’m determined to see through college, a successful career and having their own high-powered careers and lives.”
Let me guess, they’re all males, right?
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9:33 pm
No, two girls and one boy.
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9:39 pm
Yet you’ve stated numerous times in the past that women are only good for making babies and working secretarial jobs.
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1:29 am
you adopted africans children yet you are single ?
as far as I know the adoption Law want couple Only
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10:26 pm
And I assume these letters have pictures on them…
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7:17 pm
Rachel, it’s very clear that you embrace communism, but do you understand that under such dictatorships religion is banned? The Bible made it clear that those who worked justly in His light would be rewarded in this life and the next. The United States of America has always fallen under the special protection of our Lord God. We have been given bounty and wealth, should we not use it? I find it an insult to God for us to turn our backs and what he provides for us, particularly when doing so means we go down the path of fascism.
Democracy and capitalism succeed because they push people to escape apathy, to work harder than they would if the government simply gave everyone a handout for just showing up. I agree that consumerism taken to extremes is wrong (especially when it involve deadly video games or erotic satanic music), but I work hard so why can’t I enjoy a comfortable chair and a hearty meal? I don’t want to live in Soviet Russia with it’s boiled potatoes and cold apartments.
Furthermore, your analogy to Rome misses the significance that the US plays for the rest of the world. We are a beacon of hope and righteousness to the struggling and faithless. Our nation represents the very best of Christianity and were we to retire from that position, who would guide the world to His grace? Mexico or Canada? That’s simply absurd.
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10:34 pm
Not all dictatorships ban religion. Most use religion as justification. Look at the former dictatorships in the Middle East.
We’d be rewarded? What about “The meek shall inherit the earth”?
” I agree that consumerism taken to extremes is wrong (especially when it involve deadly video games or erotic satanic music)”
What’s so bad about videogames that makes them deadly? Epilepsy? Have games killed anyone epileptic who wouldn’t have died of a similar cause, such as a gospel concert’s lighting?
” the government simply gave everyone a handout for just showing up”
Sort of like the bank bailouts, no?
“I don’t want to live in Soviet Russia with it’s boiled potatoes and cold apartments.”
Nobody’s making you.
” the US plays for the rest of the world”
Wrong. We do it for ourselves, always have.
” We are a beacon of hope and righteousness to the struggling and faithless.”
Unless they try to come over here, then we keep them out.
“Our nation represents the very best of Christianity and were we to retire from that position, who would guide the world to His grace? ”
God done fucked up now!
Canada probably could. There’s not much sensationalism in government, everyone gets free healthcare, there’s plenty of bandwidth, they like American immigrants, and you don’t have to speak French if you don’t want to.
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2:25 am
Video games have been directly linked to suicides, murder and diseases like epilepsy. Simply use Google and you will find hundreds of newspaper articles detailing this.
I know people have their doubts, but something indeed has blessed America with bounty and success. Why would you doubt that it’s our Lord God? The US was founded on Christian ideals and has flourished as we have pursued them. I guess you’re a doubter, but I retain my faith. Sorry to hear this scares you.
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3:55 am
“Video games have been directly linked to suicides, murder and diseases like epilepsy. Simply use Google and you will find hundreds of newspaper articles detailing this. ”
All I’ve ever heard was that people want to link them to all of those things, but can’t actually prove it, especially when there’s plenty of evidence that proves the very opposite of most of their claims. And epilepsy isn’t a disease, it’s a disorder and video games do not cause it directly.
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10:38 pm
“but do you understand that under such dictatorships religion is banned?”
That’s not how communism works at all jackass.
Fuck, there’s no point in reading the rest of your bullshit, you just ignore people and instead want to throw them in your basement.
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2:22 am
Communism is a dictatorship and under these regimes religion is banned. Are you really this ignorant about history? Didn’t Marx, Lennon, Stalin and Mao all seek to destroy religion and Christianity in particular? Sometimes I think you lie about history just to enrage me.
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3:52 am
That’s how THEY operated asshole, NOT communism itself. I’d tell you to learn the difference, but you’re too stupid to read.
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12:12 pm
So why argue about real communsim since in your mind the pure form of it has never existed? Maybe it’s too impracticable to ever exist?
Furthermore, when the public debates communsim today and any time in the last 100 years, we can refer to the Soviet Union, China, North Korea and many other countries as examples and mostly everyone would agree on that. It is widely accepted common knowledge. You’re nit picking and making no sense.
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10:15 pm
They aren’t the single, solitary form of communism, much like how you aren’t a Christian because you deliberately pick and choose what to follow instead following the entire book. Communism as a whole does not condemn religion. It focus’s on the public and the money they make.
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10:47 pm
Communism does not condemn religion? Are YOU NUTS? Now you’re just lying.
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10:52 pm
You’re too much of an ignorant pig to do much research. You think China wants to take down the US for cryin’ out loud! You’re the one who’s a lying sack of shit.
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1:32 am
Billings … go read a Book will you didactorship doesnt equal communism and vice versa
ya just fucking scared
why the world see you as the Biggest tyrannical empire and the Biggest didactor asshole ??
just saying ?
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3:52 pm
Liberal-sexual brainwashing! God created America and Capitalism so both are great. If countries are poor it’s because of their pact with Satan.
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