The Maher show and another kind of denialism.

Following up on the above.

I think Western civilization took a mad, dangerous, spectacularly horrible turn when it went from feudalism to capitalism. The far better change would have been to get rid of aristocratic controls, but keep the largely agrarian, localized, independent nature of feudal markets. Replace the aristocrats with true democracy, which can only be realized if the economy is included.

Political democracy without economic democracy is a sham.

Evolving from that foundation, communities would make sure their own economies fulfilled needs, solved problems, worked for the common good and created more and more free time. They would operate on the basis of use-value, not exchange-value. It’s the latter development, via capitalism, that has been so destructive of the environment. The production of stuff for the purpose of making (a few) people rich has to be among the very worst rationales for an economy, evah. Production, instead, should be for the purpose of fulfilling life-needs, first and foremost, which ties into the common good . . . and we make this sustainable by production to order, as needed, not on the basis of (potential) future sales.

Production to order radically reduces, if not eliminates, waste. Do that and you immediately reduce pollution. Capitalism, OTOH, will always and forever overproduce goods and services, both because it doesn’t produce to order, and because its profit motive prevents it from ever paying workers enough to actually afford the things they make. As in, capitalism will always create excessive inventories, which can only be reduced, if ever, via government supplements and endless debt. But it’s the endless loop of production and consumption that kills the environment, not just the overproduction. Consumer goods invariably end up trashed, in landfills, in the oceans. Capitalism must sell new goods, or it goes under, so it doesn’t want anything to last long.

. . .

More on the above later . . .

Thanks, WV.

Jane Goodall is a treasure. She’s like Chomsky for animals and the environment.

Much appreciated.

If you get the chance, would like to hear your own take on capitalism and the environment. Do you think it’s compatible with saving the planet?

Hope all is well —

I like the way you think, WV. Though, as you know, stubborn, stubborn me wants all of capitalism, every last shred, gone, obliterated, replaced in full.

But your vision is a hella lot better than the current disaster. It’s not too dissimilar from Tony Judt’s vision in Ill Fares the Land. You go further than he does, and in a better direction, IMO. But it’s in the same ballpark.

It’s oh so frustrating when I talk about replacing capitalism, in toto; the knee-jerk reaction is always — except here — that I must then want Soviet Style (state capitalism) to replace it.

No. Not even close. I want a radically decentralized, fully democratic, community-centric, small is beautiful, egalitarian system . . . basically in the tradition of the major thinkers behind the Paris Commune of 1871, the left-anarchist enclaves in the Republican Spain of the 1930s, before Franco and Hitler crushed them . . . updated, using WSDEs and co-ops as building blocks, a la Richard Wolff and Gar Alperovitz. No centralized, command and control deal. Quite the opposite.

Federated, localized, democratic enclaves, publicly owned, for the common good . . . etc. etc.

I won’t live to see it, if it ever happens. But my faith is usually strong that it will, eventually.

Thanks for your response, WV.

wv wrote:

Billy_T wrote:

Federated, localized, democratic enclaves, publicly owned, for the common good . . . etc. etc.

I won’t live to see it, if it ever happens. But my faith is usually strong that it will, eventually.

Thanks for your response, WV.

=============

Well, I can envison ‘that’ kind of place too, BT. …maybe North of the Wall, in the Lands of Always Winter, past the Haunted Forest…ice clans, snow bears, and free peoples. Where capitalists are roasted on spits, and no-one dares to even think of ‘owning the land.’

Yeah, i can envision a good way of life in that version too.

…but pray that the Oil under the ground is not discovered….humans….

w
v

WV, you’re a poet at heart. Well done!! Perfect picture to accompany all of that too. I wish I had thought of it!!

Zooey wrote:

Have you read the novel, Feed, by M. T. Anderson?

I’m guessing you’re asking WV that . . . but I’ll respond too. Haven’t heard of it. Just looked it up in Wikipedia and it sounds really interesting. Do you recommend it for adults as well?

I finished watching a very bizarre movie yesterday (on Netflix), Aniara, splitting it up for two days of viewing. Sci-Fi. About a post-apocalyptic future, based on the Nobel Laureate Harry Martinson’s Sci-Fi poem by the same name.

A huge space ship, virtually a colony, goes off course on its way to Mars, and can’t right itself. The poem and the movie explore the devolution of humans over time under conditions of loss and being lost, without the comfort of old goals, some coping, others not. Weirdly beautiful and thought-provoking. A comment on consumerism as subtext as well.