thu 13 oct 2011 10:17:36 — witte de withstraat
all the rebellions are against one thing
to simplify ...
it seems to me that all the latest revolutions in the world, including the occupiers, are basically rebelling against unfairness. some would argue that capitalism is itself unfair. and often it is. but every other political / economic system has been unfair too. you don't take away injustice by reconfiguring the way we are ruled.
we are now protesting against 'capitalism' the same way a few years ago we were protesting against 'globalization'. globalization was never a problem: it was *what* we were globalizing that was a problem. we were globalizing unfairness. now we've been capitalizing on unfairness, to such a surreal degree that people are finally taking to the streets -- and blaming the capitalism. the problem isn't capitalism, or communism, or monarchy, or social democracy. the problem is that we treat each other unfairly.
thus: unfairness is what everybody in the world is really protesting against, and naming it something else won't change anything. here's what changes things:
if we refuse to gamble, there will soon be no stock market.
if we refuse to borrow, there will soon be no loan sharks.
if we learn to govern ourselves, artificial government will soon become irrelevant. its remainder will be shown for a mere predator, not a protector.
if we learn not to be unfair (this is the hardest part) ... we will soon be fairer.
and if everyone refuses to be a slave, we will soon have no rulers.
what i'm saying is that just by following a few simple virtues, you create a different way of life. you don't have to subscribe to any particular religion, nationality, political party or philosophy to do that. it's just common sense.
people are fond of patting me on the head and saying idealism doesn't work. if they really look around and pay attention, they'll notice that it's *everything else* that doesn't work. idealism is the *only* thing that actually functions. well, that and chemistry and physics.
remember who first taught us not to trust each other? it was authority: the very folks we trust the least. we need to stop believing them already.