The Capitalism Straw Man

It is very common in our current society to conflate consumerism, and by extension materialism (material reductionism), for capitalism, thus making a straw man and convenient scapegoat out of capitalism from what is actually just a lack of self-ownership, as self-ownership, personal responsibility, and personal accountability is the only way decentralized free market systems, aka capitalist societies, are able to actually work. Consumerism is the attempt to satisfy the hole one feels inside when their being and consciousness is reduced to material processes and their lives are therefore rendered meaningless (nihilism / anti-Logos). What’s the point of owning oneself, and by extension one’s actions and outcomes, when they are just a bag of meat that happened into existence by mere chance?

Consumerism attempts to fill that meaningless hole the same way any addiction attempts to fill a hole, through consuming too much food, alcohol, drugs, and in this case, products made by monopolistic companies that promise to help us to better “fit into (conform to) society”. However, seeing oneself as an integral part of the greater whole of consciousness, where consciousness causes matter, is the key to self-ownership, which intentionally encourages us to own our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and yes, outcomes free from blame and projection. From that place of self-knowledge individuals can go out into the world to freely and voluntarily engage in commerce with other self-responsible individuals, negotiate in good faith, and take responsibility for the outcomes of the value (or lack thereof) they are sharing with others–and this voluntary system of agreements made in good faith is the essence of true “capitalism”.

As for the intent of the video, besides using the straw man of capitalism, it does touch on some interesting points about masculinity being channeled in negatively polarized ways, I just don’t think that “capitalism” is the problem, but material reductionism, consumerism, and a lack of self-ownership.


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