Moral problems of capitalism

quote by Linda McKenzie replying to a person who wrote <<We need more Buffetts and fewer Gates.>>:

"Or better yet, a society that does away with obscene profits based on exploitation for anyone. As much as we might admire Warren Buffet's philanthropy, no-one can make the kind of money he made without exploitation. So as Peter Buffet very accurately puts it, it's largely an exercise in "conscience laundering" to try to partially undo with the left hand what has been created with the right hand, while leaving the fundamental causes of the need for charity intact. Peter Buffet has been admirably honest, especially in indicting himself as the co-chair of a charitable trust, in speaking the truth about this, but, as is to be expected, stops short of indicting capitalism. “I’m really not calling for an end to capitalism; I’m calling for humanism.” Capitalism is incompatible with humanism. What Peter Buffet fails to acknowledge is that the growth of social inequality and all its attendant social ills is the inevitable outcome of the capitalist system. No social problem--from war, to poverty, to attacks on democratic rights--can be addressed without breaking the grip of the corporate and financial plutocracy over society. The notion of "humane" capitalism is as much a fantasy as "humane" animal exploitation. Buffet says, “It’s time for a new operating system. Not a 2.0 or a 3.0, but something built from the ground up. New code.” He's absolutely right, and that system is not some different version of capitalism.

Nevertheless, the article by Peter Buffet is excellent, and I agree that everyone should read it. Charity is never a substitute for justice. Corporate charity is a "remedy which is part of the disease", to quote philosopher, Slavoj Zizek. He has said that it allows us to buy our redemption as consumers in the very act of consuming. Or translated into the modus operandi of the animal welfarist charities, allows us to buy our redemption from exploitation in the very act of exploiting, supposedly "humanely". Gary L. Francione: The Abolitionist Approach to Animal Rights has talked about "happy" exploitation and donations to welfarist corporations using the analogy of the religious practice of buying indulgences to absolve ourselves from our immorality in using animals: "They continue to suffer horribly irrespective of what ‘happy’ label is slapped on their corpses or the products we make from them. Having Singer and other animal advocates claim that it is morally acceptable to consume ‘happy’ meat or eggs or dairy is the modern day equivalent of selling indulgences" (What Michael Vick Taught Us).

This animation http://www.critical-theory.com/slavoj-zizek-animated/ features Zizek criticising corporate philanthropy programs like Starbucks. He argues that figures like George Soros and Buffett are, in essence, stealing everybody’s money in the morning only to hand back half of it at night. The parallel with the animal corporate charities is clear, although what they "hand back" in terms of reforms for the animals is precious little, mostly illusion, certainly nothing that wouldn't have been done anyway as a matter of economic efficiency. They serve mainly to peddle a fantasy that makes people feel better about exploiting and maintain the paradigm of animals as property."

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Some expressions of capitalism:
http://www.siliconafrica.com/africans-live-on-a-continent-onwed-by-europeans/

Cocoa slavery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vfbv6hNeng

See second and third paragraph: "I wish that this year will be a year where everyone decides to not be a part of any discrimination and violence. That we stand up against all discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, color, age, species, etc! [more info: note 0]  <3

I wish that we decide to use our time to fight against and alleviate the poverty, starvation, violence and discrimination in this world; that we help the orphans of this world, support foster homes, and consider to adopt people, and animals from animal shelters if we have the opportunity. A year were we don’t support the slavery and injustices of the cocoa industry [see note 1], and other slave work that is so common in the production of commodities in the Third world.

A year where we don’t exacerbate the poverty, starvation, injustices, environmental destruction involved in/exacerbated by the production and consumption of animal foods, which involves breeding up, using, unnecessarily harming and killing animals for food; and giving them feed that could have been used to feed starving people; while taking their land, driving them out of their homes and growing feed and raising “cattle” on land that could have been used to feed the indigenous population [2]. The feed that feeds the animals only in USA could be used to feed 800 million people. At the same time several million people die of starvation and 870 million suffering from chronic undernourishment [4]. And we have no nutritional need for this (see below)."


http://bloganders.blogspot.no/2013/12/happy-new-vegan-year-free-of-violence.html

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All monocultures are unethical (big scale farming of one crop to maximize the profit regardless of the environmental cost). We should as a moral imperative go over to vegan permaculture, which is sustainable and healthy for the planet.

Furthermore I recommend this resources which touch on monocultures and other important environmental issues, etc. I don't agree with all the contents of all the movies.:

How violence and domestication of animals, leads to violence against humans:
Animal Oppression and Human Violence, by David A. Nibert, Professor of Sociology at Wittenberg University.
http://www.cupblog.org/?p=10179
The Home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
Dirt the Movie: http://www.thedirtmovie.org/
Planet in Peril: http://edition.cnn.com/services/opk/planet.peril/for.html
Flow: How did a handful of corporations steal our water:
http://crmpublication.blogspot.no/2010/02/documentary-flow-how-did-handful-of.html

State of the Planet – The Complete Series .. David Attenborough

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http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/without-prejudice/201305/exploitation-is-exploitation-period
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Pauline: "Very good article by Gordon Hodson (as was his one about eating animals): "Despite having a tremendous capacity for love, affection, and empathy, we can also deactivate our empathy quite easily, particularly when the “others” affected are not members of our groups (de Waal, 2009)". Quite.

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Kris Nelson Yes, the ingroup vs. outgroup of relative degrees of identification are what allow the disconnected and separation predatory mind-virus to inhabit us.

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Cause of the injustices in Bangladesh, e.g. in garment factories, and the solution to end poverty and starvation

 

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"The goals of corporate capitalism are increasingly indistinguishable from the goals of the state. The political and economic systems are subservient to corporate profit. Debate between conventional liberals and conservatives has been replaced by empty political theater and spectacle. Corporations, no matter which politicians are in office, loot the Treasury, escape taxation, push down wages, break unions, dismantle civil society, gut regulation and legal oversight, control information, prosecute endless war and dismantle public institutions and programs that include schools, welfare and Social Security. And elected officials, enriched through our form of legalized corporate bribery, have no intention of halting the process".

~ Chris Hedges

Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves