Capitalism is a Disease

Modern Humans have been on this planet for a quarter of a million years: in that time, conditions have varied greatly depending on time and region. At our earliest point, we lived outside and had a significant relationship with the natural world. Communities worked together, sharing everything they owned, and Children were raised and socialized by the whole community. This is not to say things were perfect for early humans; far from it. We lived short, brutal lives struggling with disease, hunger, and war. But they were not socially alienated. We’re nearing 8 Billion people on this planet. We, as a species, can produce enough food, water, medicine, and housing for everyone. But yet, we are increasingly isolated from one another. Friends, family, and lovers have little time to spend together due to our work schedules. Even while traveling to work, we are all in our vehicles isolated. I look around and see peers with my same experiences: generational trauma, constant anxiety, and burnout. This chronic alienation has passed the breaking point for masses of Americans, and the managers of our civilization are doing nothing to address this social crisis except for continued attempts to medicate, gaslight, and redirect from real solutions 

The New York Times thinks you can solve this crisis of human suffering with psychiatric medication and therapy. While in many cases, these are good things that people need access to, on the Macro scale, this is like using a Band-Aid to stop one from bleeding out from a severed limb: it’s not an effective treatment for the problem. The way we properly treat this crisis of despair is to properly diagnose the root problem. The reason that suicide, self-harm, and mass acts of violence aren’t due to social media, drugs, video games, or porn. It’s due to the corrosive impact of capitalism that isolates, alienates, and commodifies our social lives. 

The world we live in today is one of metal, plastic, and blacktop. Kids have hours of homework after a full day at school, and adults work increasing hours for less pay under the threat of homelessness and poverty. This society hardly resembles the Society of our predecessors, and in some ways, it’s an improvement, but in others is psychologically damaging. However, most people have a vague notion that it has always been this way, and this leads to the misguided idea that it is not going to change.

Capitalism has made us sick. Everything is bought or sold, and nothing remains a gift. Carl Marx said, “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” We live in a country that can provide a good quality of life for all with much less work by all. The quote above by Marx, in simple terms, means give what you can and get what you need. This principle is a part of the cure to our current social disease of despair, and it is a disease we must cure!

-Mad