On this post I made mention of my friend William’s competition on his BBC blog, Will & Testament. He is calling the competition Spirit of Lincoln (from inspiration of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address) and asked for entries that were under Lincoln’s 272 word limit. I entered my credo on the topic of Capitalism, and thought readers here may be interested in a read. Mine was the last of eight to be published here today, and the text of the credo is reproduced below for your interest. I’ll also keep this an open-ended post so I can quote from any comments it generates on BBC NI.
You can read the other entries starting here.
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“If only it had been possible for people, centuries ago, to look into the future and observe the progress of humanity in developed countries by 2006. Their profound delight and envy would surely astonish some of today’s sulky malcontents. The relative peace, abundant prosperity, ingrained order and fundamental sophistication of our society would have been far beyond the imaginations of any human being just a short time ago.
“But what was the cause of this progress? Astonishingly, the answer appears to have eluded many of the most liberal of our leaders, the most intellectual of our academics and the most thoughtful of our politicians. We are so relatively peaceful, so abundantly prosperous, so inherently ordered and so fundamentally sophisticated because the law of the jungle no longer applies; capitalism has replaced it.
“Capitalism: a word so attended by contempt, mockery and censure, and yet a word which consequentially encapsulates the reason for all human progress. If only people in ‘developing’ countries were not in the same position as those trapped in earlier centuries, tragically watching our progress from far away; would that instead they could own the gift of capitalism. Which other political system replaces poverty with prosperity and slavery with freedom? Who but the capitalist can work without fear that the fruit of his labour be seized and the property he acquires be pillaged? Who but the capitalist can employ the services of a poor guy in an arrangement mutually beneficial to both?
“We are continually looking for answers to the many remaining challenges of society. We have failed because we haven’t consulted history. The answer is more capitalism; not less.”
COMMENTS ON WILL & TESTAMENT:
“John is your life really this dull? Capitalism is what you live by? Believe in? This is what you chose as the description of you LIFE? God help us all.”
“John, I don’t take as harsh a line as Helen, but I do think there are other things than capitalism. I don’t despise capitalism in its more responsible forms. And I certainly think it is something that stimultes progress. In a somewhat Darwinian-flavoured, harsh way, but progress it stimulates, undeniably. But there are other things that do that too. Alan Watson mentioned mans inquisitive nature. To me personally that is more important than capitalism. I do academic research for my job. Trust me, I’m not doing that to make a fat salary. I’m doing it becausae I like to find out how a small particular area of nature works (and academic work gives you tons of freedom to go about your work as you see fit). Capitalism stimulates progress (in a harsh way sometimes) but so does curiosity. And others may come up with other drivers still.”
“…you mean like the biblical work ethic Peter (Max Weber)??? Seriously though, good on you John, you took some work in there and you have the guts to put your real name and id behind it!”
“Given that ’sulky malcontents’ abound, separated families are the norm, everyone appears to be stressed and we are becoming a country of overweight, telly addicted celebrity obsessed sloths - what has gone wrong?”
“I’d rather be poor in a world where everyone has enough food to live on than rich in a world where people die of hunger”
“Capitalism isn’t a philosophy of life, it’s just a fact of life. It’s the way the world works and we just have to learn to live with it and ameliorate its worst effects as far as we can. That’s how I see it anyway.”
Click here to see the comments in their original context, including replies made by Stephen and myself.
John Wright
10 responses so far ↓
1 Jessie // Jan 4, 2007 at 1:48 pm
John I liked your credo and found it inspiring.. a quick observation on some of the other credos, they all seem to be based on some discussion of religion whereas your appears to be based on a discussion of politics. I wonder if this is because the focus of that blog is more religion based like you mention? If so perhaps there won’t be as much interest in your credo as others?
2 John Wright // Jan 4, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Jessie- That’s possible. I just responded to the first comment from Helen Hays whose only reply was a cheapshot about the fact that the subject matter wasn’t exciting enough for her. O-kay.
3 Jessie // Jan 4, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Bitch! :>)
4 S Quinney // Jan 5, 2007 at 7:55 am
I thought the credo was concise and made the point well about capitalism. But I agree with Jessie that it probably won’t be understood on a BBC blog..
5 The Christian Hippy // Jan 5, 2007 at 10:47 am
The deplorable face of CAPITALISM is NOTHING TO BE PROUD OF, it is nothing but a disease which oppresses and exploits the vulnerable people of society while the fat cats get fatter and fatter on there unethical greed.
The trend in recent years by the capitalistic multinational greed machine has been to source their products in countries with low economies therefore putting workers out of work in the country of original source, the textile industry in the UK. has been decimated because of this trend, the trend is now starting to take a grip on the electrical product and motor vehicle industries also.
The products get resourced for a fraction of the original cost but the retail price doesn’t change it may even rise in cost, therefore the fat cat has a larger profit to satisfy his capitalistic greed.
If you work in a sweat shop in Bangladesh you can expect to be paid as little as 5p an hour for making cheap fashionable clothes destined for UK chains, working in excess of 80 hours a week in death trap of a factory with no health and safety legislation to protect the welfare of these vulnerable and exploited human beings.
In the USA the business of undocumented workers usually coming from illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe, Central America and Asia being exploited with the direct knowledge of executives is big business, increasing their profit margins is the unethical motivation behind this capitalistic greed.
This is capitalism in its crudest form; this is nothing to shout about, an embarrassment, the capitalist fat cats and their aficionado should hang their heads in shame.
Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages.
6 John Wright // Jan 5, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Quinney- I’ve considered that, but still thought it would be an interesting exercise. You’re right though; capitalism as a concept has been so skewed by leftwing rhetoric in the news media and elsewhere that people don’t even know what it is anymore. Look at Billy’s comment above (The Christian Hippy) for proof.
7 Stephen // Jan 6, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Billy:
Your post is all the proof of your ignorance that anyone should need.
SG
8 jenna G // Jan 7, 2007 at 7:46 pm
John, you have a lot of nerve to put out capitalism in a blog that is not friendly to your ideals and invite critique about it, and even more character to put up all the negative comments here. I for one agree with almost everything you say in your credo, and although I don’t think capitalism is the most important thing we can talk about I think it is important and I am very impressed that you have thought this through so diligently.
Yours, Jenna
9 S Quinney // Jan 10, 2007 at 2:37 pm
John I just posted a comment on Will & Testament (the credo has disappeared to the ‘This Blog’ category on the right hand side.)
10 John Wright // Jan 10, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Jenna- Thanks for your visit here! I assume you are some kind of libertarian/evil capitalist wild child. You sure know how to give a guy a compliment.
Quinney- I saw your comment and appreciate it greatly.
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