It was prompted by Jennifer Moon's bi-weekly Navel LA Assembly (Faction 3 of the Revolution: Redistributing Wealth). In my inability to put my finger on it, I feel like I made something that's not a poem, not an essay, but it captures something that feels true about this moment. But perhaps its vague because it's an on-going conversation*
Capitalist Americans are a greedy, competitive, excitable people. We want to be a part of all of the mixes of races and to have knowledge of the internet at our fingertips. Myself included, we want to experience absolute silence and to tell our friends about it later. We want a convenient protection from Others while we also think of generosity and abundance as a way to mark time. We want to be less depressed before we think about curbing pollution, and want to get rid of corporations if someone else has done enough research to explain how we can live without them. We tend to use all of our emotions, our youth, our connections, our spirituality in a competitive capacity. We want art to be as pure as possible (not made for a quick buck) and as accessible as possible, specifically based on tools. We want answers in books, paths to happiness and optimism. We want to believe that we’re in the middle, and that we’re in control.
I
feel Capitalism’s symptoms and I’m feeling nauseous. There is a
co-morbidity of anxiety, addiction, numbness, and sometimes paralysis.
It’s our newest deepest placebo, it’s demanding our attention right now.
* ...an on-going conversation... one in which I've always been interested to know the specifics of how and why people accept Capitalism as the best way forward, or if it is not the right focus for critique (perhaps one might suggest "wealth inequality" or "Neoliberalism" instead?), or if they think they've got a handle on it...
Capitalist Americans are a greedy, competitive, excitable people. We want to be a part of all of the mixes of races and to have knowledge of the internet at our fingertips. Myself included, we want to experience absolute silence and to tell our friends about it later. We want a convenient protection from Others while we also think of generosity and abundance as a way to mark time. We want to be less depressed before we think about curbing pollution, and want to get rid of corporations if someone else has done enough research to explain how we can live without them. We tend to use all of our emotions, our youth, our connections, our spirituality in a competitive capacity. We want art to be as pure as possible (not made for a quick buck) and as accessible as possible, specifically based on tools. We want answers in books, paths to happiness and optimism. We want to believe that we’re in the middle, and that we’re in control.
What
bothers me about Capitalism is the fear of uselessness, the machismo,
the promise of hope and unity (while trying to suppress other value
systems, a constant vigilance to erase interconnectedness, death, sleep,
responsibility, the absence of debt, peace, theory, history and ease)
* ...an on-going conversation... one in which I've always been interested to know the specifics of how and why people accept Capitalism as the best way forward, or if it is not the right focus for critique (perhaps one might suggest "wealth inequality" or "Neoliberalism" instead?), or if they think they've got a handle on it...
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