A feminist, queer punk rocker with a mohawk and tattoos sharing her insight with the world.
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Thoughts of Jess Five
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On Greed and Selfishness
I was talking to my doctor the other day and the issue of human greed came up. Are humans inherently greedy? I personally believe the answer to the question is “No.” My doctor tried to used the example of how the world is today but what my doctor was forgetting is that the sample population being looked at was only 1% of all humans who ever lived on this planet. It is my argument that it’s the way it currently is in the world is because of how we teach people to be. That greed and selfishness isn’t human nature as society likes to preach.
The problem in society is based in the foundation. That foundation is capitalism. Capitalism teaches us to be greedy and selfish. The winners in capitalism are those who exploit, legally rob, and cheat the most people. Success isn’t measured by how many smiles you bring into the world but by how much money one makes.
Things have only been “this way” for the last 10,000 years. Before that, humans and the planet were getting along just fine. The problem started when man decided that the earth belong to him instead of the fact that man belongs to the earth. I am not saying civilization is inherently bad – the Greeks and the Romans did just fine without causing the destruction on the planet we are now. Man needs to learn to have the damage done to the planet and the planet’s ability to replenish itself in sync.
I argue if we were to have a system based on community, sharing, and brotherhood – we would have a different world. If parents didn’t raise their children to put “me” first. If we taught that treating others with respect, compassion, and kindness instead of being taught that everything is a commodity.
Even the way we relate to people in retail and service reflects how capitalism has brainwashed society. We do not see the salespeople as humans who have a family at home and their own problems. If we did, people wouldn’t get half as mean, nasty, or upset. We’re so conditioned that we don’t even see having the right to chose what to eat, where to shop, and what to wear as having a privilege. Most retail stores remove all human aspects from their presentation – with each store, no matter where you are in the world – having the exact same service and the exact same product. Cookie cutter products for cookie cutter people who like to believe they are “unique.” It’s all a lie.
A few stores, like Costco have policies that none of their products can come from sweatshop labor. But, we as consumers are so far removed from the way things are produced that we allow inhumane treatment for our mass produce goods. Most of the time, people’s clothes are more well traveled than the wearer. Most people don’t even think about the person who made it – how they have families, problems, and poverty. We need to focus on having a human community were everyone gets their share. Global wealth created global poverty.
I think this is one of the harder concepts I have to get people to wrap their heads around. For every action, there is a reaction. The reaction of having rich is that we have the poor. In other countries, there is a limit to how much a CEO can earn. It makes the gap between the rich and poor less so people are more level. Not that there isn’t rich and poor, but really, how many yachts do you need? And how many children die of hunger a day? Think about it.
One of the main problems is that we are conditioned to not think about it and accept the motto, “This is the way things have always been.” This is false. We can change the world and make it a beautiful place for everyone if we just cared a little and put some thought into what we consume.
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Capitalism and Greed is Destroying the World
At least this year, no one was trampled to death on Black Friday unlike last year. I always shudder during the holiday season and people’s greed. It’s such a joke that people spend money on buying fancy gifts and cards wishing each other peace and love while every day 30,273 people starve to death. If people really cared about peace, they would stop funding violent wars with their taxes and feed the poor. They would also stop feasting on flesh - which is tormented in it’s life on factory farms. How can we promote a society based on peace when the mere foundation of ours is based on violence?
I think the ugly truth is that people really don’t want peace - or at least the people in power. The rich, us in the first world, spend our monies making things quicker and better and brushing asides the problems that have always plagued humanity. I suppose that is some sort of justification for the world being the way it is, “It has always been this way.” It doesn’t need to be -this- way. If the rich would stop being so selfish and care about their fellow man and animal, things could change.
As Aus-Rotten puts it, we’re all guilty by nature of living in this capitalistic society. The rich exploit the poor, just caring about profits not people. My underwear is more well traveled than I am. It bothers me.
I was eating a carrot the other day and it dawned upon me I didn’t know where any carrot farms were. I turned to my dad and asked him if he knew where any were, he didn’t, he tried googling it, but the search turned up nothing. He just shrugged his shoulders. I asked him if it bothered him that he didn’t know where his food was coming from, he said it did not. Both issues, the fact I could not locate where my food was coming from and the fact it did not bother my dad, really disturbed me. Maybe he’s been conditioned not to think about it - being a meat eater, because anyone with an ounce of compassion after knowing what horrors farm animals are put through wouldn’t be able to eat flesh. But, being a thinker and a concerned citizen, I wonder about where my food is coming from. I’ve been told I should watch the movie Food, Inc.
In 2005, an article in the Guardian reported that two-thirds of the planet’s resources have been used up. Since that time, it doesn’t seem like people have done much with the warning, as we continue to consume the planet thanks to capitalism. The biggest problem I have with capitalism is that it’s a system that thrives on the have’s and the have’s not. As long as you have a system that institutionalizes the poor as part of the “system” there will always be poor. I think that food and water should be a human right not a privilege.
To quote http://www.worldhunger.org: The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.
All it is, is greed, baby. And it’s killing people, ruining lives, and causing lots of suffering. The solution starts with you. Instead of getting a new Ipod for the holidays, help someone who’s hungry. It can make a difference.
I am asking for “world peace” for the holidays but unfortunately, that can’t be bought, or if it could, we don’t have the funds. I’ll probably do what I did last year and get money to go grocery shopping and drop the food off at the food bank. If everyone did that, imagine how the world would be different and there would be a lot less suffering.
Peace can happen - but it requires your involvement. It means time to turn off that violent television show or stop playing that first person shooter and getting virtual human entails all over yourself - and start living peacefully. I don’t watch any violent movies and it’s scary how many people find “Violence entertaining.” The only way to end violence is to stop putting it in our collective unconscious. We condition our kids to play violent games and we get surprised when we get violent citizens. There’s a connection. We get what we sod, so plant something good.
- Jess
