Do Xenophobes Dream of Deported Sheep?

It's a hot-button issue.

Though I'm happy to attempt to illuminate it, for some it will surely be both novel discourse and completely unrealistic thinking.

I believe (quite sincerely) that capitalism exists as a phase in human history that will prove to be a long-term detriment to society as a whole, and the human race as a species living on this planet. 

Capitalism is an economic system, not a social or politcal one. I don't consider myself a socialist or an idealist, and certainly not a centerist or libertarian, but with a bit of objective, macroscopic thinking, these concepts will feel more realistic than idealistic. I'd say I identify as a humanist or an absurdist anyway.

Now, I don't have an issue with capitalism as it stands today simply because I'm not a die-hard reformist. Primarily, I don't believe it's realistically possible for this generation of human beings to adequately set aside biases and restructure the wealth of the world to serve all people. That's ludicrous. The ultra-wealthy have a veritable (and likely literal) bunker of shielding between themselves and the rest of society, with an orbital battle-platform made of liquid assets ready to fire a malestrom of hush money and slush funds anywhere in the world, at any time. Would it be better if the wealth was redistributed? Absolutely. Ideally, it is knowledge that should be the currency of the world. Comfort should not have to be earned in a post-evolution autonomous society. I would never wade into the debate on the existence of free will, but if anything on this planet has it, it's us -- and it's a miraculous gift in our perceptual reality that we should never so haphazardly utilize against one another. How truly mad.

So, now that it's been prefaced with obscure rambling, we can get to the point of the post. Simply put, my issue with isolationistic, capitalist values is that they are short-sighted. They succumb to worldviews of the past and ignore the advancements in globalization and digital interconnectivity that have been accomplished in the past 40 years. The capitalist construct has disengaged compassion and disproportionately upended the social structure of the "free world". Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner in Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank, argues that inequality is a choice – the cumulative result of unjust policies and misguided priorities. It seems clear that this is because Capitalism inherently breeds selfishness on an individual level, and wholesale discrimination and xenophobia on a societal level. Why? Because we are told in a capitalist society that it is the individual who must make his way, all else and all others be damned; dog-eat-dog. We also don't flinch when we say "his" way in regards to capitalism. Do you not picture a CEO in a three-piece power suit when you see the words, 'American Capitalist'? Did you realize that I didn't just say male CEO? Are you picturing him as a white man? This, I think, says it all to the intuitive and holistically thinking minds of the world. The concept is utterly exclusionary, and that is why it is one of the largest instigators of the propagation of cancerous hatred and bigotry across the country in which I live. If you disagree, you are disagreeing with the most valuable and fundamental aspect of being a functioning human being on Earth: bonding.

 
In human nature, to bond is to cherish something in the social places of your mind. It just so happens that the social places of the human mind are what set us apart from other species on this planet. It's what has allowed the mass coordination of effort to construct everything from the very first human cities to the incalculably complex systems that form the vast fabric of technological infrastructure of our society. We need each other. Without each other, there would be no one to squabble with, and no one to complain to someone else about. Without each other, the capitalist would have no family to work hard to benefit. Is it a coincidence that the ultimate punishment found in the already isolating institutional system of prison is solitary confinement? What does that say about what we are, inherently, as beings? It has taken me my whole life to understand the concept of oneness, but those who experience and understand it know that all other faculties that make up the human network exist solely by the grace of oneness.

Value is power. In order for all people who exist everywhere to experience serenity, comfort, and oneness, we must shift the concept of value to something that seems less tangible than "money", but really isn't. The feeling we have when we think about others we love should be the feeling that every individual has for every other. At this moment, these words are purely idealism... but without the short-sighted obfuscation of our country's beloved Capitalism, they seem a necessity. The only other option is maintaining the tribe-minded, primal illusion of warring clans that must battle to prevail.

The problem is that after 12,000 years, our 'clan leaders' have to invest increasingly little emotion and must endure a far less visceral experience when slaughtering other human beings wholesale.

The problem is that the biggest capitalist in the world currently has a button that could destroy it.