- Capitalism and Alternatives -

I have all the economic answers

Posted by: Claire ( Austin ) on August 31, 1997 at 11:48:46:

Ok so I don't, but I wanted to bounce my idea off this group of debaters. Sammuel, I do expect a response, since you have been very active in this debating room (and I agree with much of what you say).
So here's the simple precept-- Creativism, not Capitalism. When you create, on a small individual scale, you take away the power of 1) advertising, 2)companies, and 3) the money economy. Instead of buying the new Big King hamburger (or hearing about this "news" on CNN), go make your own meal. Voila! For one hour, you are no longer a consumer. Then think carefully about buying something from a giant discount store (the prices are cheap because of all the wrong reasons-- labor exploitation, poor quality, disposibility). Live more European-- don't buy much, but when you do, get something nice that lasts. Don't buy things from chain stores and franchises. Who wants to live the exact same way as they do from sea to sea? I don't want to wear the same dress from the Limited as thousands of other college students.
But I'll tell you why capitalism works well-- it appeals to the worse in everyone. It appeals to lack of patience, to pleasure seeking, to avoiding anything sad or unpleasant, to laziness. When I go buy Snack Well's fat free cookies, this is really just an act of soothing myself. We are alienated, TV is the most unsocial activity I can imagine, and capitalism is selling us quick fixes while creativity, on the other hand, offers real solutions.
If I wrote a novel, built my own bookshelves, fixed my own car, grew tomatoes (previously mentioned by another), then I would have a lasting source of pride, entertainment, and gratification, which lasts me longer than a trip to the mall.
It is amazing the change you can make on the economy and your state of mind when you focus your time and energy into creating. It's time our economic system stopped appealing to the baby in us, and started demanding more from the adults we'd like to become.




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