Everyday Blind Capitalist Dogmas

Dear Reader,
I promised this a while back.


Everyday Capitalist Propaganda Passing as Obvious Truth Among the Residents of the USA:  Three Examples

Draft


“Of course, it’s the first axiom of Marketing:  packaging matters more than content.”


Strictly speaking, that is the same as if one were to say lies are just as good as truth.
However, what is shocking is the way in which a person can repeat this claim without any self-consciousness whatsoever, as if it were an obvious truth.


Not only is it not true, but the attitude (confident and cocky disrespect toward reality) well illustrates the deep cultural miasma represented by capitalism in its mundane manifestations.


I emphasize: the North American repeats such nonsense, proudly as it affirms his or her membership in the society.  Moreover, they do so naively with absolutely zero self-criticism and no irony.


Second Example


“Everyone wants lower prices.”


This statement was made to justify the exploitation of workers in sweat shops.  As if it were justification!


The poor manufacturer really has no choice because all of us (the greed “consumers”) force him to seek for the lowest prices.---This is in several ways false.  First, of all the remark assumes that we are all narrowly selfish.  We want to possess the largest possible quantity of consumer goods---as if we felt no solidarity with other human beings, as if we cared not at all about justice.  Secondly, it misrepresents the relationship between ordinary citizens and capitalists---as if the capitalists were forced by us to behave as they do.


Further, to mention only one example;  The actual contribution of wages to the cost, e.g., of an IPad is well under ten percent.  So, the idea that prices would soar if wages were higher is just false.  The unwritten and undebatable assumption is that the Capitalist must have his profits----and the largest profit possible, no matter what the cost to other human beings or the environment.


Of course, insofar as a man identifies with his role as a capitalist, any other possibility will seem unthinkable.  But that’s the same as to say as long as he insists upon his undeserved privileges, others will suffer.  An insistence which should have no weight whatsever with the rest of humanity.


Third Example


“You have to have a gimmick to succeed.”


This is actually connected (or even identical with) the first bit of capitalist propaganda.  Unfortunately, this is something my mother has been repeating my entire life.
It suggests a certain cynicism:  quality is not enough, you have to somehow trick people to get their attention---as if the quality of what you were doing were not enough.


The saying is closely related to the true thought that hard work, effort, and accomplishment are not enough to guarantee reward.  Some indefinable obscure almost magical element is needed.
Insofar as that recognizes the injustice of the society, I must agree; insofar as it suggests that the world itself (rather than the capitalist and his society) is irrational, I must dissent.