I have already opened the discussion up to the idea of memetics when we speak of capitalisms and it's established order. All memes have means of propagation and defense; as anything infused with a desire to spread must possess in order to have life, even in the plane of ideas. Capitalism is a very strong meme, as it has honed itself over countless evolutionary battles; as has religion. Yet, nothing lasts forever, and with all things, when a weakness is seen by an adversary, it will be exploited as to allow a new champion to reign upon the stage of life; if for however long.
Let us discuss some of the other memes of capitalism. Jingoism, often masked as 'patriotism' or 'nationalism' it is a source of both protection and propagation for the capitalist system. Jingoism allows for the masses to become intoxicated by meaningless jargon (religion is one of the vessels of this) "We are exceptional!" "We are special!" "We are better!" these are simple but effective tools of manipulation and a puffing up of the egos of the masses so as to then allow for the second process. Dehumanization, this is applied to 'enemies' of the system, or just useful targets 'others' who will keep people focused on the target rather than the real problem; the capitalist system itself. Dehumanization and jingoism allows for the next meme, imperialism. Imperialism is a form of force, through war or other means of economic expansion, that leads to wealth extraction from the 'other' who are treated as subhuman or 'enemies' of the system.
Other memes are as follows, though I have touched upon them before, and will do so only briefly here. A military industrial complex to expand and increase the imperialist conquest; this system is fed by the other two, jingoism and Demonization. Police state, so as to protect the extracted wealth, and a prison industrial complex to control the disaffected populace of the host capitalist nation; who uses economic blackmail to maintain its stranglehold upon the massed here at home. In advanced capitalist economies we see the emergence of the welfare state; the last and ultimate defense in the capitalist bag of tricks; when all else is failing.
Yet, why is the welfare state the last defense? Simple, it is the slight realization of socialism, it allows the masses to peek at a socialist economy without having to give it to all of them in ways that are more desirable. The more socialized the economy, usually, the happier the people; as the necessities are seen as 'given' and luxuries see as 'earned' this allows for more opportunity, as the necessities are taken care of; thus the people work for their own pleasure. As working towards pleasure is much more enjoyable than away from pain. When one works for necessities, one is working away form pain, when one works for or towards enjoyment, one is working towards pleasure; a necessitous man is not a free man, nor a happy man.
When we see the reality of exploitation, that it produces misery and disunity; and capitalism feeds on disunity and division, for it creates a destructive form of synthetic scarcity amongst the people, as they see themselves (individual societies) as scarce products defending their existence from 'others' who would render them expired. We must combat this greatest meme 'individualism' if we are to see the man behind the curtain of our own despair is nothing but our own minds, we are working against ourselves by propagating these memes; to our own detriment. We are becoming memetic-engineers and it is time that we took responsibility for our minds and our beliefs; they must be reined in. Our systems, like our beliefs, like value, like morality, are arbitrary. We are in control of these things. Is it not time to take charge of these things?
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