1/ The worst part of contemporary capitalism is not just what it’s done to our economy but what it’s done to our heads. Our entire society, and the mindset that dominates it, has been infused with a marketing mentality.

Oct 19, 2020 · 2:48 PM UTC

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2/ Everything has become a marketed product, from the way we look to the way we act to what we do professionally and how we do it – and particularly dangerously at this point in our history, our politics.
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3/ When our only bottom line in life is what we can get out of something, we develop a skewed relationship to things that matter. “What can I get out of this?” is not the highest line of questioning for the person seeking the most meaningful life.
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4/ Looking for results in terms of material things is different looking for deeper understanding, a greater capacity to love, or a more soulful view of things. We’ve peripheralized life’s greatest treasures by obsessively seeking its cheapest thrills.
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5/ That fracture has caused a profound disruption that has poisoned our society and sickened our hearts. So many are caged within the need to be who they think they need to be in order to survive. It’s not the way our society should run nor how our economy should be structured.
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6/  We’ve got to free ourselves from the dictates of a mentality that sees everything and everyone as merely a product to be sold. So many of us are twisted up like pretzels, not even knowing anymore who we would be if we weren’t feeling forced to please someone or something.
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7/ Do something radical today; enjoy a park or a novel or a conversation that goes nowhere. Take a stand for things that matter most, so often things that the market says are things that matter least. What the market says is worthless is often the most worthy thing of all.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
You put "contemporary" in there for no other reason than to try and convince yourself this isnt an inherent goal of capitalist hegemony.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
A critic of contemporary capitalism is fine, but you're sort of giving the impression that it was better at some point. Capitalism was always bad but it was bad in different ways, such as, unsafe work conditions, long work weeks, child labour and slavery etc.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Capitalism in the US is like socialism for corporations only
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Replying to @marwilliamson
So wisely expressed. Can we get a - whaddyacallit? - a rollout of the thread?
Replying to @marwilliamson
It's a feature not a bug
Replying to @marwilliamson
We assume that any choice that is monetized means the risk evaluation has already been done by somebody else, & so is safe Actual convivial relations with strangers means we have to do the risk evaluation ourselves. Capitalism infantilizes us so we balk at doing such evaluation
Sadly, I think hesitation may result from people having been trained to distrust anything that's not monetized. As if there must be a gimmick, otherwise, why would anyone do it?
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Which spawns competition in sports, intelligence, fashion, justice, beauty, even halloween, fomenting classism. Estimations of superiority follow with racism and intolerance. In the middle of this swamp, goodness bobs to the surface - thank you Marianne.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
YES! No poetry No Dreaming Possibilities No True Creativity! General Mediocrity Day In Day OUT!!
Replying to @marwilliamson
If you have a set of proposals in mind you should advance them instead of choosing an arbitrary list of grievances and asserting that capitalism is responsible without establishing any causal connection.
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