Oh, I'm going to have to disagree about the hypothesis that someone claimed
(sorry, don't know your name - please sign it at the bottom of your post) that
if women were in control, things would be in perfect order (or even better than
they are now). Capitalism is a power issue, it is not a gender issue. True,
white upper-class men have been the ones who have been in power, therefore
probably the "blame" for much of society's problems. But are women "naturally"
passive and not out for power. Social statistics have shown that as women
enter the traditionally male dominated world of industry and begin controlling
more and more capital - they too take on many characteristics which had been
traditionally associated with men, such as greed, crime, aggressiveness, etc.
An example of this outside of the realm of capitalism is shown in the
documentary _Our God is a Woman_ which is a MATRIARCHAL tribal society wherein
the women control and dominate over the men much like men have over women.
True, they do not have the access to material goods such as we have, but the
characteristics of power and corruption are still there.
Perhaps the world would be *different* if women had emerged as the lawmakers,
the controllers, and the political leaders of the world. But you'd have a hard
time convincing me that the world would be better. Maybe it would be better
for women, but probably not for men.
Now, for capitalism. I don't believe humans are inherently greedy.
Hunter-gatherer societies were very egalitarian and did not emphasize AT ALL
the ownership of possessions. However, with the emergence of agriculture came
the ownership of property - which for various reasons fell into the hands of
men. It is only after the notion of ownership emerged that crime, greed, and
all the lovely destructive things that now surround our world became problems.
While people need to be responsible for their own actions (good or bad) and not
blame society, how can we not realize that the media and the marketing of
unnecessary goods affects us? By "unnecessary," I don't mean that we should
throw away (or recycle :) ) all of our possessions. I don't think that we
should feel guilty about owning a cd player or a bicycle or clothes or books.
Technology is not a bad thing - in fact, I believe that it can be used to help
solve the crisis that this world is in. But unnecessary means buying a new cd
player just because a new "better" model comes out (which happens every year)
It means buying one-hundred fifty dollar shoes because some basketball player
wears them. It means four person households with six cars in the driveway.
People need to learn that they can cut down without cutting out completely on
the luxuries with which we've become used to.
Nuff said - I don't even remember what I'm responding to anymore.
Tj.
peace is never a bomb!
