In a message dated 12/27/99 2:58:41 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:
<< Will this shift from capitalism to natural capitalism happen? It already
is and it will continue at
an ever accelerating pace. The question is are you ready for quality?
dlt.
PS. About caring. IMHO, a tiny increase in our "caring" about the status of
our "natural capital"
will do more than all the "I feel your pain" relief efforts to actually
relieve planetary suffering. >>
The shift to natural capitalism wouldn't solve a thing, David.
I assume you were referring, at least in part, to my posts when you mentioned
the replies to Daniel's posts which apparently contained quotes such as
"right on, money is the root of all evil!" and "I feel your pain." Why, I
wonder, do so many people regard quotes like these in such a dismissive
manner? Why, I wonder, is sympathy sanctimoniously praised by the public out
in the open, but looked down upon by the public in private?
Could it be that publicly we want people to think we care, but that privately
we don't give a damn about anybody but ourselves?
The above line can, of course, easily be construed as a platitude. Much like,
"money is the root of all evil" and "I feel your pain." But don't most
platitudes contain more than an iota of truth? That's what makes them
platitudes in the first place.
Switching from capitalism to natural capitalism won't solve any problems,
because capitalism is not the problem. I've said this many times.
The problem lies within the soul of humanity, and no sort of political or
economic system is going to come close to fixing it. Can't you see this?
Can't anyone? Everyone, it seems, is totally misdiagnosing our illness.
The problem is so obvious, so right there, so in our face, that it's
appalling we continue to ignore it. We don't care enough. We care more about
our own cash piles than the lives of our fellow humans. I've said this about
a hundred times now, and it continues to be ignored or flippantly dismissed.
Here's some paraphrased quotes from your post...
"The goal of capitalism is to use wealth to create more wealth, some of which
can then be used to increase the quality of man's life now and in the future."
Now let's examine that. What does it say we need to increase quality? Wealth.
In other words, money. So you are saying essentially, in this quote, that
quality or lack thereof depends on money. My question is, why should quality
depend on money?
"...the level of angst is high. The reason for this is we have no economic
philosophy in place with which to deal effectively with these issues..."
There *is* no economic philosophy that will deal effectively with our core
problems (from which all our other problems emanate). The whole economic
thing is nothing but another convenient diversion from our real problem. We
seem to love these diversions. Wars, stock markets, tabloids....anything to
distract us from looking deeper.
Because the problem isn't on the surface. It's down deep in the soil of man's
heart. An ugly, snarling root called complacency. Live in denial if you want
to, but it's there. Inside all of us. Make the lawn look as pretty as you
want, but that won't get rid of the ugly root.
We only want solutions that have plenty of room for complacency to thrive. We
reject any solution that doesn't leave plenty of room for complacency. Am I
wrong? It has nothing to do with politics or economics; you guys are smart
enough to realize this.
Jon
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