cheezeburgerz

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If there's a perfect illustration of Western society, I think it is the cheeseburger.
Think about it.
The cheese is Capitalism. It makes the burger tasty and appealing, but is unhealthy.
Socialism is the lettuce and tomato. It gives a nod to health and lets us enjoy our yummy snack with less guilt and maybe ignore the fact that the dish is ruinously destructive to the environment.

What about all the other ingredients?
There's so much more to society than just capitalism and socialism.
  • Family.
  • Culture.
  • Work.
  • Study.
  • Social interaction.
  • Democracy.
  • Law and order.
  • Energy and industry.
  • Nature...
But the cheese of capitalism has melted and flowed over all the other ingredients. It's impossible to disentangle from the other aspects of our lives, and our communities.
Every day I hear arguments about which is better, or more important. Which one can fix all our problems?
Capitalism or Socialism?
I think it misses the point. There are other issues with our model of society and neither capitalism nor socialism can correct them on their own.

We need a new, more healthy recipe for living.
How about Communism? Get rid of capitalism altogether?
Unfortunately, Communism in real life was incompatible with many aspects of society, so they had to be brutally suppressed. I think I'll pass.

How about Libertarianism? If we were all free, then Capitalism could finally fix everything and our lives would be great, right?
Nope. That's not what I call a healthy recipe for living.

Think harder!




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