The "C" word.

Now when I say the "C" word, I am not talking about that offensive slur that is directed at womyn. I am talking about capitalism. I am calling it the "C" word because it seems like a lot of people are afraid to say it, like its inappropriate to talk about it. Now I am not shy about my political views, I wouldn't call myself a Marxist because I am not particularly knowledgeable about the actual works of Marx. I have read a lot of Neo-Marxist/anti capitalist literature and would call myself a "socialist" (whatever that means). I try not to be obnoxious about this (even though sometimes I find myself being the annoying kid who won't stop talking about the economic rational behind whatever social issue we are discussing) because I really hate when someone flaunts their political stance in order to seem cool or radical. Even though I try not to be obnoxious about it, lately I can't contain my frustration with the status quo.

Because I participate in the International Baccalaureate program, our classes often have very open discussions about different social issues. What sometimes occurs in these discussions, is that people will make points or agree on premises that revolve around the issue of capitalism. For example, today in history we had an open discussion about affirmative action. Almost everyone agreed that there is not equal opportunity for everyone because of economic status(even if they didn't use those words). Some people even went far enough to imply that if you are born with a certain level of privilege that you owe something to society in return.

The thing that bothered me about this conversation was the obvious omission of the "C" word. Not once in this discussion were the fundamental premise of the free market challenged. What keeps recurring in these discussions is that people agree on socialist principles, like belief in a collective good, being opposed to inequality, ect, but no one ever mentions the main driving force behind the problems being discussed, capitalism.

Now I am not convinced that people are purposefully leaving it out of these discussions in some sort of malice way. I think the problem stems from two main things. 1- Lack of understanding what the principles of the capitalism vs socialism are about. And 2. Fear of being a "communist", a lot of people are scared of all the stigma that comes with being opposed to capitalism. I will talk more about that in another post.

I have resolved to start bringing up the "C" word in these class discussions because I am really getting sick of this. The problem I have with this omission of the "C" word is that it greatly limits the potential of this discussion. If we talk about social issues without discussing their origins it becomes almost a futile effort. Don't get me wrong, I thing we should fight inequality and address a lot of these social issues. But a lot of these issues need to be discussed in the context of capitalism.