Is there a link between capitalism, violence and individuality?
Some people wonder why the USA is so violent. Mass murder occurs it seems every week. Gun owners see no connection between murder and gun ownership. It is often said that people kill people and not guns, but guns make the matter so much easier.
Individuality is the fundamental driver for this behavior. It is no coincidence that the US places higher emphasis on individuality than any other country in the world. How does this work?
Individuality is the primary consequence of the personal monotheistic religions. Few can see in this country why this is so because they have been trained from infancy to embrace individuality. There are none so blind than those that can’t see.
Individuality is reinforced by capitalism and it is in their interest to do so. A consumer society must reinforce self-centeredness and vanity. Conceit rules the day. Self- love in the US is the primary form of love. Love for others is a poor second. This atomization is necessary for the institutionalization of competition. Inculcating desire in the individual at the expense of the “other” is the pimary motivator for action. As one of my professors said humming the Disney tune “Hi Ho Hi Ho it’s off to work I go” replacing it with “I own I owe it’s off to work I go” illustrated the human condition that exists in the US economy. It was not that former president Bushes plea for people to “spend” as their patriotic duty simply encouraging others to acquire more goods so as to bring about greater happiness, but rather the admonition to spend was rooted in forcing people farther into the depths of debt forcing them to work harder and harder and enable even greater debt assumption. Thus is the yoke of capitalism and wage slavery.
People are inculcated with the desire to acquire material possessions. This is no accident due to the materialistic worldview of techno-scientism. As most know one’s personal worth is assessed based on their material acquisitions. Keeping up with the Joneses is a standard and well known commercial affair.
But like Hegel’s supposition that all things lie wait in the constant state of transition, the capitalistic worldview holds traps for the capitalists themselves. While the proletariats are consumed with modes of acquisiton to prove their worth to themselves and to God above, firearms are necessary to protect these material things from the aquisitive others and the government beyond. The leveling of Socialism is often the battle cry. It is fine when these unfortunates can be herded by the capitalists as they have in the past to support fascist regimes, but also this can backfire and result in a frontal attack on the capitalists themselves.
While perhaps it would be unfair to attribute to the capitalists the result of the weekly murderous rampage found easily in the press, the culpability of capitalism cannot be overlooked as being the result of class appeal and resulting ultimately in the other isms which are unpopular at the time. Loss of the herd can have terrible consequences and I admonish the capitalists to take this into consideration when trying to drive the herd. Too easily can the populace turn against the government and ultimately the capitalists if they clearly can see their lot. Capitalists are encouraged to to be aware that that which drives the individual in the acquistion of goods can errrantly have the object of this conceit and anger turned against it.