CAPITALISM OR ?

Ever stopped to think what the saying ‘have-a-heart’ means? It’s a pleading to be kind and benevolent; to bring out something good out of one’s heart. What is in the human heart? The human heart is mysteriously dark. It is deep and full of evil. Anyone who says they understand the human heart has to be lying. Only its Maker can understand it and gaze right into its bottomless depths. Is this not a harsh indictment on the whole human race? Well look around and what do you see? Capitalist pigs! That is what the communists and socialists are calling them. There is some truth in that but what about the communists and socialists? Are they any better? Was there ever a benign socialist or communist regime? History cannot produce even one. So capitalists, communists, socialists and fascists all have a heart full of poison. This is the human heart.

In Robin Cook’s fiction story of ‘Chromosome 6’ he put his finger on the human heart. The human heart was accused, put into the docks and wasn’t able to defend itself. It was found guilty as charged! In the story which is set in some African state scientists were experimenting with Bonobos (pygmy ape). The subjects were all put onto a remote island and their behaviour over a period was observed. Then the subjects were brought in and the chromosome 6 was crossed over with a human chromosome. The result; the bonobos started exhibiting human tendencies which they never ever showed before. They began to separate into factions and began to kill each other off. How is that for an indictment on the human race! They never became more benevolent and start to help each other. No! They began to see each other as rivals and began to kill each other off. Sounds capitalistic, right? Well, its human. And it includes capitalists, communists, socialists and fascists and all other –ists.

In just about every area of life every human being sees another human being as a rival. In the affairs of marriage partners, getting a job, education, sports etc, etc. What happens when a certain company advertises for a grand mega jumbo sale at greatly slashed prices? The entire town turns up and no order prevails; but chaos. It even leads to stampedes where people are crushed to death. Why? Each one is seen as a rival; each one is seen as competition. Talking about advertising; what makes a successful advertising agency? The agency that taps into the greed in man’s heart is the most successful today. Most people don’t buy what they need but what is dictated by their greed. That is why a successful salesman is the one who can sell ice to the Eskimo. Today the word ‘sports’ has lost it’s meaning entirely in the arena of world sports. The word sports used to mean a good-natured competition where the loser acknowledged that the winner was better. May the better person win had much meaning those days. The loser tried to better themselves with strict discipline and training and other fair means. Although it must be added that the East bloc countries had other ‘vaiz and meenz.’ Previously it was only in the combative sports that foul play was common. However, today even in the non-combative sports too there is so much of trickery and deceit. What the motive for the bonobos killing each other off was we cannot know but the motive for humans today seems to be one thing and one thing only; greed. Greed for fortune; greed for power; greed for fame and greed for satiating the insatiable desires is the motive. Today it is common that the way to get to the top is by trampling all those under you and climbing upon their sprawled bodies and making a scramble for the summit to make it before somebody else. And every unfair means and foul play is acceptable just so long as you don’t get caught. To do it is not a bad thing but to get caught doing it is very bad.

Somebody may define capitalism as a system in which the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. There is much truth in this way of thinking. Every capitalistic run country is a glaring proof of this. Is the answer communism or socialism then? History can show us that every socialist run country had it’s wining and dining bourgeois while the common man had to sweat his blood to make a living. And every communist run country had it’s caviar eating creamy layer while outside in the streets queues were formed for bread and potatoes. Then how can we reconcile capitalism (the lesser of the evils) with a system which is for the benefit of all its subjects? Is there such a system anywhere? Can there be a system?

We may have to accept the fact that just so long as the human heart is around we will not have a system. We cannot have a system because as long as the heart is around there will be greed and as long as there is greed there will be rivalry and as long as there is rivalry there will be the cutting of each others throats and the stabbing of each other in the back. And what will happen? The rich will get richer by unfair and unjust means and the poor will get poorer. One poor man looks down on the other poor man. The one slum dweller with plastic covering for a roof looks down the other who has only jute sack for a covering. We all seethe in anger when a greedy development land owner employs the mafia to use strong arm tactics on the poor who don’t sell to him. But the same poor man when fortune smiles upon him and he gets big does the same to those poor with whom he used to eke out a living. Greed is in all human hearts whether, poor or not so poor or stinking rich.

Isn’t is surprising that in just about every sphere of life there is rivalry to be found but possibly the one area where no rivalry is found is for God’s love. Its not common to find one another competing to get God’s love. Is it because sub-consciously we know that God is infinite and therefore His love is boundless; there is enough of Him to go around and we needn’t see each other as competition? Could the answer for capitalism perhaps possibly lie in there somewhere; enough for all to go around? Will there be enough to go around? Water shortage is going to be the cause of many a conflict in the very near future. There will not be enough water to go around. It will be the no. 1 cause in India. Just before the rains came in Australia the government was making a contingency plan to evacuate 11 million of its inhabitants. There will not be enough commodities or utilities to go around.