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| quote: | Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On
To ascribe a term such as 'wealth' implies only perpetuation of personal interest. If we are to speak of the economics of society, it must be realized that competition is not something exclusive to mere capitalism, though it is the very flagship of the philosophy. Rather, 'wealth' denotes a comparison of achievement or status; a competitive advantage when it comes to innate aims of our physiology such as individual and group perpetuation of integrity by means of reproductive propensity, maintenance of the individual/group ego, and, ultimately, perpetuation of the doctrine itself. So long as competition exists, there will be wealth, and so long as wealth exists, in any sense, there shall be jealousy, malice, suffering, and defeat. But this competitive existence lends itself to positive avenues as well: hope, fulfillment, gratification of impulse, something to look forward to or to temper the individual to the point of being successful within their realm. In this sense, I would say that the risk defines the reward.
But I must express my displeasure at the lofty vision of a perfect Utopian society. Of course it's impossible. That's not the point of this thread. But to use this vision as a cornerstone of the very hope we would compete for not only taints the very elements of dismissing such distress, it is flawed to the point where the reality of it negates even the hypocrisy.
A 'better lifestyle' is the very essence of economy, social or financial. What you are suggesting is that a decision is to be made, parsing the exchange of imaginary currency in contrast to imaginary empathic connections. You wish people cared less about money and instead cared more for one another, and I am saying that society and money are practically the same damn thing. True, the affordability of cash does not necessarily grant meaningful social connections just as having a large network of social relations does not pay your electric bill. Were fiscal currency to be abolished, there would still be no such thing as free luxury. Money is merely a placeholder for intention; a script written to establish a commonality amongst people's competitive status within society and used to connect the imaginary world we are under tacit contract of with the dangerous, material world looming over our mortality with equal intention.
And does a vigilant and empathetic society comfort you? Does it fill you with the same hope for connection that financial competition does? I think so. I feel it is merely greed of a different sort; tangerine dreams of enlightenment and the plush embrace of conviction in ones ability to better the crowd by dissolving identity. No thanks. I don't share this dream. Some days, I wake up and feel like my "fellow man" can burn. That the essence of competition is one of the purest ideals [un]known to sentience and that the feigning of social fulfillment is only a lubricant prescribed to the weak by those who wish to profit from them. No, I don't wish a better lifestyle for anyone save for those whom I love, and the extent of this does not require vigilance nor the proselytization into insect mechanics.
So to answer your question, I would prefer Financial wealth, if there is to exist such a division. For if there why this is a story all about how my life became flipped and turned upside down. And I want to take a minute while you are seated to relate to you how I became accepted into the Royal elite as Prince of a town known as Bel-Air. I was born and raised in the western side of Philadelphia, spending much of my time on the grounds allocated to juvenile play. I was quite partial to basketball in those days, until a band of Ruffians no doubt up to no good began making trouble in my neighbourhood. After only a single fight, my mother grew frightful and decided it would be in my own best interest to be sent to live with my distant family of Bel-Air. When I whistled for a carriage and it came near to me, I noticed the license plate said "Fresh" and that a pair of fuzzy dice hung upon the driver's mirror, obviously indicating his temperamental rarity. When we arrived at my destination, I noticed the obvious opulence of the house in which I was to dwell and rule. I proceeded to exit the vehicle and express my displeasure at the cab-driver's putrid musk, but my true distractions lie before me: for little did I know at this point I was to become Prince of this Bel-Air establishment. |
This. This is the best post.
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"If she's old enough to crawl, she's already in position." -- Pedobear
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