The (Un)-Ethics Of Consumption Under Capitalism For The Poor
The popular quote is that there is no ethical consumption under Capitalism. But what does that actually mean, and how does it apply to us?
Pretty much everyone in the world lives under some form of Capitalism, and has for a long time now.
Oh, I know. That’s not what The Right would tell you, always holding up examples of this country or that historical nation to demonstrate that Socialism Doesn’t Work. “Name one Socialist or Communist country that’s a better place to live than America,” they say. “You can’t.”
And while that’s not strictly true — America being something of a “shithole country” these days — it’s not exactly false, either. Because we have no examples of genuine Socialist nations to hold up.
Rather, I would posit that every country in the world falls somewhere between Capitalist, Fascist, and Subsistence, and their derivatives. Yes, there’s a Venn Diagram to be drawn there, but genuine Socialism doesn’t really feature. North Korea is the most popular example currently held up: look at how terrible people have it there, they say! But North Korea is a country controlled by a dictator, where every working person is paid wages, where there are no worker protections, minimum wages, etc. — it’s a Fascist-Capitalist economy. In fact, it’s a much better example of the system that the Far Right wants than anything Socialist: a country ruled by a God-Emperor with no worker protections or corporate controls.
No wonder Trump hates them acting as such a bad example. They’re the best argument against the exact system that he espouses.
So. With that established, let’s get to what we’re really here to talk about: ethical consumption for the poor, the insurmountable barriers that are counter-revolutionaries, and the futility (and counter-productivity) of boycotts and attempting to consume ethically.
Let’s talk about Amazon for a moment, because they’re a really easy target to hit. Amazon is massive. Amazon is terrible. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is currently the world’s richest man. He (allegedly) treats his low-income employees like shit. Supposedly, a third of them are on food stamps, and the new grocery store he opened doesn’t accept food stamps (or actually employ anyone.) His company is ubiquitous and one of the ultimate real-life examples of an Evil Dystopian Megacorp.
Wynand Van Niekerk/freeimages.com]
Yes, we’re living in the Shadowrun universe now, for real, except there’s no magic and a depressing lack of elves. Moving right along.
I own Amazon products. I use Amazon services. I’m actually a Prime subscriber. And with everything I’ve just said about them, I’m sure you’re asking, how can I justify that? How can I possibly support them?
To answer that, let’s look at the responsibilities of the individual revolutionary living under Capitalism. Remember that we’re all here against our wills; we were born into a system that we had no say in and forced to conform to it.
With that in mind, your first responsibility is to yourself. That’s not as selfish as it sounds: in order to resist and fight back, you have to keep yourself functioning as best you can. Your second responsibility is to others, fellow travelers or not: Socialism is a system all about mutual support, and we have to support each other according to our needs and ability. Finally, as mentioned up top, we have a responsibility to, well, support the revolution and promote the overthrow of Capitalism. That comes after taking care of ourselves and each other.
So back we go to Amazon. A company that made $40-someodd billion dollars U.S. every quarter last year. A company to which I pay $79 CDN once a year, plus whatever I happen to order.
I could cancel that membership. I could convince every single person I know and come in contact with to cancel their memberships. I could feel pretty good about myself — while mourning the loss of the annual $60 that I give to my friends on Twitch with the free Twitch Prime that Amazon Prime gives me. While paying more for everything that I buy, for myself and others. While losing access to services that I use to organize my life.
I could do all of that without making a single dent in Bezos’ pocketbook, and meanwhile, he and the other elite of society will be laughing all the way to the bank at the way that I willingly crippled myself by paying more for less on my very limited budget. I could shoot myself in the foot, becoming less able to take care of myself, take care of others, to forward the cause of Anti-Capitalism, and they’d love me for it.
Here are the ethics of living under Capitalism: take advantage of every deal, every offer, every trick you can pull to make yourself as effective an opponent to it as possible. Use what strengths the system has against it: if Bezos is going to make it cheaper and easier to feed yourself, then use his service to feed yourself and those around you while turning what you’ve saved against that system.
That’s what “no ethical consumption” means: not letting the system roll you for moralistic and ultimately useless reasons. Taking a stand has a place, sure. That place is when it can achieve an actual goal and not just make you feel better about yourself.
Today, I’ll go buy groceries cheaply from a megacorporation. Tomorrow, I will go vote for stronger regulatory measures against them and increased access to services and social security for the poor.
That is what is ethical, and that is what revolution is all about.
