I’m the chimney sweep now!
this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2024
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ok Advocatus Diaboli, what are some good things capitalism has done?
It's important to remember that even under a Marxist reading of history that capitalism was good/progressive for its time and that it was an essential stage of human development. Iirc he wrote specifically how it had a much better ability to unleash productive forces than feudalism and also allowed for more freedom than feudalism.
This isn't to say it doesn't have contradictions and drawbacks, of course, or even that it shouldn't be replaced currently. It's just to say that hostile responses like "what are some good things capitalism has done?" are ahistorical/unproductive even under a Marxist lense.
Thanks for the tempered reason. It is sorely lacking in online spaces.
isn't that subject to the same criticism in the post I replied to, that a snapshot of something from history being a net benefit is not a justification of its current worth?
That's exactly what I'm saying though. In my humble opinion it has greatly outlived its worth, but the fact it had worth in the first place means statements like "what good has it ever done" are wrong, because even under a critical lense where it's no longer needed, it has done good in the past.
its not "wrong" to ask a question polemically — I was expecting an answer like "made iPhones" and I could respond with how the expansion of technology has always been firstly a socialistic act, followed by captialism enshittifying it, from running water indoors to the steam engine to pharmaceuticals to electricity to the internet and infact patent expiration is usually tied to an explosion in technological innovation.
That's fair. It just never helps to be hyperbolic around the pedantic assholes that capitalist apologists can be. There are certainly good things that came from capitalism, and if a Marxist can see that, then the apologist certainly can too, and that'll just make them feel as if they can write off whatever you say.
It’s true, I did write off what he said!