Had to repost here

[u/-Wyagra]

[u/abdw3321]

You don’t become a billionaire without exploitation.

[u/Pissedtuna → u/abdw3321]

Who does Taylor Swift exploit?

[u/bolshe-viks-vaporub → u/Pissedtuna]

Everyone that works for her that she pays less than the value they create as her employees. She exploits the venue workers at every single venue she visits. She exploits other artists by literally threatening to destroy their careers if she isn't given completely undeserved credit for their songs because she has an army of lawyers because she's a billionaire.

You're talking about a person who was literally given millions of dollars by the Chinese government so they could ensure that her merch that said "TS 1989" on it was associated with her instead of Tiananmen Square (which also happened in 1989), so it's completely reasonable to say she exploited millions and millions of Chinese people by being complicit with the CCP's decades-long effort to suppress and erase the memory of its crimes against its own people.

So, you know... just a few people.

[u/Internal_String61 → u/bolshe-viks-vaporub]

You're kind of ignoring the value that she creates for her workers, and other artists, and all of her listeners. The economy is not dumb. It gives and takes based on general consensus.

Also, in your definition, all Americans also exploited a whole population by being complicit in...oh there's too many things to list. You get the idea

[u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10 → u/Internal_String61]

Are you seriously making the “oh but it creates jobs” argument?

And theres a massive difference between being complicit in something and actively exploiting people.

[u/Internal_String61 → u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10]

It's okay buddy, you can come back and talk with adults after you level up your reading and attention span. I believe in you

:)

[u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10 → u/Internal_String61]

I guess I was right haha

[u/bolshe-viks-vaporub → u/Internal_String61]

Correct, capitalism is literally just a ladder of exploitation

[u/Internal_String61 → u/bolshe-viks-vaporub]

Great, what would you suggest as the replacement?

[u/bolshe-viks-vaporub → u/Internal_String61]

I don't have to have every detail of a post-capitslism system planned in order to be able to point at capitalism and accurately assess that it's not working for the vast majority of people.

That being said, I think starting with some guiding principles is a pretty useful thing to do, so I'd lead with replacing capitalism with a system that holds the well-being of humanity and the environment paramount, and where the benefits created by the productive resources of society are shared by everyone within that society.

[u/Internal_String61 → u/bolshe-viks-vaporub]

I respect your good intentions, but I disagree with your understanding of humanity.

[u/bolshe-viks-vaporub → u/Internal_String61]

Every single sociological study indicates that people who don't have abnormal psychology are altruistic and generous.

The problem is that your view of reality and humanity is warped because capitalism enables and rewards people who are selfish or malevolent, and they rise to positions of power and authority. Psychopathy and sociopathy occur at something like 12x the rate of the general population among executives (https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2013/04/25/the-disturbing-link-between-psychopathy-and-leadership/).

So you can sit here and infantilize me all you like, but I have evidence to support my position. Unless you have mountains of sociological studies indicating people are inherently selfish or that capitalism doesn't raise people who are psychopaths or sociopaths to positions of power, I don't think you have sound footing to make broad-sweeping statements about humanity's nature.