war and capitalism and how they ruin society and culture (part one)

every politician promises peace, but none of them actually bring it. trump said there would be no new wars. and then we went to war with iran. and now he wants to go to war with venezuela.

but i guess that really, we're already at war with venezuela. but no bullets have yet been fired.

i predict that this, or something like it, will happen:

the war will build up from the current tensions, until it become what we traditionally call a "war."

there will be no declaration of war.

there will be no sudden attack.

the strikes on fishing boats will increase. then, they'll "accidentally" bomb a venezuelan military boat that was sent to protect oil tankers after the us already seized one.

venezuela will retaliate appropriately.

america will re-retaliate massively.

it will spiral into what might be one of the most unnecessary wars in history. thousands, if not millions, of people will die. why? for what cause?

power? oil? ideology?

i don't know.

i don't know why anyone would want war.

i don't understand what could possibly make someone so terrible.

but i do understand that their greed feeds into the machine of capitalism, and that the machine created a sort of social magnetic field, shaping culture and life around it.

just look at the world. see how everything we do revolves around these 4 things:

buying.

selling.

consuming.

producing.

remember that these things are all intrinsically linked to capitalism, but they have counterparts outside of it.

remember the difference. this will be important.

buying is not receiving.

selling is not giving.

consuming is not sustaining.

producing is not creating.

(please be aware that the way i use these words, for the purposes of this blog-post-essay-thing, may not align 1:1 with their actual definitions.)

maybe these words seem like synonyms to you. (or maybe they don't), so let's examine what they mean.

buying is when you get something in exchange for money. a worker (or workers) made it, but they did not make it for you. they knew someone would probably buy it, but they do not know who, and they probably don't care either.

receiving is when you are given a gift. it can be free, or it can be in exchange for something. it was made for you, or it was chosen to be given to you. whoever made it does know who it's for, and they do care.

selling is when someone (a worker) makes something, and someone else (a customer) buys it. there is often no interaction between the worker and customer, but there can be, particularly in small and/or local businesses.

giving is when someone makes something specifically for someone else, or makes it and chooses to give it to someone.

"consuming" and "producing" are such complicated concepts that they deserve their own post. also i'm tired and want to stop writing now. goodbye.