Capitalism: We're breaking it off!

Hello Capitalism,

I’m breaking it off with you, for good this time! My friends told me not to write this letter because you won’t give me closure, you’ll just mock me and try to drag me back. But, no way!  I’ve seen what you’re really like and I am telling everyone. They won’t believe me, of course, but I don’t care - this needs to said.

I must admit, you had me sucked in from the start. All your promises of the great life we’d have: the house, car, clothes, the holiday fun - all of that together with you. It was going to be so beautiful and I trusted you completely.

“This is all yours.” you said, “The only thing you will have to do is work hard.”

“You might need to go into debt as well, but you can pay that off in no time. Then you’ll be free to enjoy all the things we created together.” I guess I knew there’d be a cost, so I swallowed hard and accepted it.

“You can be anything you want in life, if you set your mind to it,.” you said. So, I did!

It was surprising how easy it was to get into debt. You assured me I was safe as long as I kept working hard. I was working hard, I had no choice.

At first, when I had doubts, you reminded me how lucky I was to be with you. You said you were the best, and no-one else would do what you were doing for me. It was very effective. I felt obligated in the same way I did when I signed off on those loans that were part of this ‘great’ life with you.

I remember that first fight we had. A bad day, on top of a bad month and my boss was a real ass. You took the cue and told me he was a complete jackass and had no business treating me that way! When I asked why he had changed, you had no answer. Then the bank put up the interest rate, and you told me the industry was corrupt and the government should do something. I should have realised, you weren’t really blaming them. You were just making the obstacles to me leaving you bigger than I could ever hope to overcome. You’re the jackass, because actually, my boss, the banks and the government - you were pulling the strings all the time.

I should have left, but what could I do? Where would I have gone? You’d made sure that the only way out included me being stripped of everything. I resigned myself to making the best of the whole situation. I was depressed by my life and you said you were sorry for all this and that you didn’t understand it because your other lovers were successful.  “Maybe we can learn from them.”

You said ‘we' but you meant ‘me’. So, I did learn. I learned lots of things and none of them made you look good.

Apparently you’ve told some of your other lovers that you were responsible for civilising the world and all the great progress that has been made. Seriously, you expect us to believe that? Your whole achievement was bought off the back of slavery and low paid wages. The truth is, you treat almost everyone as if they are your personal servant, locking us into a life time in jobs we hate, with inhumane bosses, so we can buy stuff that we don’t need in order to impress people we don’t like.

I learned that every time you are challenged you reinvent yourself. You come up with clever claims like ‘trickle down economics’ and act like it’s all going to get better for everyone if they just believe in you enough. You tried to convince us we are all selfish at heart, it’s in our DNA to be self interested so we may as well give in. In fact, you said we’d thrive if we gave into it because the best ideas emerge when we are in competition and those ideas would save us all.

But things just got uglier because selfish people don’t care for anything and the social fabric was destroyed.  And all you could say was, “I told you so.” Like it was never your idea. 

Then I learned your profit comes from people’s suffering. I discovered you had spawned a darker version of yourself called necro-capitalism where you profit from the death and suffering of others. But, actually, that isn’t much different from the nice version of you. All the profit you claim for your beneficiaries comes at the expense of others, both now and in the future.  You’ve always practiced genocide and destruction in the name of your version of progress.

Ye gods, the lies you told me…us.. you tell everyone! You had world leaders buying your bullshit. Professors and heads of business, people who should be smarter, but were already culpable before the crisis. You’ve eroded our trust in one another and turned us into little more than slugs eating your garbage. Now, there is no-one in authority who has not been corrupted by your lies. You’ve destroyed the things we once knew to be true.  And you sit there smugly, as if you had no hand in it.

“Don’t worry about all that.” you say, “There is really nothing you can do. Just get through it and you can enjoy the happy life. Then, you can attend to the injustices of the world.”

You’d have liked that, wouldn’t you? Even after you called me crazy and deluded. Told me I was imagining all of it. I see it now. That break down I had was what you wanted. You had the therapists lined up to stitch me back together, and send me back to the trenches.

But, I am awake now and I have been awake all this time. Every sleepless night, every sick day, every time I felt the rage inside and wanted to stab you… that was me being awake! You won’t sedate me with your “just get comfortable and the life you deserve will be yours - after all you’re worth it” again.

Hats off to you, though! The scale of your guile and treachery is mind-boggling. But I have seen it now.  And the way out is the very last thing I thought of and the very first thing I should have done; followed my hunch and withdraw my imagination to invest elsewhere.

You said I could never leave. That you’d always be watching and no matter what I tried to do with my life, you’d be there, pulling the strings. You creep! I’m sure you will come after me. You can’t handle rejection and never take ‘no’ for an answer.

You told me that if I leave you I will be sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry I didn’t leave years ago. I am sorry I bought your lies. I am sorry I ever got into this thing with you. I wish I’d started thinking for myself much earlier. But I’ve started now…

Good bye

from one of your many Exes!

Thanks to cottonbro studio for the image www.pixels.com