Envy

Apologists for capitalism claim that behind popular hostility toward the capitalist system and the ruling elite lies that lowly sentiment, envy. They never offer any proof of their claim but boldly announce, “Here lies the underlying cause of socialism, anarchism, populism, and the trade unions” . Undoubtedly, if they thought about it they would add the popularity of Dilbert and The Simpsons to their list as well.

Problem is, I feel no envy toward the greed heads, neither do any of my friends. And if you peruse socialist or anarchist literature you won't find envy there either. We don't want to be like them. We don't want their mansions and private jets. We just want them off our backs. We don't want our lives directed and controlled by these pathetic creatures. Does a man with a tape worm envy his parasite or does he merely hate it for robbing him of sustenance and simply wish to get rid of it?

I describe our masters as pathetic. Sorry, I am trying to be kind. The basic understanding of the way we operate emotionally has sunk in overtime to a very large number of people. An associate who needs to show off, be right all the time, dominate everyone around them is soon shunned, written off as an egomaniac or woefully insecure. Someone who has no feeling for other people and abuses and exploits them is classified as a border-line sociopath. He too, (and it usually is a he,) also has no friends. But are these not the attitudes of the ruling class? What is wrong with Bill Gates, to sight but one example, that he thought it necessary to build a 45,000 square foot house costing $62 million? Who is he trying to fool? To me, this just screams insecurity. Then there is the arrogance of Lord Black of Crossbar Hotel and the reptile-like criminality of the late and unlamented Ken Lay. Would you want this in any of your friends?

Envy as a cause of anti-capitalist sentiment is a straw man explanation. It is an attempt to cover the real reasons with a false reason that makes us look like we are the ones at fault. In reality, what does motivate us? Above all, a sense of injustice, for it is unjust that multi-billionaires exist while millions starve. We are motivated by a desire for freedom, for these are the bosses that dominate our lives at work and in the community through the government bureaucracies they control. We seek dignity. We are human beings and don't wish to be treated like inanimate things. The apologists cannot admit the real causes of our hostility are alienation and a desire for liberty and justice. To do so would expose the weak, shallow underpinning of their ideology.

Where you do find envy is not among the radicals but among the conservative lower middle class. These are the people who envy the unionized worker for getting a dollar an hour more than they do. These are the people seething with envy at the teacher getting 2 months off a year, the immigrant with a better job than they might have, the Aboriginals who can fish “out of season” , or the single mother collecting welfare. One group they don't envy however, are the rich, whom they admire, spending hours drooling over “Houses Of The Rich And Famous” and scrabbling for every bit of gossip about the “celebs” from supermarket tabs and “Entertainment Tonight.” And this is why they are called the “Sheeple.”