In a previous post, I described a phenomena called “Indoctrination Trope”. I want to go more deeply into what this is.
Indoctrination trope is a kind of statement which has no thought behind it. It is a knee-jerk reaction stemming from long-term exposure to propaganda. In western, non-communist countries, most of which are wholly dominated by capitalism, it takes the form of American Exceptionalism, free-market supremacy (although there are NO free, legal commercial markets on the planet), capitalist idealism (which by definition is accompanied by a willful denial of capitalism’s destructive outcomes) and a penchant to defend one’s freedoms, when, in fact, one is hardly free when one is saddled in debt, working a job one doesn’t like and having very little time to pursue passions (i.e. one’s self- actualization).
Indoctrination trope is the “free speech” of sheep, people who have swallowed the kool-aid of modern “society”, not realizing that kool aid is not only making some people fat, debt ridden, unhealthy it’s causing people to be almost totally disconnected from each other and the Oneness of All That Is. It also has the sad effect of addicting people to the very kool aid they drink and all the blind behaviors that come with drinking it, including spouting indoctrination trope. (SMHWLOL – shaking my head while laughing out loud).
All societies, beliefs, cultures, etc., have indoctrination tropes. Some are more pernicious than others. North Korea’s indoctrination trope, for example, is well known. While people in North Korea are directly indoctrinated into revering their dynastic leader, they aren’t the only ones deluded into accepting their reality. In their case, they face extreme consequences for not toe-ing the line.
But in “freer” countries, such as those in the Western world, the coercion is more subtle and pernicious. Here, we are indoctrinated in a myriad of unconscious, back-door ways. There’s no one compelling us directly, through threats of firing squads, hard labor camps, or torture chambers. Here, coercion takes the form of marketing, promotion, urges to consume things and the methods by which that consumption is generated. It’s a much kinder, gentler, happier coercion which promises sex, pleasure, and “success” for those who “work hard”.
Within our indoctrination trope is a constellation of others, acting like Russian nesting dolls. They each fit perfectly into the other. There is a western societal “indoctrination trope” that people “should” “work hard” in order to get X. “Working hard” is the key to success, goes the trope, and that everyone who has been successful has “worked hard” to get to that success. The corollary: anyone who isn’t successful just hasn’t worked hard enough. For if you simply stop being lazy, you can be successful. Damn the social, psychological, and environmental obstacles you might face.
Another nested trope is the “American dream” of home ownership, which has changed significantly in the US. It used to be that home ownership actually meant owning your home. Today it means owning a mortgage….and a liability that compels the homeowner to work long hours to make those payments along with servicing other debt.
As we’ve seen with the tiny house and simplicity movements, though, people are breaking out of such tropes. Copiosis is working on many of these simultaneously. But it’s great to see other movements also doing yeoman’s work.
There is always a ton of evidence disproving indoctrination tropes. For example, as many are discovering, we are becoming clear that capitalism is not supreme. We’ve been saying that for years here at Copiosis. Yes, it has lifted more people out of poverty than any system yet devised. But does that make it supreme? Compared to existing systems, maybe. Until you consider capitalism’s negative aspects. For one, and one only, the tendency of capitalism to drive covert state actions to destabilize other economic systems. In other words, it doesn’t play fair, that capitalism. Louis Farrakhan is not blind to this:
So is it really accurate to say capitalism is supreme when it advances its supremacy by undermining the other systems it operates alongside? If you think so, that’s like saying a doping athlete is supreme over his peers because he’s cheating. It’s an un-level playing field to say the least.
So when someone says “capitalism is the best” I just shake my head because those people are spewing indoctrination trope. If it weren’t for the kool aid drinking, I’d wonder why so many people believe capitalism, “working hard” and the American Dream really hold promise of freedom, happiness and “success”….had I not been a sheep myself and blindly followed such tropes for so many years.
“Working hard” is not necessary. Period. To think that people need to, misses the huge amount of evidence proving the contrary. To think that you’ve actually worked hard and “made it” all by yourself is shallow thinking.
So am I anti-capitalism? No. Is Copiosis? No.
If it weren’t for capitalism, we wouldn’t be seeking a better replacement. If it weren’t for capitalism, people wouldn’t be experiencing the intensifying, increasing struggles that come with it, struggles that create the pain needed to make Copiosis relevant. Neither I nor Copiosis have ever been against capitalism.
We aren’t really against anything. We are for something better. We are for people and the planet over profits. We are for people being free and the planet being healthy. We are for a reality where everyone is achieving the highest ideals of self-actualization. We are for creating a more favorable global environment where everyone is able to contribute value to the world – in the way they choose and according to their innate values (as opposed to cultural ones), values which are universal and, to some extent, being stifled by our society today.
It’s all encapsulated in the word “hope”. That’s what we’re for. And I think you’re for that too.