Hey, everybody. My name’s Kim Siever. Welcome
back to my channel.
Inequality is inherent in capitalism. Of course,
in capitalism, power is unevenly distributed,
lying in the hands of the few individuals
who manage to own businesses and amass capital.
But that power inequity breeds inequity in
other areas.
Because so few people can amass capital in
capitalism, people assume they amass that
capital through their own efforts. It’s
why individual property rights are foundational
to capitalism. Individualism is behind rational
choice theory, for example, the idea that
individuals pursue what’s in their own best
interests.
If one believes that rich people are rich
because of their own labour, then it’s easy
to believe that we are all rewarded for our
own labour and that people who are rich performed
more labour, or at least performed their labour
more efficiently.
Conversely, if we’re not rich, we simply
didn’t work hard enough. If we lack anything,
it’s because we lacked labour.
And if you believe that rewards follow labour,
then it’s easy to believe that labour is
never hindered by institutional barricades,
such as sexism, homophobia, and racism.
It’s no coincidence that those who
strongly support capitalism are the ones who
are most likely to be oblivious to institutional
oppression. They’re the ones to claim that
the justice system is not racist. They’re
the ones to claim that it’s not sexist that
most politicians and CEOs are men. They’re
the ones to claim that giving LGBTQ+ people
equal rights is “destroying the family”.
It’s why capitalists deny racial privilege.
It’s why they deny gender privilege. It’s
why they deny class privilege. It’s why
they deny privilege in general. After all,
if privilege exists and actually prevents
people from finding success, then it proves
that the idea that we can find success just
by pulling up our bootstraps is a myth.
And if the idea that we are rewarded solely
because of individual labour is a myth—an
idea that is foundational to capitalism—then
it exposes capitalism as nothing but a scam.
Thanks for watching.
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