Health or Wealth
Market forces, in my belief, have always shaped the relationship between humans and their environment, and I have found it a daunting task to consider the history of such a long and complicated relationship. In all truth, market forces can be considered as anything that drives our means of consumption and our economy as a whole, and from this point of view, they can be seen as existing in some way since the dawn of time. So, instead of starting at the beginning, I will instead focus on the relationship between humans and nature from the start of what I see as the beginning of the end.
The capitalist economy’s history, when viewed in light of mans entire existence, has been rather short and in that span of time, it has managed to catapult much of the world into a very new and destructive relationship with the Earths natural resources. While the changes that capitalism has brought about have been slow to evolve, it is a system that has deeply altered much more than the marketplace and which has forever changed the world. In this paper, I intend to demonstrate how the core concepts of the capitalist economy have lead the world into ecological disaster.
There are many structures on which capitalism is built and a few of the most core principles are the ones that are most destructive. The tenets of individualism, efficiency, profit maximization and consumerism can be found at the heart of many of the most damaging practices of today’s world. Since they are main pillars of the capitalist marketplace, they are very pervasive and have become widespread, standard practices and ways of thinking.
Individualism it is a new development in our social structure and one that has left a very deep impression. While capitalism did not spring up overnight, the period of it’s development is not relevant to this analysis, so I shall consider capitalism from some hypothetical starting point. Up until this starting point, the community was the central unit of sociological structure. Families and communities were tightly knit and gave support to one another. This type of lifestyle provided an accurate sense about how one person’s actions affect everything around them and the relationship that humans had with their environment reflected this awareness.
Frank Baum had a specific purpose, some were used to set up the tone and setting for different parts of the novel such as the colors used to describe Kansas and Oz. Colors were also used to represent the different people in Oz, not everyone in Oz were alike and were different from the way they acted, lived or the characteristic which defined them. This use of color also helped to set up an underlying theme of corruption and greed represented by the journey and the group of travelers headed up by Dorothy, who when she reaches Oz is driven by self interest as opposed to later when she wants to make sure that everyone benefits from the death of the wicked witch. Finally colors where used as representation of ideas from representing joy, death, and danger, whenever a color was used to describe something it represented that character or setting tying together the underlying themes of greed, corruption and social
...the birth of capitalism liberated the goals and means of work. Capitalism allowed individuals to own and manage their own business and reflected the secular mind frame derived from the Renaissance Era. The individual is the unit on which capitalism is based. Bonds between merchants was based on free competition rather that the need to trade. This liberating system of economy allows rise for the individual to direct his own business.
were healers, leaders, song makers, dance composers and ask the spirit for a good hunting
To begin, capitalism is the economic ideology that everything is primarily focused towards making profit through the production and distribution of a product. In the article “Capitalism: Where Do We Come From?” By Robert Heilbroner and Lester Thurow, they provide insight on how capitalism has changed over the years and the impact it now has in today’s society. “There were no factors of production before capitalism. Of course, human labour, nature’s gift of land and natural resources, and the artifacts of society have always existed. But labour, land, and capital were not commodities for
Lions and tigers and politics oh my? The Wonderful Wizard of OZ written by L. Frank Baum has become an American classic since 1900 with its simple good hearted storyline, but enough parallels have been found within the written text linking it to politics that suggests otherwise. Baum claims to have written the story solely for the pleasure of children and that he could never have imagined the impact it would have on the public. When the text was adapted to film nearly 40 years later, it became an instant block buster and captured the hearts of the movie going public. It remains an American favorite today thanks to its charismatic actors, dazzling colors, and unforgettable music. But The Wizard of Oz is not the simple tale it alludes to, under its façade of charm lies hidden themes and motifs filled with political symbolism referring to the Populist Party.
A controversial modern U.S. Supreme Court decision is the McCullen v. Coakley case. An initial ruling for this case in Massachusetts, “…has made it a crime for speakers to ‘enter or remain on a public way or sidewalk’ within 35 feet of an entrance, exit, or driveway of ‘a reproductive health care facility.’ The law applies only at abortion clinics…In effect, the law restricts the speech of only those who wish to use public areas near abortion clinics to speak about abortion from a different point of view” (American Bar Association). This decision in the case has called for it to be heard again by the U.S. Supreme court as it is now a question of (1) if it is a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendment, and (2) if a past decision in Hill v. Colorado permits this law and whether or not it should be overruled (American Bar Association).
When discussing the power of governmental law, Ken Worthy Bill and Janice Nadler state, “No matter what the position the law takes regarding abortion, a large contingent of citizens will believe the law to be wrong and even immoral. Some individuals have a strong moral investment in either permitting or prohibiting abortion, and for them abortion laws that permit immoral outcomes can prompt strident protests and even vigilante action” (Bill and Nadler 246). Therefore, it is nearly impossible to approach such contentious topics without encountering opposition on either side of the
In 1973, in what has become a landmark ruling for women’s rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a woman’s right to an abortion. Ever since, individual states have adopted, altered, and/or mutilated the edict to fit their agendas – Texas included. However, the decision made by the justices in Roe v. Wade didn’t set clear cut, inarguable demarcation lines, which has allowed the fiery debate to consume the nation. Rather than establishing a legal ruling of what life is, or is not, the Supreme Court has remained silent on the issue.
In conclusion, the protagonist of The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Gale, is initially unsatisfied with her life on her Aunt and Uncle’s farm and dreams of a foreign land over the rainbow, where there are no worries or disasters. Although as the story progresses, Victor Fleming incorporates a wide range of
In the final chapter of Patel and Moore’s A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, they came to the conclusion that all of the ‘cheap things’ that created capitalism have an interlocking relationship with not only economic processes, but the ecological as well. Since the beginning of capitalistic approach, the world itself became a cheap mine. Even to this day, it is being exploited and constantly drained from its natural resources. With the resource being the center of capitalism, cheap food, care, lifes, money, nature, and work all begin to develop. In order to keep everything in place, violence and constant dehumanization of the human work had to be displayed. The profit from a commodity can not be obtained until something or someone is exploited and used up indefinitely.
In a period of despair and depression one gleam of light shone through the midst of darkness, Frank Baum’s classic work of fiction, The Wizard of Oz. In 1900, The Wizard of Oz was published. The late nineteenth century was hard on the average American worker, especially farmers. Droughts, tariffs and deflation forced farmers in an economic depression. They relied on railroads to transport their goods to the north, so the railroad companies took advantage of this and raised the prices. Not only that, but the government put high taxes and tariffs on their products. Farmers lost money. Frank Baum struggled too; The Wizard of Oz was his way of escaping the dark times. He wanted to produce happier fairy tale and make a new genre for children and young adults; writing The Wizard of Oz was his way of doing so. Baum wrote the novel during a time called the Populist Movement and many believe this influenced the plot. In a short time The Wizard of Oz flew off the shelves and spread quickly throughout America. The Library of Congress, the official library of the United States, recognized his achievement and that is why for years the novel has been selected for “The Books That Shaped America”, a list of books selected across the country by the Library of Congress. Frank Baum captured the hearts of the young and the old with The Wizard of Oz, yet what was supposed to be the new “sweet fairytale” turned into a controversial political scandal, making it an immensely popular, inspiring writers and young literature enthusiasts to produce similar works.
Capitalism was born when the old systems were no longer compatible with further developed productive forces, and the system changed. A similar movement is going on before our own eyes. The productive forces at the disposal of society no longer further the development and improvement of the conditions of our world, the defining features of capitalism include alienation, dehumanization, exploitation and recurring, cyclical depressions leading to mass unemployment. The development of modern industry cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the upper class produces and appropriates products. It is time to
... do not co-operate with each other, they become dysfunctional for society and can cause different social problems that led the society toward destruction. Capitalism is a modern economic system, which leave the world upset. The imperative factor of capitalist society is accumulation of wealth that results in converting money into the divine force and diminishes the value of human, morals, and values that distinguish us from animals. The drive for capital cause necessities to turn into commodities, so that, capitalists can make more capital to invest. Thus, the contribution of capitalism can be positive for those who only concern profit but not for the society because it only enhance the materialistic life and weaken the soul that teaches us ethics and morality.
A human induced global ecological crisis is occurring, threatening the stability of this earth and its inhabitants. The best path to address environmental issues both effectively and morally is a dilemma that raises concerns over which political values are needed to stop the deterioration of the natural environment. Climate change; depletion of resources; overpopulation; rising sea levels; pollution; extinction of species is just to mention a few of the damages that are occurring. The variety of environmental issues and who and how they affect people and other species is varied, however the nature of environmental issues has the potential to cause great devastation. The ecological crisis we face has been caused through anthropocentric behavior that is advantageous to humans, but whether or not anthropocentric attitudes can solve environmental issues effectively is up for debate. Ecologism in theory claims that in order for the ecological crisis to be dealt with absolutely, value and equality has to be placed in the natural world as well as for humans. This is contrasting to many of the dominant principles people in the contemporary world hold, which are more suited to the standards of environmentalism and less radical approaches to conserving the earth. I will argue in this essay that whilst ecologism could most effectively tackle environmental problems, the moral code of ecologism has practical and ethical defects that threaten the values and progress of anthropocentricism and liberal democracy.
It is this notion which gives the capitalists the opportunity and the means to exploit people in the society, through their wants and needs for an easy, nonchalant lifestyle. The problem arises when we start seeing these capitalists as saviors - as rescuers, and sometimes even incarnations of God - who save the people under them, from the hardened, miserable, and volatile life which they may have lead otherwise. It is at this moment where we commit our biggest mistake: put in our trust, faith and our life in the hands of these capitalists. They hardwire such people - make them feel like a prince, where in reality all they are, are peasants being manipulated and controlled to fulfill the personal objectives of these capitalists. It is in moments like these, where a person must realize, that all these comforts - these resources, these status privileges, the capitalists trust in them - are all but ‘baits’, intricately thought of and designed to ‘lure’ an individual into the trap from which - despite tremendous efforts - if caught, it is extremely difficult to escape from. It is, in moments like these, where one must develop and possess the mental