Can We Stop Defending Capitalism?
Peeling back the layers of our "democracy's" insidious underbelly.
*This one's a bit longer. Read time: Approx 5-7 min.
It’s almost impossible to overstate the reverence capitalism receives. It’s the shining beacon of modern society, the engine behind all the wealth and innovation we’ve come to enjoy …or endure. “Capitalism makes the world go round,” we’re told, but I’ve got a nagging feeling that it’s the other way around… that capitalism keeps us spinning in place, tethered to the teat of very system that claims to liberate us. Maybe it’s time we rethink the self-congratulatory myths we’ve been fed and critically examine its dirty little secrets.
At first glance, it seems like a benign economic system…a structure where anyone can rise to the top if they “just work hard enough.” That’s the narrative we all remember, right? “Tighten up ‘dem bootstraps! Just put your head down and do the work.” The Horatio Alger myth. The idea that hard work and merit can take anyone from rags to riches. The problem is that this myth doesn’t just gloss over reality…it actively distorts it. Capitalism’s shiny exterior hides an ugly, festering underbelly.
From Slavery to Subjugation
The origin of capitalism isn’t some heroic tale of innovation and individualism...No, the roots of modern capitalism trace back to a time when human lives were commodified for labor, beginning with slavery. European colonization and the forced labor of millions of African slaves fueled the economy of the New World, generating growth and unimaginable wealth…for a select few.
But when slavery was abolished, it didn’t mark the end of exploitation. Oh no, we could never have that. Freed slaves weren’t ushered into a promised land of opportunity and prosperity. They were shackled by a new set of chains: economic dependency. With no land, no money, and no political power, freed slaves often signed labor contracts with their former masters, working the same plantations under the illusion of freedom. These contracts locked them into debt cycles and brutal conditions, legally reinforced by systems that protected landowners. Vagrancy laws criminalized jobless Black people, effectively coercing them into labor to avoid prison. It was a bait-and-switch… freedom on paper, servitude in practice.
Fast forward to today, and the echoes are deafening. Most of us tolerate our jobs and bring in just enough to survive, while a small elite quietly consolidate power, wealth, and influence over every aspect of our existence. It’s not just the wage gap…it’s the entire rigged structure that perpetuates it. The so-called “social contract” designed to keep the few at the top while the rest of us scramble with every economic shift, inflationary increase, and political agenda.
Woop-Woop! That’s the Sound of the Police
Economic oppression didn’t walk this path alone. It brought with it an enforcement arm—one rooted not in protection, but in control (as per usual). Modern-day policing in America can trace its origins to slave patrols, not the idealistic mission statement of public safety. In the South, slave patrols were organized groups of (none other than) white men tasked with hunting down escaped slaves and crushing uprisings. Their purpose was to preserve the economic order by ensuring enslaved people remained “property.” These patrols later morphed into formalized police departments, carrying forward the same racialized power dynamics we continue to see to this day. That legacy didn’t just disappear when we put badges on the uniforms...that would be ignorant thinking. As history demonstrates, the narrative remained, but it adapted to “fit the times.” It evolved. Policing morphed into a tool not just for enforcing laws, but for maintaining social hierarchies…particularly along racial and class lines. The disproportionate surveillance, harassment, and killing of Black and brown bodies today isn't simply by chance. It's baked into the fabric our our societal roots, with a long, ugly lineage we like to brush under the rug. And the system has and will continue to reinforce it, again and again, under the guise of "law and order."
The Heroes We’re Told to Worship
Think back to your childhood…how the history of colonization and America was introduced into your life. We all learned (and continue to learn) to worship a very specific version of history. One where America is the scrappy underdog turned global hero, democracy’s defender, the white knight on the world stage. Cue the fireworks and brass bands. The problem with this Rambo-version of truth…this cinematic retelling…is that it edits out all the blood and exploitation. We sing of liberty while standing on stolen land. We tout freedom while ignoring the forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples, the internment of Japanese Americans (and now Hispanic refugees), the endless wars fought not for peace, but for profit…for oil…for control. Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. How many wars were pitched as battles for justice, but ultimately filled the pockets of oil barons and arms dealers? The answer is “somewhere between 99-101%.”
And it’s not just lives that were exploited. It’s cultures erased. Lands scorched. Ecosystems dismantled...green spaces demolished in lieu of artificial turf, displacement and endangerment of wildlife, poisoned rivers and lakes engulfed with toxic blue-green algae from farm runoff, and melted glaciers…all while pretending this was the “price of progress.” Entire species disappear and we still act surprised. My goodness! Where did all the Pandas go?! Climate change isn’t some theoretical boogeyman. We have the science and, more importantly, we are living through the world slowly imploding in real-time. It’s the very real, smoldering bill for centuries of greed…and likely more centuries of greed to come. Yet, even as floods worsen, temperatures soar, and megafires rage, we hesitate to act. Why? Because change threatens the bottom line. If we step out of line…to question…to pause…we lose stability in our own lives. And so, back to the teat of social media distraction and mindfulness apps we go…wondering why we continue to feel depressed and physically…well, like absolute dog sh*t.
Bound Hands, Busy Bodies: The Prison-Industrial Complex
If you thought we’d manifested hard enough to rid ourselves of systemic exploitation… surprise! Slavery didn’t die. It evolved. The “War on Drugs” entered the picture in the late 60’s and early 70’s as a political sledgehammer, wielded with surgical precision to destabilize Black and brown communities. Over 60% of incarcerated people in the U.S. are people of color, despite making up only about 30% of the population. That is not coincidence. Nixon, Reagan, Clinton…all played their part. Harsh mandatory minimums, three-strikes laws, and drug enforcement policies were slowly crafted in a manner that disproportionately targeted nonwhite communities and helped balloon prison populations. And prison labor? That’s where the old script returned with a shiny, new marketing ploy. Thanks to the 13th Amendment’s exception clause, corporations were handed a goldmine of nearly-free labor:
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
-The Constitution
McDonald’s. Walmart. AT&T. Industrialized farms. Even Whole Foods... They’ve all benefited from the prison-industrial pipeline…which is essentially a modernized version of slavery that we have all socially accepted under the guise of “safety.” Only now, it wears a badge and calls itself justice. Some might argue that “it gives prisoners a sense of purpose.” I might argue that this notion is a crock of sh*t. A way for us to justify another atrocity against human life. I’d bet these individuals would probably prefer having a say in what their purpose entails. Maybe that’s just me…And so the cycle grinds on…communities of color continue to be pushed further to the fringes of our cities, into zones with limited resources, poor food access, and heightened exposure to violence. When you systematically strip people of dignity…relentlessly and over multiple generations…and then label them as outcasts and “criminals”…and when a simple traffic violation comes with the real, palpable concern of life vs. death…yeah, that will f**k with your psyche. Survival becomes the only priority. It's biology. And in that crime and chaos, the prison-industrial complex finds its endless fuel supply…
Bitcoin, Bro!
Ah, cryptocurrency. The great decentralized dream. The savior of our financial woes! Yeah, not so much…
Bitcoin was supposed to be a digital uprising. Born from the 2008 financial collapse (thanks to, none other than, the same corrupt financial institutions, predatory lending practices, and elite-pandering government policies that continue to destabilize our lives), Bitcoin promised to “break free” from centralized banks, governments, and billionaire manipulation. No more middlemen, no more meddling…just financial freedom for the people. And for a brief moment, it felt as revolutionary as it sounded. But much like I’ve come to appreciate in the genital herpes cases I treat in clinic, capitalism kindly reminds us of its quiet background presence, emerging to f**k things up “just when things start getting sexy.” It has co-opted the cryptocurrency revolution, slapped a price tag on it, and invited venture capitalists to the table…and they brought the apps! And celebrity endorsements! Because that’s always the narrative, right? Every f**king time…Hedge funds pour in. Elon Musk tweets about dogs, while his eyes slip into another K-Hole. Exchanges like FTX become household names…until they’re not. Now, crypto is less about freedom and more about fleece. Altcoins. NFTs. Pump-and-dump Ponzi schemes. Rug pulls. All deregulated Wall Street cosplay… The same insider manipulation, just with new vernacular and socially-awkward tech nerds.
A motto I've learned to live by: If it’s being promoted widely, it’s already being weaponized. By the time you hear about a coin on the news, it’s already past its prime. The whales have eaten. The rug is already halfway pulled. And you're being marketed a dream that’s been gutted and resold to make someone else rich.
What’s Drugs Got to Do (Got To Do With It)?
I'm fascinated with psychedelics…clearly. In the right hands…*scratch that*…in nobody’s hands, preferably, they offer a window of hope…of possibility. But just in case you thought the psychedelic renaissance was a bright spot…nope! The same system that locked the hippies up for using Earth-born plant medicines is now selling them back to its citizens as “clinical tools” for depression, PTSD, and anxiety. Psychedelics have historically…for thousands of years…been revered as tools for deep spiritual awakening and societal questioning…true healing. No ownership…just a connection to something mystical…to nature…to the essence of being human. Because who truly owns a fungi that's found in every corner of the globe? Now, the structure and dosing scheme is starting to mirror that of SSRIs and every other medicine that hits the market. Carefully curated. Heavily branded. Shielded behind layers of bureaucracy and “experts.” All very intentional. It’s not about healing at this point…and it’s certainly not about “harm reduction,” despite abusing the sh*t out of that phrase with anyone who may question their intent. It’s mostly about control. Control over your consciousness. Control over who gets access…how often…how much…for which purpose…under whose supervision. Control of who profits and an assurance that the profit stream will continue rolling in after it is finally ready to be introduced to the masses. It’s a micro-dosed revolution, seemingly crafted to lift your mood just enough to go back to your desk job and not burn the whole thing down. Just think of what that free access to consciousness, creative thinking, and discernment could potentially do to our perfectly-crafted mirage of freedom and security…
The Cult of the 1%
Social media? You’re the product. Your data is sold, your behavior is monetized, your attention is harvested. Pharmaceuticals? Many drug utility cases are developed after a compound is discovered in its research phase—pinning a diagnosis to the chemical mechanism of action once determined to be profitable. Sometimes it wasn't even the original mechanism that was being investigated…look at drugs like Zepbound or Wegovy. GLP-1s have been around for quite some time as a diabetic treatment for specific patient groups…but weight loss? A downstream discovery in the very patients being treated. And f**k me…who wouldn't want to make some money off of that! Some of this is just the nature of biology and continued learning over time, sure…but I’ll be a forever skeptic that profits aren’t a driving force behind our motives. Healthcare? Nurses and providers are stretched to breaking points, while patients struggle to find affordable…or any…access. But don’t you worry…CEO’s finally took note and dialed back their pay in recent years. The median executive income dropped to a humble $4.1 million, just fifty-one times that of the average American household.
What about education? It’s always been sold as the great equalizer, but it has become the on-ramp to indentured servitude. Public education is being demolished from within. Free thinkers? F**k no! It's a scarcity mindset built on information overload and lack of creative embodiment. College tuition has skyrocketed. Loans are crushing. And the very institutions meant to elevate people out of poverty are just another trapdoor into capitalism’s basement. I’m living it…in the 11th hour of my Public Service Loan Forgiveness, watching policy changes and bureaucratic shell games threaten to pull the rug out from under me, and millions of others, just before the finish line.
AI, Aye, Aye…
But AI has come to save us! It’s the latest shiny object, right? Everyone and their mother repeats the dialogue about how much it will “revolutionize everything”…make life easier, more equal, more efficient. But peel back the marketing… It’s a foreshadowing of capitalism’s next move: cheaper labor, faster outputs, more control, fewer questions. Machines don’t need breaks. They don’t unionize. They don't question ethics. They don’t care about burnout or pensions. They just displace workers, automate human creativity, and funnel wealth upward. Again. Always. Innovation? Sure. But for whom?
The Main Message: Question Everything
Here’s the thing: the system is very good at dressing up oppression as progress and then beating it into you through the news, social media distraction, etc.. It takes your dreams, rebrands them, and sells them back to you with a side of FOMO.
Cryptocurrency. Psychedelics. Weight loss drugs. Therapy. AI. Education. Social media. All of it. Once a movement or tool becomes popular enough to hit the mainstream… its integrity has already been compromised. By the time the average person hears about it, it’s no longer revolutionary…it’s serving the cult of capitalism.
So, the next time you see a new trend, a miracle technology, or a shiny new promise of liberation…pause. Ask yourself: Who’s profiting from this?
Because if you’re hearing about it in the headlines, odds are, you’re not the one who’s supposed to “win.” You’re the liquidity. The end user. The product. Capitalism doesn’t want you to question it. It wants you to accept it as inevitable. But the first step toward freedom is refusing to worship the system that keeps you tethered.
We don’t need more reform. We need rupture. The problem isn’t how we’re doing capitalism. The problem is capitalism itself.