Capitalism Has No Conscience

by Indian

(December, 17, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Well, the Bali Conference is over and the world is faced with some serious choices. We can continue to consume madly while proceeding on our merry way towards extinction or we can radically change the way the capitalist world operates while adopting a more sustainable lifestyle for ourselves. The choice is stark.

It's like the dilemma we once faced a few decades ago over smoking or over the use of asbestos only bigger, much bigger. Those making those death-dealing products were making huge profits. Of course, that is the goal of every capitalist enterprise not the well-being of workers making the products or consumers of those products. So those immoral companies entered into strategies to keep information about health risks quiet and to confuse people, to question any science that showed the risks, anything to keep sales up and the profits flowing. Of course the media, who made huge advertising revenue from those companies, were in no hurry to print stories that showed their advertiser's products in a bad light.

Now we have a situation whereby materialism is almost like a new religion and most of the manufacturing companies in the world are contributing to global warming in one way or another and we're now asking them to radically change their practices and reduce profits or even stop their mining activities all together.

That's a big ask and, given that capitalism has no conscience, it is hard to imagine that companies will embrace the steps necessary to save our world. After all, there are all those overpaid CEOs and fabulously wealthy individuals living in their luxury penthouses or on board their huge motor yachts to care about. And what about the poor...sorry, rich shareholders?
They reality is that most companies will do exactly what the cigarette companies, etc, did and lie and procrastinate and foot-drag. And given that media ownership is now concentrated in even fewer hands, the chances of media honesty in the debate are even less! And many people, like smokers, even when they know the downside, will continue to consume rapaciously and drive SUVs.

Of course, on a happier note, if Iran is attacked with nuclear weapons we may not have to worry about global warming at all. The world's ending will be short and quick!