At Last…An Essay That Explains Why Communism Doesn’t Work, Why Capitalism Kind Of Does, And Why The Hippies Were Right

The ideas put forward in this essay by David Wong are by no means new. People have been suggesting for a long time that human beings just can’t relate to each other on a species-wide level, and we would all be better off living in small communities that have little contact with the outside world. What Wong does is to put this idea forth in an easy to read, humorous article that can be understood and appreciated by persons who do not spend the majority of their spare time studying arcane political texts. Wong notes that Communism was doomed to failure because it asked people to make sacrifices for other people they’d never met, while ignoring their individual needs. Capitalism works on some level because it allows people to keep at least a part of what they create and share it with the people they care most about, their family. Of course, to really live in a way that makes sense in Wong’s worldview, we should probably all move to small-scale communes were we can form trusting, meaningful relationships with a fairly small group of people. Seeing as how the only commune I ever spent time at had no flush toilets, I don’t know if that’s a good solution for me (or for most of the people in this society, who have grown quite used to their expensive technological toys that can only be produced by a huge societal unit like this one). So I guess we’ll just have to get used to the idea that we’ll never come to love all of our brothers and sisters out there, nor they us. The best we can reasonably hope for is that they won’t kill us.

Oh, and for another taste of Wong’s rather depressing take on the human psyche, check out this piece were he pretty effectively demolishes the concept of free will. Later, you automatons.