capitalism
September 2008 
A matter of responsibility.
Posted on Jun 4th, 2008
by 
Shreyan
Shreyan
Recently, I've been reading Tolstoy's "Resurrection." Though a novel, it reads more like a philosophical treatise than an actual story; nonetheless I recommend it to everybody.
Throughout the novel we see the theme of responsibility. Essentially, Tolstoy proposes that all the greatest atrocities are committed in the names of insitutions and principles. Who is to blame?
Everyone plays their role; when an innocent man is executed, who is to blame? The jury, who ruled him guilty? The judge, who upheld the decision? The executioner, who carried the orders out?
When the holocaust occurs, who is to blame? Nazi officials never killed anyone! They simply signed papers. The soldiers cannot be blamed! They are not responsible, they were only cogs in the killing machine. Friendly neighbors who decided the Jews had to go? What, how should they know they were sending the neighbors kid to the furnace?
They are all responsible, and yet none are responsible.
So, who is responsible for the 30,000 children who die a day of poverty? The corrupt bastards that spend their government money on bribes and arms, to bomb the same people they are supposed to represent? The superpowers that fund those states?
The citizens who make that superpower possible? One nation, under God?
We are all stained with the blood of the world. Perhaps not directly, but the institution called "world market" allows us to commit ourselves to the most blatantly DISGUSTING shows of immorality humans have ever dreamt up. We live in a bubble of ignorance, not realizing the very world we live in exists on the shoulders of a shadow world, of greed, and pain. We are all responsible for the extract of blood we call society.
A painful realization for a 15 year old. Fortunately, we have measures that ensure the continued blindness of the good consumer...
Please, return to your lives. The coffee is getting cold, the stocks are taking a turn for the worse, in essence we have more important affairs to deal with than the immolation of our souls. No, not hell. Simply, inhumanity.
Throughout the novel we see the theme of responsibility. Essentially, Tolstoy proposes that all the greatest atrocities are committed in the names of insitutions and principles. Who is to blame?
Everyone plays their role; when an innocent man is executed, who is to blame? The jury, who ruled him guilty? The judge, who upheld the decision? The executioner, who carried the orders out?
When the holocaust occurs, who is to blame? Nazi officials never killed anyone! They simply signed papers. The soldiers cannot be blamed! They are not responsible, they were only cogs in the killing machine. Friendly neighbors who decided the Jews had to go? What, how should they know they were sending the neighbors kid to the furnace?
They are all responsible, and yet none are responsible.
So, who is responsible for the 30,000 children who die a day of poverty? The corrupt bastards that spend their government money on bribes and arms, to bomb the same people they are supposed to represent? The superpowers that fund those states?
The citizens who make that superpower possible? One nation, under God?
We are all stained with the blood of the world. Perhaps not directly, but the institution called "world market" allows us to commit ourselves to the most blatantly DISGUSTING shows of immorality humans have ever dreamt up. We live in a bubble of ignorance, not realizing the very world we live in exists on the shoulders of a shadow world, of greed, and pain. We are all responsible for the extract of blood we call society.
A painful realization for a 15 year old. Fortunately, we have measures that ensure the continued blindness of the good consumer...
Please, return to your lives. The coffee is getting cold, the stocks are taking a turn for the worse, in essence we have more important affairs to deal with than the immolation of our souls. No, not hell. Simply, inhumanity.
Access: PublicTagged with: Depression, pain, hatred, world, capitalism, crime, ignorance, institution, holocaust, genocide, hunger
