Responses in the original
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Bruce Leier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Ed Goertzen"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 6:50 PM
Subject: Re: torn: Reply to Ed Wieck
> You are right. I don't want to name the system,
because I'm not really sure
> of what I should call it. And I feel some
personal discomfort around giving
> it a name, especially one I might not like,
because I am part of it.
{{Ed, you can never overcome anything you can't.
Naming is the 1st step in enlightenment. It is
not something to be afraid of.}}
> All of us are.
{{Are you always in favor of that which you
participate in?}}
Someone, perhaps the late Robert Theobald,
argued that changing the
> system would involve changing ourselves rather
fundamentally, perhaps
> ethically and spiritually, and I would question
how ready we are to do that.
{{I, and I don't think I am alone, am ready to and
already have changed. Theobald did. Maybe you
can, too.}}
>
> I would grant you that we serve capitalism, but
it also serves us. It has
> been responsible for the very high standard of
living we have in the rich
> world.
{{It all depends on how you define "high standard
of living". What I define as a high standard of
living is not needing a car, being able to get the
food and other things I need within walking
distance and from people whom I know and trust. A
high standard of living means I get a say in all
decisions that affect. me. A high standard of
living means that no one is exploited in the
production of anything that I use. Capitalism
continues to lower my standard of living.}}
> As imperialism, it has also at least in part
been responsible for
> the very poor standard of living found in many
other countries. What this
> has led me to wonder is how willing we are to do
without the many benefits
> that we enjoy because of capitalism.
{{You imply that without capitalism there would be
no progress or inventions. That would indeed be a
very silly belief. Although it is what the
mainstream media would have us believe.}}
>> To get rid of it and build a more
> equitable world, we might have to give up an
awful lot. Let's ask
> ourselves, what would we really be willing to do
without? Could we give
> things up without becoming rather different
people than we are? Would we
> want to do that?
{{What is unique to capitalism could be done
without.}}
> Ed Weick
>
>
