No, even though today we celebrate St. Valentine's Day and dedicate ourselves to love, this post is not about Cupid,
the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection
. Cupidity is something else.
For some time now, I've been worrying the concepts of acquisition and accumulation and how they evolve into humans devouring their own kind, as if they were cannibals, but not really. Because, of course, hardly any humans are actually consumed, at least not whole. Though transplants, being bloody come close.
But, that's OK. Transplants aren't cannibalistic because the "victims" either consent or are already dead and their relatives consent for them. Indeed, we might even see a role for Cupid in that case.
Cannibalism is something else. When real bodies aren't involved, the process is, come to think of it, sublime. We are inclined to think of the sublimeas spectacular or beautiful because of some 18th century propaganda, but the original meaning stems from limosdeprivators hasn't gotten any traction. Maybe sublime cannibals will be more attractive.
In any event, it seems possible to encapsulate the whole social process in an equation. Not being mathematically inclined, equations are not my forte, but, at least for the present, this one works for me:
Incompetence + cupidity = disaster capitalism
and
disaster capitalism is perpetrated by sublime cannibals.
We know there are a whole lot of incompetents running around. It makes sense that their incompetence leaves them unsatisfied and so cupidity results. How do they get out of their fix? By targeting someone else. Thievery.
Disaster capitalism is theft. Cannibalism is theft. Sublimating it into an aesthetic endeavor makes it invisible. Feelings. Figments of the imagination with an emotional tinge. It does not translate into an act because the object is left out.
Imagine appropriating a fortune without touching a thing. It's what they do on Wall Street. It's all a figment of the imagination. So, why does it have an effect? Because we let it. Because, like Catholics who believe in the transubstantiation of bread and wine starving themselves before they partake, the victims of disaster capitalism deprive themselves of their daily needs.
Is not the recognition of other people's exclusive property rights an act of generosity? We are consenting to the thievery. How? By electing stewards who go along with the scam.
Let 2014 be the year we don't do that anymore. No Legal Thievery Allowed.