Fighting to Live or Living to Die

I would love to have a sit down dinner with Karl Marx and Robert Engels in order to get their views on capitalism today. I would consider myself a Marxist and although I would not consider myself Communist I do believe I am a Socialist. As a humanitarian and a broke philanthropist, I am concerned with the human condition. I have Loyola to thank for nurturing this in me. I believe that the state has a responsibility for taking care of its citizens when it comes to healthcare, education, and making sure that everyone can at least start off on the same playing field. Capitalism is doing a great job in widening the gap between lower class and upper class, basically demolishing the middle class in the process. The poor have to work harder and harder just keep their heads above water. Good Times right? Actually, no. The rich are making money off of the poor's fight for survival. This big business is ran by the elite that just so happen to be politicians or just merely--sarcastically speaking--have a hand in politics. So it should be to no one's amazement that laws are created in order to support big business and keep the wealth among the elite. The lower classes become expendable pawns. Their lives are cheap like the products they make. Their lives have no value. The human life holds no worth if the net worth is not up to the par. If one worker does not like their job there are millions more that would kill to be the one chosen to take the vacant position. We dare not complain and just take the scraps that are given to us happily and be merrily on our way. We should be happy just to have a job...which is true BUT there is a major problem when you cannot enjoy life because you are working two jobs to make someone else--who has ample free time to spend--richer and richer and richer. As human beings, I cannot understand why people can just sit idly by and allow others to suffer. Why would anyone be opposed to giving everyone an equal opportunity at obtaining success? Was the civil rights movement completely successful? Because if it were injustices still would not be occurring in the judicial system, police officers would not still be abusing their power, FEMA would not have abandoned thousands to let them marinate in death, and urban schools would not be poorly funded. Minorities are and forever will be victims of their own melanin because their darker skin automatically places them in a category of lower class before they can even open their mouths to show they have a morsel of intelligence. Now I am not saying that minorities should blame "the man" for their failures but they can blame "the man" for failing to give them the same opportunities as their white counterparts who came out the womb with better chances of fulfilling the American Dream. Look into the eyes of a black boy and tell him that either he or one of his best friends will be in jail or dead and there is a slim chance that he will even make it to college. That is his reality where the numbers do not lie and there is not one mathematical equation that can make this situation look better. Because if civil rights were so effective I would be able to walk through my homogeneous white campus without even a thought of them judging me because I am different crossing my mind. Connecting these two points, I am saying that racism correlates with capitalism. I will say that capitalism is keeping the working class oppressed and the upper class enjoying a life of leisure and comfort. It just so happens that the working class is made up mostly of minorities with a couple outliers of white folk thrown in; because if you took statistics you know there are always outliers---> in Lehman's terms, exceptions to the rule. Taking a brief trip into time, capitalism can be clearly seen in slavery. White slave owners profited and built their wealth on the work that their black property did for free. The United States profited from the slave labor, especially the south. You would fight the north too if you found out the president was trying to take away your source of income...I guess. And fight they did. And although they lost the war the benefit of slave labor can be seen today. White slave owners were able to keep their wealth even after defeat where it remained in the family generation after generation; automatically liberating those whose are born into it and shackling others without it to a life of servitude. As long as the earth has been alive, 140 some odd year is an insignificant amount of time and we know evolution takes a while. Whites are beyond more than likely to be born into a household that has money and minorities just simply are not as likely. It is very hard to pull yourself up by the bootstraps when the generations before you were unable to do so and cannot even direct you to where the bootstraps are located. Capitalism people. It is driving a wedge between humanity and empathy because today people are too desensitized to care. I am ashamed to quoted him, but 50 Cent said is best. I am going to get rich or die trying...so I am going to rob these people, sell these drugs, steal this car, overcharge for my products, cut benefit packages, lower wages because I want to get rich or die trying. You tell me what the difference is between a drug dealer and a big business owner. There is none. One is killing people with crack cocaine and the other is killing people because he is too greedy to give his workers healthcare. All is done in the name of capitalism. Others can suffer at the expense of status and what we sociologists call conspicuous consumption. Rich and poor and those in between are obsessed with status and conspicuous consumption, which comes along with wealth. What does a car symbolize? What does clothes symbolize? A house? Name brands? They all express the status of a person. A label of I am better than you. The rich can afford it and the poor strive for it. The working class of the past decades struggle to provide for their children what they were unable to have: status. Now my generation are consumed with conspicuous consumption, which is spending their money on materialistic items that give them status. Why else would a man by a car with rims or a woman buy a $400 handbag? Those things give them status and announces to the world that they are able to spend money on frivolous things that depreciate in value after leaving the store and will not add on to their liquid assets. They got it like that. They are baaaalllllllllliiinnnn. There is a fascination of the rich&famous who are able to afford and waste their wealth on worthless possessions. We want to be like that. We want what they have and statuses like theirs. We are willing to work hours upon hours a day for a salary that is not equal to what we are worth just to obtain an item that tells people we are kind of a big deal so get on my level. All the while making the elite richer in the process, because not only does your labor make the wealthy richer but you are also buying the products that you are making. The same product that cost pennies to make, you are shelling out hundreds and doing it on an income that is not worth a dime. So big business is making back the money they are paying you PLUS more on top of that. A lower class worker trying to live like the rich. Trying to show that he and she are worth something. That they are more than just an employee number on a clock-in sheet. The problem with the world is that people are dependent on status and won't let a human be human. Everyone should be on an equal playing field because we are all simply human beings who deserve respect. Another problem is that the working class will never abolish a system that is causing them more harm than good, because there is a slim chance that same system will make them rich one day too. Capitalism is the enemy of humanity and it will destroy lives if there is an opportunity for profit to be made. Think about it.