the capitalist lever

Who says the internet is stifling the possibility of meaninful interpersonal contact? What? No one? No one is saying that? Well, good. Then I guess what I'm about to say won't come as a shock to anyone: My friend Chrissy Blankenship and I just had a meaninful chat on gmail.

This is deranged. So deranged, in fact, that with her permission, I'm going to post it on this here web... thing.

Note: Names and genders have been changed to make things secret and mysterious. For instance, my name is not really "me", and "Chrissy Blankenship" isn't Chrissy Blankenship at all. You'll also notice that I keep trying to get out of the conversation and end up repeatedly getting sucked back in. This is why I don't have more paintings to show you.

Our story begins...

Me: Hi, Chrissy.

Chrissy: Hi, Josh.
Whatcha doing?

Me: Taking a little break to play frizbee with the dog. Well, actually I'm trying to type while the cat annoys me by tap-dancing on the keyboard.

Chrissy: A break? From painting or chores?

Me: Chores to start with. I've got about a half hour more of shoveling sawdust to do. Hah! The cat just got it's head stuck in the loop-handle thing for a plastic bag. The noise freaked it out and it tore back and forth the length of the house twice before I was able to catch and release.

Chrissy: How was saturday night?

Me: Saturday night was phenomenal – the absolute bestest night of my life. What happened saturday night? I don't remember. Oh, yeah. Your house. The place with the thing. Not much happened, really.

Chrissy: That's good. I guess.

Me: I should go.

By the way of leaving, though - Ghandi or C.S. Lewis or somebody (I can't remember whom) thought that land speculation was immoral, and I do believe I'm starting to agree. I think investments should be in things that produce or improve something - they shouldn't be a way to take advantage of wealth (capital) to profit off of a limited resource such as land.

Chrissy: What is land speculation?

Me: I think it’s buying land, holding onto it, and selling it later at inflated prices. I guess you could say I think that being paid for nothing more than the fact that you have access to wealth others don’t is wrong, and that raw capitalism shafts the poor. Land speculation makes them unable to buy land and get out of their situation. They just keep paying rising rental costs, which keeps them in poverty.

Chrissy: It's all just supply and demand, baby.

Me: That doesn't mean it's right.

Chrissy: It might not be right. I don't know, but its a natural law - like gravity.

Me: Ixnay. I disagree. Supply and demand is a manifestation of human nature. It can be changed. Gravity cannot. Supply and demand as a principle of general economics is a fact of life, I think, but it’s different than land speculation. For instance, a store that operates on supply and demand provides a service by bringing products to people who could not otherwise get them. But buying land (or other natural resources) because you're rich and can afford it and then selling it for more, later, because people will have to pay in order to live is usury, and it sucks. If people didn't do it the world would be a better place and there would be less of an glaring gap between rich and poor. But we like being the rich.

Chrissy: I'm not an economist so I can't really argue either way. I don't know about markets and what makes them fluctuate, inflation. . . etc. What are the other options?

Me: Invest in a fledgling business that provides a service or product you believe in. Or start such a business. Don't make profit your number one goal. Or at least weigh profit against moral, ecological and spiritual costs when you do your cost-benefit analyses.


Chrissy: What about buy a house and renting it out? That is a service.

Me: Yeah. That is. But then you're providing something. I'm talking about pure raw speculation that uses money as a lever. You’re a steward of the money in your bank account, and a good steward is wise. However, the important issue is motivation. Why did you buy the house? To live in, or to make a profit?

Chrissy: Both. Land has always been (well, not always but for a long time) an important investment. It is one of the only commodities that is guaranteed (as much as possible) to retain its value. If civilization as we know it was destroyed people who owned land could still use it to survive . . . until someone without land came and took it from them.


Me: Yeah, well, the system sucks. You can't fix the system, but you can fix yourself and work from there. You know what though? Screw that! You can fix the system! Look at flippin' Ghandi. If there had been a succession of Ghandi's in India instead of just one, that nation would rule the world with goodness and light. The dude broke the back of British imperialism world wide by inspiring millions of people to sacrifice themselves for the truth. Anybody can do that! You can do that! It’s all about character, man. And being selfish versus being self-sacrificial.

I'm sweating from my armpits. I have to go shovel sawdust now.


Chrissy: Getting fired up to change the world?

Me: Me? No. I'm the world’s most apathetic fool, but the hard truth still appeals to me a lot more than comfortable lies.

Chrissy: But you still live in comfortable lies. The truth is nice to talk about but it's almost impossible to live.

Me: The almost impossible is the only thing worth doing. If you settle for the comfortable lie, then you are settling for living death. Inasmuch as you are able, you have to choose the truth. The ways in which you choose truth (ie, tell your wife you love her) are the ways in which you matter. The ways in which you choose a comfortable lie (ie. live for the money) are the ways in which you wipe out your own name.

Chrissy: You have to pick your battles.

Me: Usually when people say you have to pick your battles, they mean that they are scared of important battles that might get them killed. It is easier to tell half-truths. I know - I do it. That doesn't mean I should accept that about myself. That doesn't mean I should give in to the lies.

Chrissy: What lies?

Me: Consumerism. Wastefulness. Selfishness. Greediness. Laziness. Looks-obsession. Instant gratification. Lust for control, power and posession.

Every one of those is hard to resist. There is no great moral value in resisting things that are not hard to resist. Idealism may be extremist, but without ideals the scientists win and we are all beasts, driven entirely by brute passions, victims of ourselves. The truth is, you cannot escape idealism of some kind.

Idealism is just the pursuit of a grand ideal - it doesn't have to be right or wrong to be an ideal. In the words of Bob Dylan, "you've got to serve somebody". If you think you can coast down the razor's edge of life without throwing yourself (on faith) in with one group or another, you’re wrong. The un-allied person just becomes the pawn of whomever is stronger. Without idealism grounded in truth, idealism grounded in lies wins out. Hitler rules the world. Minorities and the weak get run over by the strong majority.

Chrissy: So what are you going to do?

Me: I don't know. Frick. Maybe preach it more boldly - live it more consistently.

Chrissy: how are you going to live it?

Me: Love more deeply. Consume less, pray more, give more. Evaluate my decisions more and act according to that evaluation, instead of ignoring it. Become a teacher and servant of the truth. Inspire others to do the same. Become more humble by killing myself (spiritually speaking) every single freaking day.

Chrissy: How have you done that today?

Me: I don’t know. I probably haven’t. I was going to get angry at Anya for something stupid and I chose not to. I shoveled poo. I determined to go back outside and do chores so I could come back in and paint a while before my friend from Peru gets here to visit. Then I got into this conversation, which was good, because it helped me to refine the ideas that have been toodling around in my brain and to express them to you - a person who cares to listen.

I still need to go, though, because I am getting hungry. If I get too hungry, it'll be hard to make myself go outside and do manual labor. I enjoy the work, don’t get me wrong. I there is great personal value in working with animals. It forces you to slow down to their more relaxed, less preoccupied pace.

But in closing, I should say that I have decided to either move to the city, which is a less destructive way to live than the suburbs, or the country, which is less destructive than both the city and the suburbs, and also more relaxed.

chrissy: I have always said that too. I would love to live in the country. The city would be good too. A shack on the beach would be the best. Suburbia seems to be a soul killer.

Me: Yeah. In the city there are more people so there's more evil, but there's a better chance of addressing it. Suburbs are filled with too many individual castles.

Chrissy: The city seems to bring more opportunities for real life interaction with real people.

After this whole conversation I have to say I agree with most of what you said except for your assertion that started it all. No . . . I am among those you call poor. I don't really care about lots of capital. Though it would be nice to not have to live at my parents, married no less, in order to get by trying to live the dreams I have in my head.

Me: The desire to live away from parents is a cultural phenomenon almost unique to North America. I honestly have a tough time understanding it.

Chrissy: No. . . not physically. . . economically.

Me: Ah. Yes. I understand that. It is important for a man to forge his own way. But I have to go. Seriously. Release me. I love you, my friend. Bye.

Chrissy: Let's continue this discussion at a later time.

Me: Ok. Bye.

Chrissy: Bye.

Me: Chao.

Chrissy: Chaos.