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Food is literally free
(lemmy.ml)
because you are alienated from the fruits of your labor.
Sometimes I think Marx was just the first "conspiracy theory loving podcast bro" but he didn't have any of the material to distract him. He also was very privileged and did not have to spend his entire life delivering Taco Bell for Uber Eats. But for some reason he still had that same fundamental need to find an explanation for what we all feel so strongly today. It's punching us in the face.
Like, Marx gets a lot of credit because he and Engels wrote the best criticisms that have stood the test of time. But, if you lived in that time, most writings were about class conflict in some form. Hell, the "father of capitalism" (Adam Smith) was even extremely critical of obvious contradictions and was very critical of landlords.
As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce.
The last century has been mostly about trying to scare the working class into submission. Pointing to "failures" of socialism as if they existed in a bubble; and not the reality of every necessary resource of the capitalist class going to fighting it.
This is primarily done in developing nations. The US ensures it installs dictators or makes the conditions of the countries impossible through embargos (Cuba/DPRK). But in the US it's mostly controlled by distractions. The conspiracy theories, toys, drugs, etc.
But the imperial core control is failing. And, my hope, is even if we don't see progress in the west. That the internal chaos we experience will finally allow the nations the west oppresses to break free.
The alienation we feel needs to be understood in this context. We hate our jobs because they serve no other purpose but to allow us to afford the available distractions we are allowed. Distractions that are becoming less and less meaningful as our material conditions decline and we become more connected to all workers of the world.
Because money robs the intrinsic joys of life.
Lots of research proves it. Here's just one example https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/intrinsic-joy-sparks-ideas-better-than-cash
Also, money is literally power and no one handles power well. It corrupts and the more money the more it ruins people. It really is the root of all that's bad.
Power doesn't corrupt, capitalism systemically selects for those most willing to act in corrupt means in order to profit more. You have it flipped.
Definitely an interesting take, and one that I might kinda believe!
I do think that concentrated power is still part of the problem, that problem is just exacerbated by the psycho-selection-filter of capitalism.
Democratization can only really happen within the framework of socialism, where collectivized production and distribution is being worked towards. This necessitates distributed responsibilities, but also doesn't conflict with having administration, nor an inherent "corruption of power" at the top. Capitalism selects for it, socialism does not.
I'd extend the thought a bit farther. Poorly designed roadways create bad drivers. Growing up in a household with violence increases the likelihood of that child perpetuating violence when they get older. Selectively bred animals aren't the way they are because of their ideas or some innate feature, they're the way they are because the system in which they exist creates them that way. The environment or system (large or small) has a major impact on the path individuals take.
If concentrated power and corruption is rarely punished and always rewarded, it is a symptom of the system at-large.
If creating cheap products which pollutes the environment makes a company 2 Billion, gets that company fined only 250 Million, essentially it makes it such that continuing polluting is just the cost of doing business. The system is creating the pollution. This specific system also has the side effect of limiting the competitiveness since a small business owner won't initially make 2 Billion and cannot eat the cost of a 250 Million fine. All it does is consolidate power and control towards massive corporations that are supported by the government (since the government removes competition through fines, tariffs, or violence).
Power has corrupted long, long before capitalism. Power and corruption are ancient beings.
No, they aren't metaphysical eldtritch gods infecting humans. Corruption existed prior, yes, in systems also designed to protect rule by a small class of people, like feudalism.
Power is like a cursed trinket from fantasy literature/games, where upon picking it up it slowly increases "corruption".
Good luck convincing others of this take. People really truly believe in some sort of supernatural 'can never possibly resist' corruptive force when it comes to power. As if the idea of a human that has power and isn't corrupted is so much more impossible than all the other fantasy bullshit we've dreamed up. Hell they even had to make Superman an alien just to get people to accept the idea of a good powerful person.
Ultimately, the answer lies in taking a materialist approach to analysis, rather than an idealist stance. Cutting through the supernatural and relying on the material as our frame of reference helps us demystify subjects like "power corrupting."
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Also, money is literally power and no one handles power well. It corrupts and the more money the more it ruins people. It really is the root of all that's bad.
Anarchist spotted. ❤️🖤
that is toil versus work.
work is what you want to do; toil is what you do for someone else
I guess we could go back to a hunter gatherer lifestyle tomorrow. There would certainly be a lot of complaining, not the least of which would be about the food options. Long pig would be on the table for the first year or so
Big "Yet you participate in society" vibes on this one.
Tell me: How does agriculture require private property?
The top comment in the posted image is just stupid, food takes work, like a lot of work. Whether the land is private/public/something else, it takes a lot of work to maintain a steady supply of food.
Yes, food takes a lot of work. But we're a lot of people with very advanced technology. If we got rid of a few bullshit and counter-productive jobs, the work each and everyone of us would have to do would vanish in comparison to today's hustle culture.
I think the problem with your messaging here is because it focuses more on the fact that we could restructure society to meet people's needs rather than profits, but your post doesn't really describe how we get from here to there. Obviously agitprop is short and oversimplified, but some subjects work better with added context.
I wasn’t making an argument for any particular economic system. Just pointing out the absurdity of the idea that food is “free” or doesn’t require work to produce.
I’m for an equitable distribution of resources and drudgery. Unfortunately, drudgery is an unavoidable aspect of civilization, but I think we can all agree that civilization is (or should be) a net positive. We just need to spread it out evenly.
A lot of food actually is free. The commons supported a lot of people in the middle ages with nuts, berries and orchards.
The point was that private property is what creates the drudge.
If it requires labour, it's not free.
The commons supported a lot of people in the middle ages with nuts, berries and orchards.
My dude, have you ever tried to grow food in a garden, or forage enough for a meal? It's extremely hard work. You could argue that those who work the land deserve to own the means of their produce, but you can't claim food is free.
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You can have agriculture without private property, sure. You CAN'T have food without work. Or devices for shitposting without work. No housing without work.
Work, and needing to work to survive, is not unnatural, hoarding the results is.
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If only someone had a theory that explains that alienation 🤔
May I introduce you to the works of Kras Mazov?
I'm a level 3 infra-materialist. I power the entire neighborhood just by thinking about mutual aid.
Hardcore!
Sustainable population of hunter-gatherers for this planet is just a few millions.
No one is asking for complete transition to hunting and gathering.
As soon as you add agriculture you'll get land ownership and conflict. Food stops being free, if you take it, you'll get killed.
As soon as you add agriculture you'll get land ownership
That's not true. Land can be held in the commons.
Sure, but even if the land is held by the commons someone has to do the actual farming, someone has to bring that food to you , someone has to build the road and the truck that makes this even possible, someone needs to feed you with a spoon because you don't want to work.
Congratulations in this scenario lots of people need to work, except for you.
I think there's a mismatch of definitions here: The original post probably means "wage labour" when they wrote "work". It's in the second paragraph.
This assumes unversal jurisdictions. This is not what happenes when hunter-gatherers and even nomadic pastoralists attempt to use the agricultural land, which can be in the commons, according to the local agricultural society. Problem is, the others don't see it that way.
This is for the sake of argument. In practice, all animals are territorial, and chimpansee societies go to war with each other over territory. So you will get hunter-gatherers attacking other tribes, for access to prime territory.
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Only if society allows private ownership of the means of production. Collective ownership is a thing.
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I remember reading in a game design book how they had a real hard time saying why "play" was different from "work," since you're often performing the same behaviours and chasing similar short term goals.
Joy is the theft of productivity - Corrupt Corporate Cunts
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this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2025
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Antiwork
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