All of the above in consideration, it might be easy to conclude that capitalism, itself, is antithetical to altruism and benevolent regard for life as its economic program is based on buying low (i.e., raw products, human labor, etc.) and selling high to get ahead FOR ONESELF. As such, there is no mutual regard or tender support for others as this way to go forward is, essentially, carried out by progressively taking greater advantage of others, including other species that are used to make products. At the same time, these predatory conditions are especially evident in countries, like the US, governed by plutocratic corpocracies.
 
One needn't even look at cities, like New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina or Detroit in relation to GM plant closings, to see the damage done by such malevolent business and government structures. Any public school in a ghetto, a crowded homeless shelter, hoards of street people in every major urban environment (80,000 in LA alone of whom ~ 1/2 are mentally ill), overwrought food banks strung out across the land, the rate of home foreclosures, the depreciation of the country's currency and myriad other indicators can amply serve in and by themselves as proof.
 
So what are we to do in the face of such daunting circumstances? Is the best way to proceed in such a  rapacious backdrop to simply claw one's own way to the top of the economic ladder, scratch out the competition and forget about everyone else left behind? Should we just shrug our shoulders and passively go along with the damaging industrial and governmental plans that are in place because that is all that we know? Certainly not!
 
In terms of the way to proceed given the conditions that we have in our societies and our personal lives in connection to the social order, I often go back to a comment that E. O. Wilson made to me when I asked him, around fifteen years ago, about the most important action that we could undertake to stymie environmental collapse. His reply was simple. It was that we must educate as many others as possible to the truths regarding the happenings. This, in his opinion at the time, would ultimately provide the best assurance of improvements across the board. In addition, his viewpoint would seem to apply to other areas of concern besides environmental ones.

At the same time, I realize that I, individually and in group efforts, must always resist corrupt authority and any wrongful control (i.e., arising from my dependence on repugnant transnational corporations like Exxon, Monsanto, Bayer and so many others) as best as possible. Yes, many of us are cogs in the wheel (a reference to Mordechai Vanunu’s “I’M YOUR SPY” at vanunu.org) as we are well integrated into and play a role in destructive systems on which we are reliant for our livelihoods, life maintaining goods and services, etc. So, we keep the status quo (including their affiliated big corporations and political arrangements) as is on an ongoing basis.

However, we can, as Peter Goodchild writes in his essays and many others suggest, get out of it all as much as possible, wean ourselves from some damaging behaviors and develop better methods of self-sufficiency. In other words, we can minimize our involvement with whatever it is that we abhor. We can also always make a point to deliberately stand up for whatever is right when given a reasonable opportunity to do so. There are plenty of ways available through volunteer activities, letter writing campaigns and other forms of protest.

Nonetheless, I realize that I. F. Stone’s comment (located below) is probably dead-on correct for a wide array of goals that many people would want to support towards creating a constructive future. Yet, in the end, it all boils down to a matter of conscience. As such, one has to do whatever one does simply because it does seem right and because there is no better alternative even when the outcomes AREN’T likely to be the sorts that one would ideally wish to have transpire. Then again, getting overly concerned about results in endeavors can take one’s attention away from any hard struggle towards betterment, itself. So, one deliberately has to maintain focus on the beneficial action, whatever it comprises, regardless of any other factors.

So, yes, we’re “stuck” in some ways because we need oil, drugs, food (of which the majority is GM), clothing (often made by poorly paid laborers), etc. This being the case, though, does not excuse us one iota, I would think, from doing whatever we can, even if small and seemingly inconsequential, to improve the way that we go about our lives.

Even if imperfect at it, we owe it to ourselves and each other to strive to create a better world as best as we can given our underlying circumstances. Then, who knows? Maybe at a certain point, we can, as Stone implies, reach a point in the far ahead times where some benefit has accrued on account of our seminal action. Maybe we can be one of the snowflakes that provides the weight to reach that final tipping point: The NAA Voice, www.naaweb.org/TheNAAVoice/TheNAAVoice121406.htm.

“The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing - for the sheer fun and joy of it - to go right ahead and fight, knowing you’re going to lose. You mustn’t feel like a martyr. You’ve got to enjoy it.” -I. F. Stone 

=========

[1] For details, please refer to: Donner Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party).
[2] To learn more about this incident, please see: Kitty (www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=132928), Bystander effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect), Kitty Genovese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese), Thirty-Eight Saw Murder 
(www.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/scraig/ gansberg.h) and A Picture History of Kew Gardens, NY - Kitty Genovese - The ... (www.oldkewgardens.com/ss-nytimes-3.html).
[3] An overview of this topic is supplied at: The Real Picture of Land-Use Density and Crime: A GIS Applic... (http://gis.esri.com/library/userconf/proc00/professional/papers/PAP508/p508.htm).
[4] A description of John Calhoun's findings, along with their implications, is located at: Universe 25  (www.suite101.com/article.cfm/frontier_theory/100).
[5] Data on wealth can be found at: FOXNews.com - Number of Billionaires Up to Record 793 - Busi... (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187400,00.html), Number of billionaires grows, Gates stays on top - Mar. 9, 2... (http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/09/news/newsmakers/billionaires_forbes/index.htm),
Billionaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billionaire), Number of Billionaires (http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/MichelleLee.shtml) and Number of Millionaires in the World Swells to 8.7 Million | ... (mostlywater.org/node/7492).
[6] Related information can be found at: Thomas Paine's Corner: American Dream Now a Nightmare for Mi... (www.civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2007/04/american-d) and Some Statistics on Poverty in America (www.soundvision.com/Info/poor/statistics.asp).

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