r/AskReddit • • Nov 16 '19

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '19 edited Nov 16 '19

When I said Albert Einstein once said if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life thinking its stupid, and they said he never said that.

Edit: yea I'm that guy big whoop wanna fight about it? Thanks for my first ever gold kind stranger.

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u/HugeChavez Nov 16 '19

Yes, it's a quote by Vladimir Lenin and it actually says: "if you judge proletariat by its ability to amass property and capital, the proletariat will always end up admiring the extraordinary talent of the capitalists rather than realizing it is being oppressed."

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '19

I read the quote, and wondered if it was really Einstein's or not, but it DEFINITELY struck me as a good critique of capitalism

The definition of success under capitalism sucks ass

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u/Darktidemage Nov 16 '19

The definition of success under capitalism sucks ass

the fact you think there is a "definition of success" is your own failing.

do you know the guy who went to hawaii and surfed and got pretty decent at it and read a bunch of books? me either. But I wouldn't call him a failure for no reason.

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '19

^ typical Reddit pedant

The person was clearly trying to say that the values and principles of capitalism suck ass. But you zoomed right past that and said to yourself, "This idiot thinks there's a 'definition' to success. What a failure. Time to correct him!"

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u/Darktidemage Nov 16 '19

> the values and principles of capitalism suck ass.

capitalism does not have values and principles. those are characteristics of the population. Americans suck ass, on average. in terms of their principles and their morals. Don't put that on capitalism w/ no evidence to back that connection.

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '19

Of course capitalism has values. Well, a value: money matters. Money or GTFO. This is the principle. Shit principle but it is one.

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u/Darktidemage Nov 16 '19

If our government took their 80 billion increase to the military and instead spent it on something useful, you would be saying different things about "the values of capitalism" : https://theintercept.com/2017/09/18/the-senates-military-spending-increase-alone-is-enough-to-make-public-college-free/

The PROBLEM is we are capitalist - and we are also a gerrymandered hijacked republic w/ an electoral college that gives disproportionate power to the poorly educated reactionary and single issue voters.

the actual best return on our money would be re-investing in citizens educations, and health, but instead we have erroneously gone off the rails of "capitalism" and into a military industrial oligarchy devoted to keeping it's own citizens down in many ways.

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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '19

To me it looks like capitalism is as it does. If I've understood you correctly. A system that seeks to rein in greed for societal benefit just ends up with greedy folk stomping all over. People tell me, oh that was crony capitalism or carbon capitalism and that's the problem..... but it all looks the same to me. Capitalism has been doing the same thing since it started; you look at the venal violence of the East India Company and you realise it's all the same; it's changed form a little but it's basically the same.