Dear Friends,
It seems to me that irrational hatred is not susceptible to rational argument. No matter the elegance of the argument, the eloquence of the hyperbole nor the heights of logic, irrational hatred will never be dissuaded by it. This holds true no matter what is the source of the hatred. Hatred is an emotional feeling, irrational hatred even more so, and so we see why the anti capitalist is so difficult to appeal to. They hold the market system in absolute disdain. This is reason enough, for us to take a long hard look at irrational hatred of the market system, but when we couple the intractability of the anti capitalist’s irrational hatred with the ultimate consequences of it, we see that this emotional madness will inevitably lower the lot of Mankind, perhaps for a thousand years.
That irrational hatred is not susceptible to rational argument is not such a leap to make. Emotions are never susceptible to rational examination. They are, however, usually rationalized by the hater. He or she hates the capitalists system for a myriad of imagined failures, all of them when examined in the light of logic… are irrational. Furthermore, to use logical arguments to pick apart the rationalizations the anti capitalist uses will only further infuriate them, by removing the taffeta limitations on their hatred, allowing their full emotional loathing to be expressed maybe violently, as we saw in the Wall Street protest movement.
The very fact that anti capitalists have a hatred for the market system is irrational. Without a thought to the irony, they will set in a fast food restaurant, tapping away at a free smart phone, eating food that was prepared for them at a moment’s notice, for a historically low price, using the free Wi-Fi that is provided for their convenience, and rail about the unfairness of it all. They might not even have ever worked a day in their lives, but they are incensed at the unfairness of even the potential of having to work, to provide for themselves let alone others! They are immune to historical arguments about the wealth that the poor have, they cannot fathom how the socialist system has starved to death millions of people in the twentieth century, and they are blind to the vast economic gulf between the elite and the masses in a socialist system. Their only consideration is their undying hatred of the capitalist system.
Since this is unquestionably the case, the only way to argue effectively, showing them that capitalism is in their own best interest, is by emotional arguments. If we want to reach the very few anti capitalists who can be swayed, the only means at our disposal must be emotional. The gap between the rich and the poor in a capitalists nation must be met with outrage at the gap between the elite and the masses in a socialist country. Their railing at the unfairness of having to work must be met with sympathy that the people in socialist countries have to work longer harder and for less pay. Even their lamentations that capitalism is the source of all that is wrong with the World can be extinguished with the horror of Stalin’s purges, Mao’s famines, Hitler’s genocides and Pol Pot’s mass murders. As it turns out, the fall of the Soviet Union as an example of socialism at work, was a great tragedy. The only argument that holds water to the anti capitalist is an emotional one.
The market system has lifted more people from poverty than any other that has ever existed in human history. That is simply the truth. But the victories of capitalism are it’s greatest enemies. The market rationalizes men’s minds with questions about the cost benefit of everything. This mindset, that is the bread and butter of capitalism, bleeds over into all walks of life. The same reason capitalism won out against the feudal system undermines the market as well. People ask themselves, “If capitalism has raised so many so high, there must be another system that will do it universally with less effort.” They delude themselves with imaginings of universal prosperity and brotherly love, but to reach for such things with irrational hatred in one’s heart, is like expecting to breathe underwater. The result always falls short of the expectation.
So we see that it is impossible to convince an anti capitalist that the market system, with all it’s flaws, is still the best system to raise the lot of Man. The very act of hating the market system is irrational, and irrational hatred is emotionally based. It is usually rationalized, like a murderer rationalizes his actions, but if that thin veneer is removed, the hatred becomes unhitched from all reality and is expressed without limit. Therefore, the only means at our disposal to help the anti capitalist to see the rightness of the market, is with emotional arguments, not logical ones. To save our children and grand children from tyranny, slavery and poverty, we must fight against the very mindset that capitalism brings to the table. If we fail, then we have let slip through our fingers the manna of prosperity, and exchanged it for the poison of irrational hatred.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
