By Selwyn Duke
Okay, you can lift your lower jaw off the floor. I haven’t joined the dark side: My problem isn’t economic but lexical. I do hate capitalism — the term.
As you know, in the eyes of many, “capitalism” has become both a four-letter word and the target of such. For example, New York Magazine questioned a group of Wall Street protesters on October 2 and found that 37 percent believed capitalism was “inherently immoral.” If you find this unremarkable for Woodstock-meets-Wall Street rabble, consider a 2009 Rasmussen poll showing that “only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.” Yes, our schools have done their job magnificently. Unfortunately, it’s a job that doesn’t exactly align with the interests of America.
Yet the problem isn’t entirely substance — it’s also style. Proving that there really is something in a word, another 2009 Rasmussen poll found that “just 35% of American voters believe that a free market economy is the same as a capitalist economy.” What this indicates is that if Americans were asked if a “free market’ were better than socialism, more than 53 percent would say yes. Clearly, “capitalism” needs a good marketing team and a rebranding.
Read the rest here.
Great research. I've often felt a little squeamish about the association I have with "capitalism" and opportunism or exploitation yet I have no trouble at all with the phrase "earning a living" which just seems like the moral and sensible thing to do or "democracy" which is all about freedom. I had no idea that the economic label had been generated by the opposition.
Posted by: lurker | October 22, 2011 at 01:19 AM
I'll give you another example of the abuse of a word and its true meaning. That word would be "free". How many advertisements offer a "free" subscription" or a "free" brochure, a "free" DVD or a "free" laptop? This is rubbish and frankly a perverse usage of a sacred term.
NOTHING is free. Not even freedom itself.
Posted by: Philip France | October 22, 2011 at 01:53 PM