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Damning Proof That Capitalist Innovation is a Myth


Capitalism does not reward innovation anymore than any other system

If you were a caveman millions of years ago and you invented the spear, your innovation would be rewarded with increased survivability. This, in turn, would lead to many of the same are purportedly unique to a capitalist society

Tell Tesla or the McDonald's brothers that capitalism rewards innovation. Capitalism rewards greed. Greed exploits innovation just like it exploits anything good, such as natural resources. In order to fuel this exploitative impulse, capitalists must constantly seek out and mine innovative ideas, just like they constantly seek out and mine natural resources

If a capitalist extracts all of the oil from the planet, does that mean that he "created" a whole bunch of new material wealth? Nope, that oil was always down there, ready to be extracted as needed. Capitalism, on its own, makes no differentiation between greedful desire and actual "need". If exploitation is in one's best interest then this is equivalent to "need" in a capitalist sense

While capitalism may result in material abundance, this abundance comes at the cost of extreme wastefulness. Only, this cost is rarely paid by those closest to the source of the waste-creating process. Movie studios, their executives, the shareholders, and other members of the industry, mostly benefit from the oversaturation of films. Instead, the cost is paid by the society and the culture which enables them. Art which is treated as a product/commodity devalues art itself. The time (opportunity cost) which audiences spend watching escapist "junk food" shaves hours from their lives that they could have spent doing self-actualizing activities. The "noise", the attention paid to and discussion of bad art in the media and among fellows in our communities, crowds out more meaningful and edifying subjects

Most movies that do exist "should" not exist. Historically, works of art were created for a number of reasons: a form of self-expression, a desire to communicate abstract ideas, to reinforce communal values and norms, and yes, sometimes only to entertain. The genuine, spontaneous desire to entertain is not a frivolous or a bad thing, but movie studios to not desire to entertain, to express, or to communicate. They merely wish to profit, same as any other corporate entity. It just so happens that the means that they use to acquire profits happens to be via "art" (if you can call it that). Individuals who work for these companies may possess the desire to use art for actual meaningful purposes, but this is merely incidental. There is nothing inherent about the industry which requires its members to desire to create art, merely that they do so like clockwork. If they happen to get fulfillment from it, that's fine. If they don't, that's equally as fine

Anyway, yeah, The Emoji Movie proves my point

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