burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

Country is like The Grapes of Wrath*. Though the end reminded me of Erin Brockovich. It was definitely a better movie than i had expected. I cried a little bit at times.

At the beginning of the movie i was thinking about how much it reminded me of The Grapes of Wrath and how stories like that are painful for me on some indefinable level. So then i was thinking (yes, while watching the movie) about why that is. I think part of it is a prejudice, the idea that farming is their life and they don’t know how to do anything else, whereas if a (sub)urban loses his/her job, s/he has plenty of skills to help obtain a new job. Yes, i know this is flawed logic. My second thought was that they’re so very much about common people getting screwed by the “System,” which is very painful for someone who cares about people.

We were talking about the spirit of capitalism in Soc class on Thursday. About piece work and wage labor and so on. About how the spirit of capitalism is to make as much money as possible, for the purpose of making as much money as possible (as opposed to, say, for the purpose of making enough money to never have to work again, or making enough money to support all the charities of your choice). About maximizing profit at the expense of human beings (your competition, your workers, etc.). As we discussed i realized why so many political zinesters are all “capitalism is evil.” It is. See, i’ve always had this idea in my mind that capitalism is ideally providing goods and services that people want, and you want to make the best products/services you can because if you don’t someone else will. But then all these other factors come in. Creating a demand. Cutting corners to maximize profits. Makes me want to cry. (This seems to be a recurring theme with me these past couple days, huh?) But yeah, i hate human nature sometimes. (And it’s also a weird concept to wrap my mind around because it goes so entirely against my nature -- which yes i know is really a combination of nature and upbringing and all -- to hurt other people.)

Yeah, that’s all i’m up for right now. And i’m sure there are plenty of people who know much more about this than me and can be way more articulate about it.



*An interesting aside. GrapesOfWrath.com is a catering service, and GrapesOfWrath.net is a rock and roll band.