The first time I yelled “It’s capitalism!” this week was when I attended an anti-war rally hosted by Resist US Led Wars Seattle.
We began in the small, southern parking lot of The Museum of Flight, located next to the King County International Airport, otherwise known as Boeing Field. Over 50 people were there, young and old, representing The Seattle Anti-War Coalition, Veterans for Peace, Extinction Rebellion, the International League of People’s Struggle and others.
Two young people spoke that affected me greatly. They were both students at the University of Washington. Alisha, spoke of growing up loving Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. As she pointed to the planes in the background, an outdoor exhibit of the Museum of Flight, she said it was one of her favorite places to visit as a child. She believed in technology’s ability to make the world a better place.
Then she went to college. She learned that Boeing didn’t make most of it’s money from commercial aviation, but as a defense contractor, with it’s largest customer being the US Government. This was life-changing learning. She turned away from her original dream and set out on a new path of activism.
The other speaker, I didn’t catch her name, I had the presence of mind to record. Here are her words:
It was at this moment that I yelled out “It’s capitalism!” and I was not alone. “Capitalism” rang out among the listening crowd.
Do you want to know what Boeing’s carbon footprint is? Over one million tons a year.
In response to her question, “What is the root of climate change?” we knew the answer in 2023 — “It’s Capitalism!” It was the obvious answer to the protesters in the crowd.
The second time I yelled, “It’s capitalism!” was at the TV.
I was watching the third episode of Extrapolations, the Apple TV Plus show looking at some possible scenarios for the future of climate crisis and biodiversity loss. This episode was titled The 5th Question.
In the episode, the rabbi, Marshall has returned to Miami. It is 2047. The show focuses on sea level rise mitigation and ties in the Bat Mitzvah of Alana, the daughter of a wealthy power broker in Miami. During Passover dinner she adds a fifth question. Why is God doing this to us?
Alana is a conflicted, questioning teenager. Here are a few of her other questions:
In the middle of a fucking apocalypse does God really care about a Bat Mitzvah?
Do you think God is watching us?
Do you think the flooding is punishment for our bad behavior?
If God made humans in his image, why do they all suck? Or did we all evolve into sucking?
Her 5th question at the Passover seder is ‘Why is God doing this to us?’
This question gets asked several times in the episode and each time the adult answer is “Doing what?”
Will we really get to 2047 and be able to not acknowledge what is happening all around us? Rabbi Marshall becomes extremely annoying by this point. He keeps looking perplexed and taking pauses to think.
“It’s capitalism!” I’m yelling at the screen. (I infrequently yell at my TV screen).
The show’s theme is so focused on individual action, as though ‘curruption’ only applies to Alana’s father’s dirty deals and not the whole system that we’re living in. The show is doing exactly what the young scientist at the anti-war rally warned against. The show implies that ‘humans suck’ when that’s not the problem.
“It’s capitalism!”
When Alana’s Grandmother asks, “What is happening to our world?” I yell, “Capitalism!”
Marshall answers, “Sometimes faith means that we must move forward without an answer, armed only with the knowledge will come in time.” It’s 2047. How long will it take?
The Alana’s final question is “If God Loves us, why so much suffering? Why not intervene?”
Marshall’s answer is, “It’s up to us,” precisely the opposite of the climate activists answer. I hope by the real 2047, and not like in Extrapolations’ fictional story, we’ve figured out the answer, “It’s capitalism.”
Then we can work on the follow up questions like, “What are we going to do about it?”
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This post was previously published on An Injustice!.
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