The fact that more people are now familiar with the term “debt ceiling” than “capitalism” is indicative of the level of ignorance or indifference. Capitalism is not the “free market” — we have a not-so-invisible hand giving million dollar salaries, billion dollar subsidies, and trillion dollar bailouts to people that don’t deserve to be called human beings.

Capitalism is paper controlling labor. Paper in the form of $,  ¥, €, ? or debt in the form of a mortgage, car note, credit card debt, or student debt.

Because you weren’t born into this world with capital, you have to labor in a cubicle for someone like Paris Hilton who came into this world with a lot of paper. Just because they have wealth, doesn’t mean they are intelligent, capable, or important.

The way we treat animal life extends into the way we treat human life. Farm animals are treated simply as a commodity, something in which the business invests to get a financial output. Capitalism is about animalizing people; looking at the poor, illiterate, and uneducated masses as cheap labor. To view life as a financial investment and ignoring the intrinsic value of life is inhumane.

I believe that California State University Northridge is going to lead a revitalization of the Dissenting Academy.
When the Campus Radical is capable of having a civil debate based on factual evidence, the level of political thought and social dialogue will be raised.

Ankur Patel (M.S. Interdisciplinary 2012)