The Failure pt. 2
So, how do they connect?
Jakarta has a chaotic urban development, everybody knows that. Tiny roads, neglected size of pedestrian, dizzying scatters of commercial, traffic lights, electrical cables and traffic signs placed between seemingly unorganized rows of buildings, all pointed to the chaos of Jakarta. When you see this picture of Jakarta from the skyline, you’ll really get a clear view of how messy this is.
Now, how and when do these problems show up? Management of the city could be the number one answer, however something even bigger is looming in the horizon: capitalism. Why do people wanted to build buildings? to offer a multistorey place right? why? for efficiency.. why efficient? so that business owners who don’t have land capital don’t have to go buying lands when they want to open up business. Commercials..why do they appear? simple, because they are a medium or messenger of a message of a producer to its consumer. The reason we are seeing those commercial is because WE are the consumers. We are their target. Why are we made target? because we have the ability to buy the producer’s product. We give them income. Now traffic signs..when do they show up? they show up just when people get a bit out of hand to manage. Why a bit out of hand? Jakarta is the most condensed place in the world and its citizen needs badly traffic management. Why condensed? Since 60% of our country’s capital flow in The Capital, all sorts of capital and luxury lives here, this make people come. Why does people come for capital? because that’s how capitalism works: personal profit can be acquired from investment of capital and employment of labor - that is you need to invest capital in order to make personal profit, and later re-invest this profit into capital and make new profit, and so on.. Now finally, why do all these things show up in Jakarta in such a mess that if you really think of it, it really looks like a jungle? Answer: capitalism, especially free market capitalism.
to be continued..
August 12th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
let’s take this statement to become our consideration….
“Convenience is what deliver us to our achievement”.
Since people eager to have their convenience they work and invent!
Jakarta and it’s starbucks and bakul kopi, blitz megaplex, Capitalism has brought us conveniency!
If the things are not work as convenience as expected then I believe there are some function which not do their part effective and efficient!
anyway…., we still have what they called social-responsibility, right! to ballance what has been taken by capitalism!
August 13th, 2007 at 5:27 am
yes, yes, that’s quite true. capitalism indeed so far has been superb in unleashing creativity in human kind which creates the convenient world we live in today. that’s right, capitalism deserves every credit for it. BUT, unendless thirst and consumptivity that appear from capitalism…what has those brought to our world? destruction of nature.. this is a sign of a wrongly action. The world has been a cool and green place for millian years, now in 2000 years the world has gain extremely hot..? this is so wrong!…
when people are expected to suck as much capital as they can, and Profit and Wealth is measured as success (as they do in capitalism), then this is an economy based on lust. Lust is never good in the eyes of god, most religion confirmed it. So, for starter, as the payback for lust, human will face the first global disaster: global warming..
In short, i am saying that capitalism is a concept that is based on fulfiling lust of achieving high financial ability to achieve the so called “prosperity” which is a western based term for rich. Unfortunately those of well versed in religion know very well that money can’t buy happiness, it could buy everything else though, but not necessarily happiness..! In the end, as long as this economy is based on lust, we reaching a fall..