‘Humans Of Capitalism’: 40 Pics That Look At Capitalism From A Sarcastic And Ironic Perspective (New Pics)
Things are feeling pretty darn dystopian right about now. Oh, capitalism has pretty much always seemed to have this edge of unfairness and greed to it, but these days, things are reaching nightmare levels of aaaaAAAA and No, God, Please, No! Inflation is rearing its ugly head and many workers feel like their wallets are getting thinner and thinner. Energy prices are up. The cost of rent is up. Food prices are rising faster than bread yeast. And the stock market is in a pretty confusing place. So, yeah, things are looking pretty grim. And with how everything is costing a bit extra, you (yes, you), have effectively taken a pay cut.
Angel, the founder and moderator of the ‘Humans of Capitalism’ Instagram page, documents the most egregious and dystopian examples of capitalism and corporatism, and shares them with their 351k-strong community of followers. We’ve collected some of their best posts, showing the worst side of the reality you’re currently living in, to share with you today, Pandas. Scroll down to lose your faith in humanity (though if you want it back again later, take a peek at our super wholesome post full of animals and awesome people).
If you enjoyed this list and would like to see some more apocalyptic, soul-draining economic stuff, feel free to check out Bored Panda’s previous feature of the ‘Humans of Capitalism’ project in this article right here.
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Yup. And stop saying "expat" for Europeans or Americans who go live in another country, especially poorer countries. Just say "immigrant"
While the story has a sliver of truth (Reflective paint was tested on reindeer in Finland in 2014, the test failed along with similar others) the photo is fake and is part of a series by a visual designer and digital artist https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-glowingantlers-finland-idUSL1N2OP2K9
During an earlier in-depth interview, Angel, the founder of ‘Humans of Capitalism,’ opened up about their project and shared their thoughts about economics with Bored Panda.
"I was inspired by a lot of things, like the absurdism of the current capitalistic system and its flaws, the injustice that 99% of the people experience every day while they are at work, shopping, and home," they told us about what made them create the Instagram page in the first place.
The "myself" looks greyed out (i.e. it would not do anything if clicked). Presumably it's a standard "form" but that option has been disabled for when requesting death certificates.
According to Angel, consumers are bombarded, non-stop, with information to build up their consumerist spirit so they can keep capitalism alive."A not-so-famous movie from the late '80s, 'They Live' (1988), explains this concept perfectly. I believe everyone should watch it if they want to combat the urge of consumerism and mind control," they told us.
In their opinion, “human greed cannot be measured,” which leads capitalism to evolve into corporatism.
My workplace has a few child-friendly office rooms for short term situations when parents have no childcare available. It's actually a good thing, as the alternative would be unpaid leave for the parent. So this picture might simply be something similar.
"We often see many small businesses collapsing because they are not able to fight with the current trend or to combat with the giant competitors. So they have two options, close the business or sell it," Angel pointed out that small businesses have to constantly compete with well-established, powerful companies.
"We have many companies that have been bought by enormous giants that I do not want to mention and they won't stop there, they are trying to get their hands on any business category. Is there a solution for it? I believe that there can be some solutions, but capitalists will work and find a way to bypass those solutions and continue with the destruction of the system while being totally ignorant about it.”
In their opinion, all systems, whether we’re talking about capitalism or socialism, can eventually become corrupt. This happens when ‘bad’ behavior isn’t punished.
"If we go back in time where socialism or communism were at their prime, we can see that the top of the head of the system was corrupted and that resulted with the fall of the system," they pointed out that corruption was endemic in these cases.
According to Angel, humanity as a whole may be moving toward a “utopia” of "automated communism where machines will produce, deliver, and take care of food supply, clothing, health." Though that still leaves the question as to who will control the distribution system and how it operates. That’s where the power is. What’s more, some people will end up losing their jobs as they become replaced by machines.
"The idea of getting free food, water, health, clothing, is nice and, in reality, if we take a closer look at the current system we can see that more people are let off and replaced by machines. For example, we can see that McDonald's workers are fired and they have been replaced with machines that work on touch or by sound and they take orders, forward orders to the employees, etc."
The founder of ‘Humans of Capitalism’ told Bored Panda that, eventually, more and more people will lose their jobs due to automatization with barely any need for human input. That way, businesses will be able to maximize their profits and reduce employee costs.
How does dancing like a moron for the amusement of idiots help the war effort?
"I believe that 50 years from now machines will provide food, clothing, healthcare services, and much more, by themselves, with little to no employees monitoring them. But there is an issue with that. You will leave millions of people jobless and cause huge riots as the famous quote from Jean-Jacques Rousseau goes: 'When the people shall have no more to eat, they will eat the rich.'"
You know, when we envisioned living in a cyberpunk dystopia, we thought we'd have a lot more neon and cool body modifications. Alas!
Tell us how you're dealing with all the recent financial pressure, dear Pandas. Are you worried about the future or are you hopeful? How do you stay optimistic during hard times? What would you change about the way the world runs if you could do anything? We'd love to hear your thoughts.
Near me on the last shopping weekend before Christmas 2020, at the entrance to a major supermarket, blocking the entrance for everyone, the idiots in charge thought having the town brass band play was a good idea. The number of covid cases that Christmas was huge and we went back into lockdown.
Tbh, this looks like an event in an elephant house, not as something 'normal'. Would you all moan if that child had cancer and this was his big wish, eating with elephants? Not enough context, is what I'm saying. and yes, it would be better if we didn't have to keep animals in zoos. But as long as too many need their ivory sword handle, fur coat and effin rhino horn to make up for their mini d***s, it's a necessary evil.
Yes - I would moan. There is no excuse for caging animals and hypothetical a sceanrio doesn't change that
Load More Replies...This is probably a way to raise funds for the zoo. I know people get upset about zoos, but a zoo in this day and age is not just for entertainment. They exist now for education and species survival and are closely monitored. A zoo can lose it's access to animals if they don't meet the required guidelines.
This may not be as cruel as your initial gut reaction tells you it is. At the Elephant Nature Park sanctuary in Thailand for example, the elephants are free to roam as they please, but at night are put into large pens to keep them from escaping. The money that comes in from tourists helps fund the sanctuary to rescue elephants from logging enterprises
All that steel and concrete... no grass, no trees, no natural light... :.(
Illustrates that humans will never evolve past their selfish desire for bread and circuses.
What an odd scenario. I like elephants but I don’t know if I’d book an encounter to just look at them while I eat a distance away? You can do that at the zoo if you bring a snack.
Imagine a restaurant for elephants where the exhibits are you and your kids behind the bars... I really am hoping planet of the apes comes true where humans are the exploited animals.
So wrong. Damn these people. I hope that kid turns out better than they're parents.
I HAD A BUDDY WHOM DROVE A CARRIGE IN DOWNTOWN GRAND RAPIDS, MI. THE CARRIAGE AND HORSE WAS STABLED AT THE JOHN BALL ZOO. I WOULD HELP HIM OUT AT NIGHTS TO TAKE IT BACK TO THE ZOO. NOTHING LIKE WALKING NEXT TO A TIGER IN IT'S CAGE AS IT STALKED YOU.
Not sure how this shows 'most egregious and dystopian examples of capitalism and corporatism'?
That's a fake campaign from a fake crowdsourcing site called JumpKick. It's a satirical website cofounded, written and edited by Peter Clark-Deutsch (@PeterClarkJokes). The character in the photo is called in the description "Pinkie_RoseNymph", an handle that does not exist on twitch. https://jumpkick.net/i-accidentally-mentioned-that-i-have-a-boyfriend-and-lost-half-my-twitch-subscribers/
This is very common in Europe. Selling temporary ad space on scaffolding is a way of effectively financing restorations or major works on monuments and historic building. The advertising needs to be approved by the city or local cultural heritage agency, is temporary and brings in enough money to allow works that could not have been otherwise possible without serious strain to the city or superintendence coffers. By selling ad space on an already financed intervention it is often possible to pay for the renovation of a lesser monument for which financing would have been hard.
Not sure what the problem is? A lot of places have customer only toilets, if you ask nicely the staff will generally shrug and say "sure, go ahead"
I’m pretty sure it’s without more than just palm oil (as it says in the lower part of the package).
It says “ceramic slaves” in [Brazilian] Portuguese. Maybe the display is from some sort of memorial or museum of a Quilombo (hinterland settlement from the colonial period founded by escaped slaves). Or else it might be from a store that sells items related to Afro-Brazilian religions.
Hey man, nothing wrong with watching the Mandalorian in church. Even God can't hate baby Yoda.
As someone who travels alone, this makes sense! A selfie with the train as it goes around a corner, why not?
At least half of these are not "dystopian" they're mainly clickbait headlines designed to elicit a response from people who think everything to do with the modern world is bad.
This is a clickbait site with copied content. What were you expecting.
Load More Replies...It's like a failed attempt to attack the Great Capitalism. But most of the pictures just depicts human behavior.
@Novel Idesa : Why old ? Already the title has nothing to do with the content, let's not add a supposed generation conflict based on prejudice.
Load More Replies...It's kind of sad we just joke about the nightmare millions of us are experiencing. Not taking it seriously is what these rich folks want. Denial and mocking the horrible things that are happening is just sad. But I guess since we can't change it or fix it we laugh to keep ourselves from crying.
At least half of these are not "dystopian" they're mainly clickbait headlines designed to elicit a response from people who think everything to do with the modern world is bad.
This is a clickbait site with copied content. What were you expecting.
Load More Replies...It's like a failed attempt to attack the Great Capitalism. But most of the pictures just depicts human behavior.
@Novel Idesa : Why old ? Already the title has nothing to do with the content, let's not add a supposed generation conflict based on prejudice.
Load More Replies...It's kind of sad we just joke about the nightmare millions of us are experiencing. Not taking it seriously is what these rich folks want. Denial and mocking the horrible things that are happening is just sad. But I guess since we can't change it or fix it we laugh to keep ourselves from crying.