After the end of the last world war, the western world began a period of prosperity that was unequalled in human history. Standards of living skyrocketed in both North America and Europe. A new age was unleashed: the age of consumerism. As I was growing up it seemed like one big party that would never end. While the party is still going on, it has dwindled to a few: the privileged class.
In the seventies, a sense of unease started to settle into working class families: they were working harder but bringing in less. The trend has continued unabated and the sense of unease has turned into one of despair for many: inequality is now the elephant in the room!
The following dialogue is between two chimpanzees named Abu and Mabu: I use A and M to distinguish the speaker.
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M: Before leaving the forest, humans had the same egalitarian society we enjoy. We share everything, everyone is treated equally and no one has special privileges.
A: That's because we're intelligent beings!
M: Our human cousins are also intelligent, but they have progressed to a very inegalitarian stage. Those at the top of human society make the rules to favour themselves, so they can take advantage of everyone else.
A: How intelligent can they be? And they call that progress?
M: I don't understand them. All they seem to do is work and consume: they're simply consuming machines! If the rich take advantage of them, then they deserve it. Their avarice for consumption hurts them and enriches the wealthy.
A: Unfortunately, it's hurting even us, and all we take from Mother Earth is enough food to survive: nothing else!
M: You're right, Abu, but some of the disadvantaged humans don't even get one square meal a day and live lonely and miserable lives out in the cold, without friends or family. Some of them even die during cold winters and their bodies are found frozen like ice blocks.
A: So, you don't really mean what you just said about them getting what they deserve.
M: I wasn't talking about the destitute; I'm talking about the masses that empower the rich. I'm talking about the so-called intelligent masses who empower the one percent of humans – the very ones who take half of everything and leave the other half for the remaining ninety-nine percent to fight over.
A: That explains why they work so hard! They're competing with gazillion other people for the one-half of the pie left behind by the elites.
M: They should be fighting the elites for a bigger share of the pie. If they don't, in ten years, the one percent will take two thirds of the pie leaving more people to die of cold in the streets; and in twenty years it will be far worse.
A: You have no sympathy for the ruling class. Poor fellahs, they must spend all their waking time worrying about what to do with their gazillions of accumulated wealth! They must be running out of places to hide it; and protecting it from those who want to steal it can't be so easy.
M: I'm sure that they're very concerned, and if it weren't for the secret oath they take when entering elitehood, they would probably give most of it away. After all, they will never be able to spend it all!
A: What oath is that?
M: It's the oath to hoard without remorse. Everyone entering elitehood must take it; there's no choice; otherwise, in moments of weakness, they might be tempted to share their wealth with the destitute, and that would upset the whole order.
A: I feel so sorry for them! But what about the masses, what can they do?
M: I'm surprised you haven't already figured it out! Ask yourself, how do the rich get richer?
A: You're clever Mabu! But why have humans not thought of it?
M: Because they're too busy working and making others rich! Isn't that just crazy?
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The ruling elites enrich themselves by having more and more people working for them, and there's certainly no shortage of workers. The nobility's objective is to pay them just enough so that they have bread to eat; and so far, there is still plenty of that in the wealthy countries. Although wealth and income inequality is growing at alarming rates, it's not yet at the same level of poor countries. However, it won't be long before we will join the poor countries club.
The ruling elites also need consumers. Without them, their businesses would come to a screeching halt. Consuming less is the only weapon we have of slowing down the inequality pendulum. Of course, there's always the option of revolt, but that won't happen unless we're told to eat cake! And that's not within the foreseeable future.
Reducing consumption in wealthy countries is also the healthy thing to do because consumption equals pollution, and it's killing us.
What are we waiting for?
Let's leave some resources for our children and theirs. We've done more than our fair share of consumption already!
YOU ARE READING
The Crazy Apes: A Satire of Human Society
RandomA baby gorilla asks his father, "What are humans?" The father replies, "They are monkeys without hair, who believe they are masters of everything around them. They build shelters that go up to the sky. Their ego and greed know no limits and take fro...
