It is untrue to say that (person) A started his life aided exclusively by the achievements of (say) his father, for his fathers achievements depended on the achievements of his immediate predecessors; and so on all the way back through the life of humanity. This fact, of supreme ethical importance, applies to all of us; none of us may speak or act as if the material or spiritual wealth we have were produced by us; for, if we be not stupid, we must see that what we call our wealth, our civilization, everything we use or enjoy, is in the main the product of the labor of men now dead, some of them slaves, some of them “owners” of slaves. The metal spoon or the knife which we use daily is a product of the work of many generations, including those who discovered the metal and the use of it, and the utility of the spoon. And here arises a most important question: Since the wealth of the world is in the main the free gift of the past—the fruit of the labor of the dead—to whom does it of right belong? The question can not be evaded. Is the existing monopoly of the great inherited treasures produced by dead mens toil a normal and natural evolution? Or is it an artificial status imposed by the few upon the many?~Alfred Korzybski, Manhood Of Humanity - The Science and Art of Human Engineering (1921), Ch. VI - Capitalistic Era, P. 98
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 03:29:53 +0000
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