Friday, May 28, 2010

Capitalism: A Love Story

I have nearly lost the ability to walk because of a pinched nerve which is wreaking havoc with my left leg. I of course couldn't find an orthopedic to see me about it today and will have to wait at least a week to get an appointment. Perhaps that's why I thought of Michael Moore and the brilliant light he sheds on the inadequacies of our failing US government.

Whatever the reason, I hobbled over to my computer and watched Capitalism: A Love Story today. I was standing throughout the whole movie in order to avoid having to sit down or stand up, which is incredibly painful, so keep in mind, if the movie sucked even the tiniest bit, it was unusually easy to walk away, or hobble in my case.

It didn't suck. As a game designer, I've been crying foul about the incredibly poor game design of capitalism for years, but I thought what Michael Moore did by interviewing priests was sublime. They were straight up about it. Capitalism is evil. It's hard for me to even write that. I was raised on the American Dream, and when I'm flush with cash, it's a heady trip. I want to play the game, but I see how heavily the odds are stacked against indies because I work as an indie producer. Surviving without ethical compromise is very challenging.

Also not fond of most organized religions, but I have to say that as a pretty staunch athiest, it was super refreshing to be cheering for the priesthood in this film.

Unregulated capitalism is going to be the end of us. It needs to change pronto. Einstein was famous for saying:

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."


The concept of unregulated capitalism has such a clean, simple sounding design to it, that I believe otherwise good people fell into the trap of thinking that unfettered free market capitalism was the answer. It obviously isn't.

See it. I think it's the most important film I've ever seen.

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