No. Capitalists aren't an individual. You can't apply individual logic to them because they fundamentally behave differently. They go for "more profit" because of simple motivations and fundamental limits of perception.

Saying they're at the rudder is like saying maggots purposefully decompose a carcass. They do decompose it, but little intelligence or coordination was involved, other organisms also contribute, and they're all just living life. The actions that send us into boiling water weren't done to move the ship.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It's the plural of a capitalist, or "they." They act as a collective and their singular drive of "more profit" collectively are what "hold the rudder" (lobbying, bribing, funding fraudulent scientific studies, etc...) like the collective action of the maggots decompose the body. Maybe one maggot isn't trying to decay the whole thing, but it is the result of their collective action.

[–] TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

The result might look similar to steering, but not only is there no single steering rudder, capitalists don't monopolize all of them. The result being the same might incentivize ignoring the truth, but it does matter. If the model has deficiencies, extrapolated inferences can lead you astray. In this situation it's accurate, but in other situations it might not be.

The net effect of capitalist behavior moves us one way, but other forces are at play. With the move away from neoliberalism and the rise of nationalism, capitalism might not be the net force in the near future.

Fascism doesn't primarily serve capitalist interests, but capitalists believe it serves them better than social democracy. However, capitalists are dead wrong because they are human, just like everyone else. Nationalism, religion, and culture are essential to the equation. Capitalists can exploit social phenomenon, but they don't control them, no matter how much lobbying or propaganda they use.

They don't hold the rudder. They push it, but don't monopolize it.