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White Lotus and What Money Can(’t) Buy
Maybe some problems aren’t the kinds of things that money can make disappear so easily? Oh and SPOILERS
In one of the more memorable scenes of Plato’s Republic, a bickering match takes place between Socrates and a curmudgeon named Thrasymachus about justice: while Socrates is certain that justice is something real that is worth pursuing for its own sake, good ol’ Thrasymachus thinks that all talk of justice is bullshit because it “is nothing else than the interest of the stronger.” In other words, humans are nothing more than a bunch of power-hungry animals and justice is simply a set of social norms designed to hold us back from being those animals. That’s it.
As a reader, it’s clear enough which side the author wants us to side with and as a decent human being which side we are supposed to side with. But let’s face it: the entirety of the economic system that we ourselves participate in sure looks a hell of a lot like Thrasymachus’s vision of justice. After all, what else is success in a capitalist society besides the ruthless pursuit to the top of the food chain while making sure that your ruthlessness is “just” enough to not cross the line of legality or social acceptance?
Of course expressing outrage at the failings — both moral and practical — of…
