My toddler explains Karl Marx's concept of commodity fetishism
A very brief conversation with my two-year-old over breakfast
My two-year-old daughter, Essie, is finishing up her breakfast. We’re pretending we’re in a restaurant and the waiter has brought her the meal.
Me: Did the chef make the breakfast?
Essie: No no mama, didn’t make it, I GOT it.
Me: Did the waiter make it then?
Essie: No mama, nobody make it, we BUY it.
Me: Yes but the things we buy, somebody, somewhere, still made them. Everything gets made by someone. People work very hard to make the things we buy.
Essie: No no no no no no no, mama.
*Commodity fetishism: under capitalism, it’s very hard to relate to each other on a human level because we don’t see the human labour that goes into the things we buy.
That dialogue with Essie is identical to every conversation with a libertarian.
Ah never mind that one, Laura; next time Essie's polishing off her chow, skip straight to the story where the waiter and the chef make a little Picket Line.
😃🏴☠️