Monopoly is literally capitalist propaganda. Parker Brothers basically stole the game from its creator and then offered $500 for the rights. They modified the game to be more focused on owning everything.
Cautionary Tales has a great episode about Lizzie J. Magie and how she originally created the Landlord’s Game.
How is it capitalist propagarda exactly? Parker Brothers might have screwed her over, but it’s impossible to come out of a game of monopoly feeling more symphatetic towards landlords than when you started.
A single person can and should own everything and it’s too bad if you don’t
Owning property is a zero sum game
Only one person can win when it comes to property ownership
Owning property is the only way to power
It’s propaganda because the system doesn’t have to work like this. We’re just told that we have to deal with it, but there’s plenty of resources to go around for everyone to live a comfortable life. Life doesn’t have to be a zero sum game.
I mean, there isn’t really much evidence it does though, feeling good from being wealthy mostly comes down to not being worried about your material welfare and stability. Beyond that, owning everything really doesn’t make people any happier or more actualized as people. It is just an empty drug that unlike more fun drugs, hurts a massive amount of people every time you take it.
How do they even study such a thing? Ask megawealthy if they’re happy and they’ll ask something “modest” like “it’s alright, you know life was so simple when I was poor” lol
The game is (still) a satirical version of the real housing market, and anybody with half a brain gets the impression of unfairness after a game of monopoly. This is unrelated to the fact that parker brothers is making a lot of money with the game
Monopoly is literally capitalist propaganda. Parker Brothers basically stole the game from its creator and then offered $500 for the rights. They modified the game to be more focused on owning everything.
Cautionary Tales has a great episode about Lizzie J. Magie and how she originally created the Landlord’s Game.
https://timharford.com/2021/05/cautionary-tales-do-not-pass-go/
How is it capitalist propagarda exactly? Parker Brothers might have screwed her over, but it’s impossible to come out of a game of monopoly feeling more symphatetic towards landlords than when you started.
This is propaganda
It feels great to own everything
This is what winning IRL looks like
A single person can and should own everything and it’s too bad if you don’t
Owning property is a zero sum game
Only one person can win when it comes to property ownership
Owning property is the only way to power
It’s propaganda because the system doesn’t have to work like this. We’re just told that we have to deal with it, but there’s plenty of resources to go around for everyone to live a comfortable life. Life doesn’t have to be a zero sum game.
I bet it does though
I mean, there isn’t really much evidence it does though, feeling good from being wealthy mostly comes down to not being worried about your material welfare and stability. Beyond that, owning everything really doesn’t make people any happier or more actualized as people. It is just an empty drug that unlike more fun drugs, hurts a massive amount of people every time you take it.
How do they even study such a thing? Ask megawealthy if they’re happy and they’ll ask something “modest” like “it’s alright, you know life was so simple when I was poor” lol
It’s the Law of Diminishing Returns and has been studied extensively in Economics.
Mostly they don’t, especially because this kind of realization is an existential threat to the entire high end luxury industry.
I.e., perfect satire of the current system?
It’s more ironic than satirical. Parker Brothers has absolutely used their power as a large game publisher to squeeze out smaller competitors.
The game is (still) a satirical version of the real housing market, and anybody with half a brain gets the impression of unfairness after a game of monopoly. This is unrelated to the fact that parker brothers is making a lot of money with the game
Meaning, at the end of the game, more people hate the rich than are the rich. It’s not capitalist propaganda.