George Orwell in his book Animal Farm famously parodied the vicious use of language in communist states. 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others' was one of his memorable depictions of how the absurdities of language not only reflect but also predicate evil.
The demise of the Soviet Union is viewed as confirmation that capitalism is superior morally and economically. But materialist and illogical use of language is evident in capitalism, too. In communist states language became a tool of state oppression, in capitalism it is a tool of money. But there are many similarities in the language use, especially in the tendency towards dehumanisation.
This is most evident in the disciplines of economics and management. Consider, for instance, the use of the word 'capital'. Capital, whether it is in the form of shares, bonds, cash or bank debt, is the formalisation of a transaction. Transactions are agreements about value and obligation.
Can agreements 'flow'? One would think not. But economists routinely talk about 'capital flows'. A metaphor is slyly created whereby capital is depicted as some kind of fluid that oozes around the world. Then the pseudo-scientists in economics can analyse how that fluid will behave. Instead of capital being correctly seen as something created by people, it is turned into a sort of natural physical phenomena. People are shifted on to the margin in a way that is reminiscent of communism's use of the idea of historical determinism.
Such use of false metaphors about capital almost led to the destruction of the monetary system. By creating a metaphor of money as a kind of fluid, proponents of economic libertarianism were able, over a period of about two and a half decades, to mount an argument that there was a need to 'deregulate' the financial markets.
This is nonsense. Capital relies on rules to exist. If one buys shares, there are rules about how they are traded, valued, and so on. The same applies to any financial transaction. They are, by their nature, rule based, and heavily regulated. It is not possible to 'deregulate' regulations.
But because the free marketeers succeeded in creating a metaphor that capital is a kind of fluid, then it is possible to sound reasonable by saying that the fluid should be deregulated. An image is conjured up whereby barriers (regulations) are removed, allowing the fluid to flow to where it naturally should.
This is rubbish. In