Capitalism And Extroverts

The capitalist system and extroverted behaviour are inextricable.  Capitalism is made possible by extroverts who are competitive, enthusiastic, energetic, aggressive, industrious and combative.  Like two peas in a pod.  There is absolutely nothing bookish about capitalism, nothing nebbish, nothing nerdy, thoughtful, reflective, nurturing or communitarian.  It is all about the self, or one could call it self-actualization on its crudest terms.  It is a most narcissistic system and extroverts, I have often noticed, are way more likely than introverts to be narcissistic.
     I admit that I am painting some very broad brushstrokes here and that many people have features of both in their natures and that our system isn't all or exclusively capitalist.  Still it is the dominant tone.  Extroverts are Darwin's dream.  They are the fittest that survive.  They are cunning and cagey and have all the tricks up their sleeve.  They are charmers and glad handers, movie stars and politicians and used car dealers and street vendors, happy hookers and drug dealers.  They are the life of the party.  Heck, they ARE the party. They don't think or worry about the human condition, they don't care about the environment or about reducing poverty or gaining wisdom and virtue.  They want to survive.  They want to thrive.  They want to conquer and then eat their conquered victims for Sunday brunch, under hollandaise sauce made from scratch, of course..
     Extroverts are restless, lonely and insecure.  They must always have an audience, and be always surrounded by friends, and not just friends, but admirers, attendants and groupies.  The extrovert doesn't simply want a group or a gang or a privileged clique: they are already convinced of their inarguable celebrity and they must have a retinue that follows them everywhere they go.
     The extrovert has no personal centre, he must admire his reflection in the mirror of other people's admiration, awe and affection because he otherwise has no existence.  Extroverts are also the movers and shakers, the leaders, the sex gods and the rock stars.  They are also the sports heroes and the winners of the Stanley cup, the Grey Cup and the World Cup and the Olympic Gold, the generals and captains of the military and the captains of industry: CEO's and corporate chiefs, the chairmen of the board, the administrators who rake in the six and seven figure salaries and bonuses. They are Jupiter and we are their satellite moons revolving forever around their magnificent greatness.  They are the forces of nature, the rampaging stampeding bulls and bison that leave nothing standing in their wake.  They are the winners and the rest of us worship their dust that covers us.
     We have all known people like that.  They are rare and fortunately very few.  The vast majority of people who are extroverts still have some balancing qualities of introversion and introspection to keep their enviable forces in check and harnessed for the common good.  This is the microcosm.  In the macrocosm this is not happening.
     The global capitalist machine is stomping its path across the nations and turning us into dust and ashes in its wake.  As long as we continue to value extroverts and features of extroversion over other personality traits we are going to be blinded and mesmerized and brainwashed by this global plague of locusts that is picking our bones clean.  In our personal lives we need to balance our social needs and drives and our primal instincts with reflection, prayer, meditation, insight and wisdom.  This needs also to trickle up (it will never trickle down) into our social systems, our economic system, our education system and our political system.  Our own provincial government is going to cut twenty-five percent funding for post secondary education in the arts and humanities and redirect the money to trades and technical education, since it is expected that liquefied natural gas is going to bless us from its largess with generous paying jobs for ever and for everyone and really, who needs an arts degree when there is money to be made?  And what are we going to do with all that money when we have run out of food, clean water and breathable air?