[fwipsy]

That's not true. Capitalism is merely indifferent to things without economic value. If something is monetizable it will be monetized, which can be very harmful in itself, but capitalism does not seek destruction for it's own sake.

[mentalgear]

Have you meet the military-industrial complex? President/General Eisenhower famously warned us about it becoming a self-serving entity 65 years ago:

> On January 17, 1961, in this farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the establishment of a "military-industrial complex."

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-dwigh...

The latest examples are the current war-profiteers in office who drive conflict to fuel a war economy, capitalizing on the rising stock shares of 'defense' contractors.

[fwipsy]

Right. It's destruction for the sake of profit, not (generally) for it's own sake. Different motivation, same outcome.

[mentalgear]

Also probably the US's biggest sector at 1 Trillion USD .

[abdullahkhalids]

Someone who "speaks the truth" without caring about how other people might feel, is rightfully termed an asshole, and generally not considered a good person.

Similarly, when politicians pass laws that maximize a single value while disregarding the harm it does on other consequential values, they are considered bad people.

The world is complex. Systems of decision making must do careful multi-value optimization to be considered good. Single value maximization is evil because it abdicates responsibility.

In the specific case of modern capitalism as-is-implemented, structures like ETFs and bank saving accounts are specifically designed to launder moral responsibility. "I just allocated my capital to the highest return instruments as recommended by my financial advisor. How could I know through all the opaqueness that I was directly enabling child labor and environmental destruction?"

[to11mtm]

> Someone who "speaks the truth" without caring about how other people might feel, is rightfully termed an asshole, and generally not considered a good person.

I don't think that's a binary. I've seen plenty of cases where due to mob culture/etc where 'speaking the truth' despite it being well reasoned ethically/morally, might get you considered an asshole by the group in question. Of course there is a grey line for where the overton window is for such discussions, and a good person would communicate such in a thoughtful manner rather than in an intentionally abrasive fashion.

Otherwise your point is spot on.

[amanaplanacanal]

The destruction is a natural byproduct of the tragedy of the commons. Unfortunately many (most?) in the capitalist class don't seem to think the commons is worth protecting. And why would they?