Rationalization against Victims of Capitalism

The cognitive process of using abstract economic principles to explain away suffering, making it seem like an inevitable outcome of natural laws rather than political choices. It involves appeals to “market logic,” “incentive structures,” or “competitiveness” to drain moral outrage from scenes of human devastation.

Rationalization against Victims of Capitalism Example: An economist on TV discussing factory closures: “While painful for communities, the relocation of manufacturing overseas is a rational allocation of global capital and labor. It’s simply how efficient markets work.” This rationalization uses the clinical language of efficiency to neutralize the tragedy of deindustrialization.

by Abzugal February 8, 2026

Rationalization against Victims of Late-Stage Capitalism

The cognitive process of explaining the system's deepening failures through a lens of hyper-complexity and inevitability, using concepts like "digital disruption," "the Fourth Industrial Revolution," or "market logic 2.0." It rationalizes surreal outcomes—like billionaires funding space tourism while homelessness surges—as natural results of unstoppable technological and economic forces, not political choices. The suffering is framed as an unfortunate byproduct of a transition too complex to steer.

Rationalization against Victims of Late-Stage Capitalism Example: An economist stating, "While wealth concentration appears extreme, it reflects the supernormal returns of intangible assets and network effects in a digital era. Redistributive policies might inadvertently stifle the innovation driving this new paradigm." This rationalization uses jargon ("intangible assets," "network effects") to portray a political choice—tolerating extreme inequality—as a sophisticated understanding of an inevitable new economic law.

by Abzugal February 8, 2026