Socialism vs Capitalism; a false choice.
Over the course of the past presidential election, it has become increasingly evident that the United States is divided, as President-elect Joe Biden mentioned in his speech on Saturday. We seem to be assigning “socialism” with the Democratic Party and “capitalism” with the Republican Party, but in my opinion, this is a false choice. When I tell a lot of people that Socialism simply means that the people control the means of production, they’re shocked because American culture has made it almost synonymous with communism. These shifts in the meanings have antagonized both terms to the American public. Capitalism does a lot of good for society as well, and it is only with a strong economy, that we can improve the lives of Americans by enhancing public amenities.
Carrd was started as a side hustle by a man named AJ in Nashville, Tennessee. AJ started Carrd after noticing a need for it in an ever-growing community of people wanting to make accessible interactive single-page sites. Carrd was launched on October 10th, 2016, but from what I know, Carrd gained some popularity around April 2020 because I received a text from my friend asking me to rate her site. The tool was primarily used by fans of the KPOP group, BTS, to organize trigger warnings, personal information, and even their favorite members. Ultimately it started relatively slow and also incredibly niche.
Then, we see a spike In early June 2020, the hockey stick growth of Carrd. This increase in users also matches up with the BLM movement, as you can see in the following google trend charts.
You see, it’s hard to explain the efficiency that Carrd provides, but those who use it for showcasing digital petitions marvel at its simplicity.
Ultimately, Carrd is a gateway, almost like a search portal, minus the search.
This is one of the most popular Carrds I’ve seen online; it’s a fantastic collection of information resources and petitions for several global social causes.
https://issuesintheworld.carrd.co/
This is another Carrd I came across. Once again, this one has an educational purpose and explains the usage of pronouns to provide support for the transgender community.
https://neopronounss.carrd.co/
Finally, here’s another one of the most popular Carrds I’ve seen that has been promoted across all platforms. It is a BLM petition, arguably, the reason that the company took off in the first place.
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
As you can see, Carrd provided a voice and a way for Gen Z to make a difference despite being unable to vote. I’ve seen so many adults criticize the BLM black square blackout, but it’s those same adults who don’t go out and protest/vote themselves. This simple non-employer start-up(?) gave the youth the ability to speak out about things and virtually rally for causes at a scale unheard of before the internet.
Carrd is an example of responsible capitalism, the ideal form of capitalism. In the new modern society, companies should be driven to innovate with social cause as a foundation, not as a PR stunt. Every company has this ability and this power especially social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter (blog about Twitter coming out soon). I marvel at the fact that an unnamed man with a computer was able to connect people and help people without even realizing it… imagine what massive corporations could do!
As always, I truly do think as a result of being raised by the internet that Generation Z understands the true power of connections.
