Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Advocacy and Anticapitalism
Capitalism runs on the myth that if you just "work hard enough" you can make it in this world. This presupposes that anyone has the choice to work hard.
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People with MECFS have an illness whose primary symptom is that they cannot work hard or they will deteriorate and die. Their lives run in complete opposition to the capitalist narrative.
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Is it any wonder that MECFS Activism is so strongly shut down and ignored in a society where capitalism is seen as the only viable economic system?
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MECFS patients threaten the central myth our capitalist world runs on. Either we must be lying or capitalism has a massive flaw. I'm not lying. Are you?
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3 in 4 ME patients cannot work, even part-time. 1 in 4 are bedbound or housebound. Severe ME patients have a quality of life comparable to chemotherapy patients and late-stage AIDS.
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Laziness is a myth necessary to perpetuate ableism against people with an invisible disability.
People with energy-limiting chronic illnesses such as myalgic encephalomyelitis or mecfs completely break the myth of capitalism that success is tied to hard work.
The reason advocating for disability particularly chronic illness, chronic fatigue and chronic pain is so difficult is because it is inherently #anticapitalism and therefore threatens the very foundations of our society.
If we as a society accept that mecfs and invisible illness are real, we must accept that the capitalist system is inherently unfair. By denying these people's reality through medical gaslighting we preserve the illusion that people are either able-bodied and get what they deserve through hard work or disabled in which case they receive a government pension (ignoring for a moment the vast problems with most countries disability pension systems). In reality, the majority of lazy people who fail under capitalism do so not because of lack of motivation but because of hidden barriers like the very real severe neuroimmunological illness of ME.
So be strong and count on intersectionality and solidarity. Understand that fighting for the right of mecfs is inherently challenging a much broader system and is part of the fight for socialism, leftism, workers' rights and so much more.
