A friend of mine reposted some musings by an artist on Instagram today, and among the questions that they asked was “Can capitalism be ethical?”

“There is no ethical consumption under capitalism” has become such a reflex thing to say that it’s become meme-ified into a joke, but there’s a very serious truth to it, as well as a very serious shortfall in the truth that it tells. There is also no ethical production or distribution under capitalism.