We need a moral QR code

Photo credit: Author

We need a moral QR code on everything that is produced and sold for money in our economy. This QR code should link to the following information:

• the place where every component of the product was produced

• the salaries of all employees from the lowest ranking to the highest ranking at the company that made the product

• the names of all shareholders, big and small

• the average weekly work-time for each employee

• the paid vacation time for each employee

• photographs of the place where the product was made at the time when the product was made

• all the materials including chemical substances used in the manufacturing of the product

• a full list of suppliers including a similar moral QR code for each supplier and contractor

This may sound absurd, far-fetched, or impossible to you. What would be the purpose of these moral QR codes?

First, they would show us a crystal clear picture of how our material economy is constructed on hidden moral assumptions. Capitalism functions on trade secrets, non disclosure agreements, salary secrecy, secret contracts and negotiations, and a lot of evaded responsibility. All these secrets are meant to protect a status quo in which the fundamental principles of capitalism must be defended at all costs. These principles are about the use of hierarchies of power at the workplace, the proportional link between power and property and vice-versa, and the shameless dispossession of various forms of property from land to personal data for the purpose of accumulating more capital. This entire design of capitalism is held together by many layers of secrets, lies, manipulations, misdirections, and violent oppression.

Second, moral QR codes on all products would give us evidence of how our economy impacts the environment and all workers. It would force all economic agents to disclose their complete material footprints, from the resources they use, to how they pay their employees from the lowest to the highest ranks. There is no doubt that the climate crisis is caused by the economic activities of humans. There is no doubt that the breach of Earth limits is caused by the specific quest of capitalists for more profits, more market share, more power, more domination, more growth in general. But all these facts are largely invisible in our daily life. We buy things and services without being aware of the monumental destruction that the capitalist mode of production has done to human and non-human life. Just like we placed warning messages on cigarette packages we should have moral QR codes on all products. Let us separate the good from the bad.

Third, moral QR codes would act as a significant barrier against the expansion of illegal, immoral and destructive practices of production. Implementing moral QR codes that cannot be faked would be a massive blow to the capitalist mode of production. Capitalists will scream 24/7 that implementing moral QR codes will be too expensive and will make their businesses not profitable. Very good! That is exactly what we want! Eliminate the grifters, the polluters, the exploiters, the greedy, and the psychopaths. Let us produce and consume goods and services that are morally just and acceptable by all consumers. Let us make sure that all workers across the entire supply chain are paid fairly, are not discriminated, have safe working conditions, and free access to quality healthcare and education. In fact, moral QR codes would also act as a psychological mirror for consumers themselves because once the entire system of production will be exposed to the world to see, it will be impossible to hide from the accountability of producing and consuming products that destroy life on Earth.

The fashion industry hides exploitation of workers and mountains of waste under glamour and the mindless quest by fashionistas to be the most interesting person on the street, or whatever narcissistic psychopathic idea motivates their lizard brains. Companies such as REI and Patagonia make the high-tech apparel that for extreme outdoor sports all under the pretense of caring for the environment! Epitome of hypocrisy! Meanwhile, another institution obsessed with costume design is the military industrial complex which hides incredible devastation to environments and life under the pretense of national security. What if we put on each bullet and rocket a moral QR code with the names and salaries of all military contractors from the lowest rank to the highest rank? This would make Peter Thiel and Palantir the most famous names on the planet!

Fourth, moral QR codes would help us evolve our moral principles in symbiosis with the living world. The first step in defeating evil is naming and shaming evil for what it is. The forces of good cannot win against nameless, hidden ghosts. We, as a society, are in a severe deficit of meaningful information, that allows us to assess the moral dimension of our material life. If we were exposed to the truth behind what is produced, we would be much better qualified to upgrade our consumption behaviors. One of the most egregious lies told in recent history was that individuals bear the responsibility of their carbon emissions. Fossil fuel companies have launched this lie to hide their responsibility as producers. We are past the point where we can reform capitalism by recycling all our Amazon cardboard boxes.

We have been flooded by oceans of irrelevant information for decades. The purpose was to protect the hidden motives of capitalists and the real design of the system. These hidden motives are hidden because they would cause planetary outrage if they were exposed. We need to know how the sausage is made, both the real sausage and the metaphorical sausage, if we want to survive as species on this planet.

Of course, the idea of moral QR codes is symbolic. Moral QR codes are close to impossible to put in practice under the current economic regime. But the idea itself should make us think that everything that is produced and consumed on this planet has a moral dimension, from the production and use of industrial fertilizers, to the expansion and use of artificial intelligence. Behind every product and service, there are competing moral ideologies and ethical guidelines. Capitalists try their very best to hide their true intentions--which are pretty basic: it’s always about growth of profit, of market share, of power, and of status.

The advertising industry has the job to get paid to lie on behalf of capitalists about the the real intent and morals of capitalism and sell a different moral standard. A luxury car is therefore not about maintaining class, status, and privilege for the super rich, but it is about freedom, comfort, vision, and elegance. The higher the price of a product or service, the bigger the lie.

Defeating consumer culture starts by exposing the hidden moral code of capitalists, which is embedded into the rules of production for pretty much everything. To make it simple, let us start with a realistic moral QR code on all the clothes we buy. How about that for a start, Shein, Zara, H&M, Temu, Forever 21 and you, yes you, Patagonia?

---