Charles Darrow
For over half a century, Monopoly was regarded as one of the world’s most popular family boardgames. Many have experiences where the quiet cousin or even our mild-mannered caring Mom, suddenly becomes this arch-villain that is cruel and hyper-exploitative.
Many games of Monopoly ended when one of the gamers flipped the board over in anger, because they just did not have enough money to pay off their debts or retain their property. The Monopoly board game became the standard-bearer of capitalist and liberal values, that humankind was essentially selfish and given half the chance, regardless who is suffering they will be greedy and focus on just making money.
The game was known to be owned by the Parker Brothers, and later Hasbro. Parker Brothers bought the game from Charles Darrow, who was an unemployed heating salesman. Darrow became very rich through the sale of the game and its subsequent royalties. His rags-to-riches story resonated with the United States of America’s (USA) promotion of capitalism and that anyone can become rich, just through hard work and talent.
But it was not Darrow who invented Monopoly; it was a woman, Elizabeth Magie. Importantly, Magie invented it not to promote capitalist values, but rather to educate people on the dangers and cruelty of laissez-faire (unregulated) capitalism. Magie herself was a formidable woman. She was a committed feminist and subscriber to the teachings of progressive economist Henry George, who argued for a single tax, especially property tax.
Monopoly is a prime example of a myth being deliberately cultivated to promote values that were on the opposite side of the spectrum for what the game was originally all about. Think about it, the popular history of a central cultural icon of capitalism, such as Monopoly, is so distorted and warped, that its inventor is hardly known and it is used for the opposite of what it was created for.
The story of Monopoly may seem mostly harmless, but there are also many so-called truths, that have no grounding in the truth, that are a lot more harmful and create a fictitious history.
For instance, Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, was assassinated by Dimitri Tsafendas, who was said to be schizophrenic and basically, insane. Post-apartheid academic investigation revealed that Tsafendas was neither schizophrenic nor insane, but a revolutionary who assassinated Verwoerd to try and stop his policies of institutionalised racism.
More recently though, we all should know the story concocted by USA president George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was effectively hiding them from United Nations weapons inspectors and therefore it was only in the interest of the world, that the United States (US) lead a military invasion of Iraq.
Under the presidency of Barack Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, we watched in disbelief how they manipulated the popular uprising in North African countries, the so-called Arab Spring, to entrench American control of the region and remove leaders who they did not want or like.
Thereafter Obama’s government engineered the overthrowing of a democratically elected government in Ukraine, in a so-called ‘Velvet Revolution’ just because that government acknowledged Russia as the regional power and believed that it was not in the interest of Ukrainians to adopt an adversarial stance against Russia.
We then kept quiet as the incorrigible incumbent Donald Trump warned us that his political opponent, Joe Biden, together with his son, Hunter, was financially benefiting from Ukraine, whilst they planned to ignite a war between Ukraine and Russia. The mainstream media, together with retired intelligence operatives, dismissed Trump’s evidence as the work of Russian disinformation, and continued to suggest that either Trump was being manipulated by Putin, or he was a Russian asset.
We allow the elites to spew their lies about the world, and many of us even try to curry favour with them. Singing their virtues and promoting their ideas and life philosophies, in the hope that they will help us as individuals.
Many of us know that most of the time we are being fed a bunch of lies that are dressed up to look as the outcome of the brave work of intelligence operatives, objective research and the intentions are to save the world from the rise of another Hitler or some other catastrophe. The world is quite tough right now, many of us are struggling to just survive financially. As this struggle becomes increasingly strident, we become a lot more accepting of these fake or false narratives. We do not have the time or the energy to fight these elitist tyrants.
Unfortunately, though, just like we all know that if there is ever a chance of the world coming to an end, the majority of us will not get a seat on Elon Musk’s spaceship to Mars, or that fabled underground bunker in some mountain where we can wait out the destruction. There is only one world for us, and this Earth is it. Therefore, as much as we have begun to ignore the destructive narratives, we need to make our voices heard.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the US under self-proclaimed peacemaker Trump, who has already renamed the Department of Defense to the Department of War, is preparing to invade Venezuela. There was a possible stay of execution, when right wing podcaster Charlie Kirk was killed, and Trump would not have been able to get the media plaudits he craves. Since then, though, lies have been circulating that Venezuela is a narco-state, in other words a country that is trafficking drugs.
They have labelled democratically elected Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, a drug cartel boss and accuse him of being corrupt. Their evidence is a drug gang called Tren de Aragua, which originated and is based in Los Angeles.
At the same time, even though Trump is raising tariffs against many Western European countries and expecting Germany, France and Britain to purchase more weapons from the United States for Ukraine, they have also heeled like docile puppies and spread the tropes that Maduro is corrupt and the Venezuelan people are suffering under his dictatorship. Their and our acceptance of Trump’s fantasies has resulted in a number of fishing boats and sailors, mainly from the Caribbean, being bombed out of the water by American missiles.
The Nobel Committee, particularly those who decided upon the 2025 Peace Prize, have most probably provided the best cover for Trump when he decides to invade Venezuela. By selecting Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, as the year’s winner, they can allow Trump to say that he is fighting for peace when they invade Venezuela. Indeed, Machado has called for the US to invade Venezuela – a peace prize recipient calling for war.
The build-up of the American warships, submarines and other military options on the Venezuelan coast has been systematic over the last two months. Trump has most probably hoped that Maduro would have invaded Guyana, based on a historical claim, and that would justify the invasion. All that has happened is that Venezuela has received support from China and Russia, and Maduro has been preparing the Venezuelan people for an invasion. The main delay is that there needs to be public disharmony and disturbance in Venezuela.
I have visited Caracas, Venezuela twice this year, and personally spoke to ordinary people, especially the youth. They are very supportive of Maduro and his government and despise those Venezuelans who speak from the United States.
If we continue to keep quiet, our silence will be interpreted as acquiescence and agreement. Venezuela has been slowly but surely rebuilding its economy and addressing its people’s needs. However, if the world does not speak up, then just as we witnessed with Libya and Iraq, Venezuela will be violently converted into a basket case.
And then, as South Africans we may be forced to ask who is next, could it be the land where there is a ‘white genocide’?