Like Chernobyl, I think The Wire was about how people usually only act in the short term for their own self-interests. That’s not an indictment of any economic system, so much as of human nature itself. (Capitalism is far superior, of course.)
Posted by EpicPilled97
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A lot of people mistake “I’m criticizing institutional problems within a society that is capitalist” for “I’m criticizing capitalism itself.”
Wasn’t it obviously a critique of capitalism? The bit about McNulty finding Adam Smith in Stringer’s apartment was pretty on the nose.
_The Wire_’s mostly just about how people behave when the incentives of their institution misalign with the stated goal of their institution. That’s the story with the prosecutors, with the politicians, with the police, with the journalists, with the school admins.
You can just as easily envision a police department in a socialist state hyperobsessing over short term crime stats, or public prosecutors prioritizing their own careers over the mission of their office. It’s not like career aspirations or personal pride are exclusive to market economies.
Organized crime only happens in capitalist economies
Was Chernobyl anti-socialist?
Yeah, actually, I think it was. It was very critical of Soviet communism and the corruption that had developed within the system leading up to April 1986.
The scene where Bryukhanov is blabbering about how Chernobyl was named after Lenin made me want to throw my clicker at the TV.