Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/27/the-triumph-of-injustice.html
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There’s a weird mindset, perfected by the rich and imposed on the poor, particularly in the US, of convincing the non-rich to cravenly cater to the rich in all ways:
"Oh, it’s wonderful here, and it will be wonderful for you when you get here! Don’t spoil it for us! Don’t spoil it for yourself! "
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OK, point taken. But there’s a difference between
A) “I have possibly unrealistic economic expectations”
and
B) “When I reach those unrealistic economic expectations, screw anyone else who is still striving with their unrealistic economic expectations”
I would argue that the (A) is the American Dream and (B) is the selfish, conservative version of (A), the nightmare. I just don’t think (A) inherently implies (B).
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The mindset is called the american dream.
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Or, to paraphrase Steinbeck:
Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
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It’s called a “dream” because eventually you wake up and realize it’s not gonna happen.
I don’t want to live in a society where I get to imagine how wonderful things will be for me in the incredibly unlikely eventuality that I become a billionaire. I want to live in a society that cares about my opportunity and wellbeing even if I don’t become a billionaire.
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Or as Carlin the Great says more succinctly, “because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
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On the radio this morning they were talking about welfare fraud, and it occurred to me how common it is to get really upset about that, but to give tax fraud a pass. Isn’t that odd? You manage to pocket a few thousand dollars and people want to lock you up and throw away the key. But you manage not to pay millions in taxes and you’re a very stable genius and they elect you president.
The criminal justice system here is built on these principles, too.
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Puts me in mind of David Graeber pointing out in “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs” that the most caring and socially beneficial occupations are the least remunerated (day care worker, home care giver, elementary school teacher, etc.), while the most destructive are the most remunerated (derivatives trader, arms dealer, etc.).
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While this is quite nice I tend to think a head tax is the more appropriate measure…
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Glad you blurred it out. Someone always gets the vapours about Cory or others using that image in a darkly humourous admonitory sense. Here’s a discussion topic for those that want to rehash it yet again:
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I never realized how much a blurred guillotine looks simultaneously like someone flipping the bird, and/or a dildo.
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It’s so interesting: the body count from the class war waged by the rich upon the not rich is massive. In fact, disparity in economic power is the strongest fundamental determinant of the health of populations, but suggest a reversal of the asymmetry of power over literal actual life and death, and folks get uncomfortable.
Gently wringing hands and bemoaning (or celebrating for some folks) the cost of our political economic system is palatable, but re-balancing the distribution of power, or [GASP!] sharing power is somehow unconscionable.
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Always have to jump in quick to get in the Steinbeck “quote” first, but thank you for providing it. It explains so much.
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And I thought ti was just me. Great minds think alike.
Yup. Frank Wilhoit put it nicely:
“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”
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In that glorious land above the sky,
Work and pray, live on hay
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.
Joe Hill is a friend of mine.
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Rats. Missed that. Thread now closed.
But.
Wanted to add this:
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