AnarchoNinaWrites
Here, let's share a comprehension hack I learned from reading far too many books:
Whenever any arm of the capitalist project (fascists, neoliberals, the politicians they own) says "the people," you should immediately translate that to the petite bourgeoisie - which in modern terms roughly translates to the bosses, property owners, and investors. This is important because these people are literally the lowest tier on the pyramid, capitalists care about. Everyone else is "less than people."
AnarchoNinaWrites
Now why does that matter? Well, I'll give you two examples that affect your contemporary life; fascist "populism" and "the economy"
When fascists claim popular support or "the will of the people" what they're really doing is using this property-owning class as a stand in for the body politic. Most of their rhetoric and fearmongering, is focused entirely on motivating that class to join up with the movement, so they can hold out these 10-20 percenters as evidence of their "popular support/will."
AnarchoNinaWrites
This brings us to the economy, and the question of how you can be told "the economy is doing great" even as you and everyone around you are underwater and sinking fast. This is because when the capitalist class and their servants refer to an economy that "works for people" they only count the property owning class as people. That's the lowest class they're concerned about and need on their side to justify the extractive project. Property owners/investors ARE doing well; you do not matter to them
AnarchoNinaWrites
Whenever capitalists, and their servants talk about "the people," you need to immediately translate that to the property owning class, the bosses, the investors. Nobody else counts as people to them. If you keep that in mind, it gets a lot easier to understand and deconstruct the pro-capitalist propaganda that drives the vast majority of media (even entertainment) you consume, and political rhetoric you're exposed to.
There; saved you a couple years of reading.
Jennifer Morency :bc:
@AnarchoNinaWrites I find it galling that "the most progressive president ever" claims the existence of minimum-wage construction jobs with heavy lifting, climbing, and a 30-mile commute each way are proof the "economy" is "working" for very poor 50+ people like me so SSI reform is "not needed." Even some Republicans (e.g., Sen. Cassidy) support SSI reforms that he opposes.
AnarchoNinaWrites
@JenMorency I mean between the genocide, the vociferous support of fascist muderpigs with badges, the demonizing of (often Jewish) protestors and professors as violent antisemites, the fascist immigration executive order and so forth, I'm pretty much fine with just saying that guy is a fascist.
Oggie
@AnarchoNinaWrites
And do not forget that there is a moral attachment inherent to it. Failure to reach that minimal rung is amoral- you spent too much money on something else, or were too proud to work, because any other reason is incompatible with the cultivated ecosystem. Therefore, you are lazy, or stupid, and not 'worth it', and if you just 'tried a bit harder' you would have the money required for start up capital, and push into the monied classes.
The failure point must be the person.
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