4 ms·

Why is this the presumed scenario? That is not the scenario here in India, where the lower class does in fact work as domestic labor for the middle class. Star

Why is this the presumed scenario? That is not the scenario here in India, where the lower class does in fact work as domestic labor for the middle class. Starvation only seems to happen nowadays in war zones and communist countries.

chongli 10y ago
Starvation is not the motivator I would suggest. Just curious, have you taken a look at the comments section on YouTube? There's an ENORMOUS amount of hate being tossed around and I would conjecture that it is coming from the cheeseburger gamer cohort (and their employed gamer allies). This hate is being directed at anyone who appears to be doing better than they are of late: women, minorities, Jews, middle and upper class liberals attending private liberal arts schools, anyone with a non-STEM degree... You get the picture. Anyway, the point I want to make is that these people aren't afraid of having their cheeseburgers taken away, they're afraid of having their games and gaming time taken away. Revoke their social security cheque and give them a mop, they aren't going to starve but they are going to lose most of their gaming and YouTube time. And the people they'll end up serving? Those are the same people they passionately hate.
- vedranm 10y ago
  >This hate is being directed at anyone who appears to be doing better than they are of late: women, minorities, Jews, middle and upper class liberals attending private liberal arts schools, anyone with a non-STEM degree... You get the picture. This perception depends highly on the media you read. Anyhow, identity politics for some but not all groups instead of "e pluribus unum" will lead only to more division and conflict.
- yummyfajitas 10y ago
  So we should pay the Nazis not to harm innocent Jews? Can I also get paid for starting a nationalist movement and threatening innocents?
  - someguydave 10y ago
    Maybe you can start a union to cover your liabilities too :)
  - chongli 10y ago
    If you were a Jew, would you rather have the Nazis sit at home collecting cheques and playing video games or cleaning your house and looking after your children for minimum wage? All kidding aside, it may already be too late for a lot of these people. The argument to be made is what sort of program would do a better job of creating fewer violent nationalists. You think it's serfdom, I'm not so sure.
- someguydave 10y ago
  >And the people they'll end up serving? Those are the same people they passionately hate. Do you think coddling their anti-social instincts will help them become better people? Or would a little bit of hunger motivate them to see past their animus and create more healthy and productive social relationships?
chongli 10y ago
(Replying again because it's too late to edit). If you want some numbers to back up the intuitive argument I made in the other comment, take a look at this article by Branko Milanovic[0]. It shows in explicit detail where all this resentment is coming from. Juxtapose this chart against your suggestion (as presumably a member of the 95th percentile) that these global upper-middle-class people (between 78th and 90th percentiles) be reduced to the level of Indian domestic servants and you get a good sense that might hate the idea. [0] http://voxeu.org/article/greatest-reshuffle-individual-incomes-industrial-revolution http://voxeu.org/article/greatest-reshuffle-individual-incom...
Turing_Machine 10y ago
The norm for India is not the norm for the U.S. (or quite a few other countries, but especially the U.S.). I personally would not work as a personal servant for another person unless driven to it by starvation, and I am far from the only person who feels that way.

chongli 10y ago

Starvation is not the motivator I would suggest. Just curious, have you taken a look at the comments section on YouTube? There's an ENORMOUS amount of hate being tossed around and I would conjecture that it is coming from the cheeseburger gamer cohort (and their employed gamer allies). This hate is being directed at anyone who appears to be doing better than they are of late: women, minorities, Jews, middle and upper class liberals attending private liberal arts schools, anyone with a non-STEM degree... You get the picture. Anyway, the point I want to make is that these people aren't afraid of having their cheeseburgers taken away, they're afraid of having their games and gaming time taken away. Revoke their social security cheque and give them a mop, they aren't going to starve but they are going to lose most of their gaming and YouTube time. And the people they'll end up serving? Those are the same people they passionately hate.

vedranm 10y ago
>This hate is being directed at anyone who appears to be doing better than they are of late: women, minorities, Jews, middle and upper class liberals attending private liberal arts schools, anyone with a non-STEM degree... You get the picture. This perception depends highly on the media you read. Anyhow, identity politics for some but not all groups instead of "e pluribus unum" will lead only to more division and conflict.
yummyfajitas 10y ago
So we should pay the Nazis not to harm innocent Jews? Can I also get paid for starting a nationalist movement and threatening innocents?
- someguydave 10y ago
  Maybe you can start a union to cover your liabilities too :)
- chongli 10y ago
  If you were a Jew, would you rather have the Nazis sit at home collecting cheques and playing video games or cleaning your house and looking after your children for minimum wage? All kidding aside, it may already be too late for a lot of these people. The argument to be made is what sort of program would do a better job of creating fewer violent nationalists. You think it's serfdom, I'm not so sure.
someguydave 10y ago
>And the people they'll end up serving? Those are the same people they passionately hate. Do you think coddling their anti-social instincts will help them become better people? Or would a little bit of hunger motivate them to see past their animus and create more healthy and productive social relationships?

chongli 10y ago

(Replying again because it's too late to edit). If you want some numbers to back up the intuitive argument I made in the other comment, take a look at this article by Branko Milanovic[0]. It shows in explicit detail where all this resentment is coming from. Juxtapose this chart against your suggestion (as presumably a member of the 95th percentile) that these global upper-middle-class people (between 78th and 90th percentiles) be reduced to the level of Indian domestic servants and you get a good sense that might hate the idea. [0] http://voxeu.org/article/greatest-reshuffle-individual-incomes-industrial-revolution http://voxeu.org/article/greatest-reshuffle-individual-incom...

Turing_Machine 10y ago

The norm for India is not the norm for the U.S. (or quite a few other countries, but especially the U.S.). I personally would not work as a personal servant for another person unless driven to it by starvation, and I am far from the only person who feels that way.