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As someone who would willingly describe themselves as a socialist, this reads like satire, or, if taken seriously, like a poorly thought out high school history

As someone who would willingly describe themselves as a socialist, this reads like satire, or, if taken seriously, like a poorly thought out high school history paper. The author does quite a good job lampooning the modern practices of the (often liberal) elite, but fails abysmally to prove that any of these practices are done "to assert one class's moral superiority over another and to justify social inequality." Without that crucial piece of support for the author's thesis, this article fails to provide any meaningful social or moral commentary about the practices of the modern elite. In fact, one could argue that the lampooning of the modern liberal elite and their practices, such as the author does in this article, is itself done as way of asserting a different class's moral superiority over another - in this case a socialist intelligentsia's superiority over the mainstream liberal elite.

dogma1138 8y ago
Sadly this isn’t satire, which is the problem.
retsibsi 8y ago
I mostly agree with your take on the article (though I admit I skimmed some paragraphs), but I think this bit was probably intentional: > the lampooning of the modern liberal elite and their practices, such as the author does in this article, is itself done as way of asserting a different class's moral superiority over another Unfortunately, I think the most effective way to counter a status move is not through reasoned argument, but with a status move of one's own. If you can turn the status symbol into something ridiculous or embarassing, you've successfully undermined it. This is (usually) most easily done via public mockery.
- AnimalMuppet 8y ago
  Yes and no. You've undermined the public expression of the status move. But pride is all over the place, from things that look like pride, to "I'm not proud like those people, I'm down to earth" - and proud of it, to (another turn of the screw) "I don't do false humility like those people". It's the human condition to find someone to look down on to feel better about yourself. You can perhaps make people stop expressing it publicly, but you aren't likely to change hearts very much. (And when you do, you'll most likely make someone realize that having pride in that is stupid, so they'll change to having pride in something else.)
- ravitation 8y ago
  To be honest (given the lack of thoughtfulness that went into writing this article), I do think it was done intentionally, but I also think the author did not consider how doing so undermined his argument entirely. The author's primary argument is that all of these practices of the liberal elite are done to "prop up class dominance", and that this need to "prop up class dominance" is one thing that makes mainstream values inferior to (presumably the author's) "socialist values". This is of course undermined when the author chooses to engage in exactly the same act of "asserting [...] moral superiority" that he is basing his critique on.

dogma1138 8y ago

Sadly this isn’t satire, which is the problem.

retsibsi 8y ago

I mostly agree with your take on the article (though I admit I skimmed some paragraphs), but I think this bit was probably intentional: > the lampooning of the modern liberal elite and their practices, such as the author does in this article, is itself done as way of asserting a different class's moral superiority over another Unfortunately, I think the most effective way to counter a status move is not through reasoned argument, but with a status move of one's own. If you can turn the status symbol into something ridiculous or embarassing, you've successfully undermined it. This is (usually) most easily done via public mockery.

AnimalMuppet 8y ago
Yes and no. You've undermined the public expression of the status move. But pride is all over the place, from things that look like pride, to "I'm not proud like those people, I'm down to earth" - and proud of it, to (another turn of the screw) "I don't do false humility like those people". It's the human condition to find someone to look down on to feel better about yourself. You can perhaps make people stop expressing it publicly, but you aren't likely to change hearts very much. (And when you do, you'll most likely make someone realize that having pride in that is stupid, so they'll change to having pride in something else.)
ravitation 8y ago
To be honest (given the lack of thoughtfulness that went into writing this article), I do think it was done intentionally, but I also think the author did not consider how doing so undermined his argument entirely. The author's primary argument is that all of these practices of the liberal elite are done to "prop up class dominance", and that this need to "prop up class dominance" is one thing that makes mainstream values inferior to (presumably the author's) "socialist values". This is of course undermined when the author chooses to engage in exactly the same act of "asserting [...] moral superiority" that he is basing his critique on.