3 ms·
That's identity politics that stems out of centralization. Imagine 2 hot dog stands across the road. Alice makes sour hot dogs, while Bob makes sweet ones. The
by john_moscow 6y ago
That's identity politics that stems out of centralization.
Imagine 2 hot dog stands across the road. Alice makes sour hot dogs, while Bob makes sweet ones. They both focus on how they make the hot dogs. If fewer people want to buy the sour ones, or customers start giving strange looks, Alice will think about tweaking the recipe. Likewise the Bob can now charge more, or open a spin-off at the next intersection. The fun part is that Alice and Bob can even be buddies. They can go play pool together in the evening, because business is separate from your private life.
Now imagine a HotDogCo buying both stands. Both Alice and Bob now follow exactly the same tested and optimized recipe, patented by the corporation. Their hot dogs are indistinguishable. So, they now focus on what they are. If someone gives you a strange look, you interpret it as a personal insult. If Alice sells fewer hot dogs than Bob, she will think it's due to her gender, some other identity attribute. The energy that could be spent on improving the recipe is now spent on blaming Bob across the road for having an unfair advantage, and asking your followers to boycott him.
The corporations are happy. Out of each 0.99$ hot dog, 0.5$ goes to the corporate profit, 0.2$ - to the ingredients, and Alice and Bob get paid minimum wage. They are also interchangeable and are now too busy fighting each other to launch an independent stand and keep that $0.5 to themselves. Mission accomplished, HotDogCo stocks soar, while Alice and Bob are now locked into misery, hatred, and zero savings or retirement perspectives.