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"That's all the media and the politicians are ever talking about, the things that separate us, things that make us different from one another. That's the way t
by hprotagonist 6y ago
"That's all the media and the politicians are ever talking about, the things that separate us, things that make us different from one another.
That's the way the ruling class operates in any society. They try to divide the rest of the people. They keep the lower and the middle classes fighting with each other so that they the rich, can run off with all the fucking money.
Fairly simple thing. Happens to work.
You know, anything different, thats what they gonna talk about. Race, religion, ethnic and national backgrounds, jobs, income, education, social status, sexuality. Anything they can do, keep us fighting with each other so that they can keep going to the bank.
You know how I describe the economic and social classes in this country? The upper class keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work. The poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class. Keep them showing up at those jobs."
George Carlin had us pegged ages ago.
So did Doctor King:
The other day I was saying, I always try to do a little converting when I'm in jail. And when we were in jail in Birmingham the other day, the white wardens and all enjoyed coming around the cell to talk about the race problem. And they were showing us where we were so wrong demonstrating. And they were showing us where segregation was so right. And they were showing us where intermarriage was so wrong.
So I would get to preaching, and we would get to talking—calmly, because they wanted to talk about it. And then we got down one day to the point—that was the second or third day—to talk about where they lived, and how much they were earning. And when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, "Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. [laughter] You're just as poor as Negroes."
And I said, "You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. (Yes) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white.
And you're so poor you can't send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march."
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Aunche 6y agoVirtually everything about that Carlin quote is completely wrong. There is no business in the world outside of news media (which includes the author) that makes or preserves money from the middle class fighting with the lower class. They'd rather the power classes get over their differences so they can make money off them. The top 1% in US pay more taxes in taxes than the bottom 90%. Before you ask, I do think that they should be paying more rather than less.
- awakeasleep 6y agoDo you think the threat of losing ones job (and therefore joining the lower class) could be used by businesses wishing to discourage unionization?
- chongli 6y agoYouTube, Twitter, Facebook. All 3 make gigabucks from the culture war. Apple, on the other hand, does not wade into the culture war. What they do instead is make money off people's status anxiety by selling luxury products to people on food stamps.
- Aunche 6y agoI'm sure YouTube and Facebook would prefer cat memes and influencers more than flame wars and pundits. The former do not get demonetized and lead to innocent content being demonetized accidentally. The addictive nature of Facebook and Youtube are partially to blame, but even if that ended, that would only slow down the culture war, which suggests that the root cause is elsewhere. They're making lemonade out of lemons, which may incentivize more lemons, but it's not the source. I agree with you about Twitter as their stock had been stagnant until Trump's election and people started equating tweets as news.
- legolas2412 6y agoThe top 1% by income pay more, the top 1% by wealth, probably not
- lostcolony 6y ago"The top 1% in US pay more taxes in taxes than the bottom 90%" And yet the percentage is lower. It really doesn't matter the comparative amounts; to put this to an even more egregious extreme, if the top 1% had 99% of the wealth, and paid 20% of that in taxes, and the bottom 99% had the remaining 1% of the wealth, and paid 0 taxes, it's not a sign that all is well, and the fact that the rich are paying -all- the taxes does not somehow make it okay. And, no, pretty much every business benefits. The whole "keeping up with the joneses" mindset that keeps the wheels of consumerism turning is predicated on class distinctions. Our economy is dependent on consumer spending, and the obscenely rich become rich, and remain so, because of that level of spending by the middle and lower classes (meanwhile they have so much wealth they can't find ways to spend it without literally giving it away)
- 1986 6y agoYup, like many in the civil rights movement, King leaned heavily towards socialism and economic justice (see the Poor People's Campaign) in addition to, and as an integral part of, racial justice. But the Cold War and the boogeyman of Communism meant that that was weaponized against them while the struggle was ongoing, and whitewashed from their history as they became mythologized afterwards. Unfortunately things haven't changed much today - "Black Lives Matter is Marxist" is one of many common tropes used in right wing media where the boogeyman of socialism is alive and well.
- hprotagonist 6y ago>leaned heavily towards socialism and economic justice... Not to be too on the nose, but another equally valid phrase here is “leaned heavily towards being a christian minister”, which he was. The religious motivations of the civil rights movement are ones we seem blind to, and the only reason i can think of for it is that when i, an american, hear “christian”, i have been taught think “republican suburban or rural white man probably interested in being horrible to gay people” instead of “democratic urban jew or black lady who is super damn interested in workers rights and housing access”. At a certain point one begins to wonder if that isn’t very carefully intentional. Tangentially: at some point, someone in the media is going to diff AOC’s speeches against the last 150 years of papal encyclicals and realize a few things about where her rhetoric originates. If you s/bipoc/the least of these, it’s slightly easier to see. If you know who Oscar Romero was, it's blindingly obvious.
- js2 6y agoIf you want to watch a satirical take on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Collar_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Collar_(film)