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> Hungry starving sick people make the least effective revolutionaries. This is clearly historically incorrect. > Super-rich as a class exists because we let

> Hungry starving sick people make the least effective revolutionaries. This is clearly historically incorrect. > Super-rich as a class exists because we let them exist, but there is a reason we let them exist… What reason is that? They exist because they are powerful, thus hard to topple. That the SEC and FTC are so ineffective (and ridiculously small pieces of the puzzle) is evidence of that.

ben_w 5y ago
> This is clearly historically incorrect. > What reason is that? How long do you have? https://youtu.be/rStL7niR7gs https://youtu.be/rStL7niR7gs in particular from 13:30 onwards, though the whole thing and the follow up video are both worth watching.
- luffapi 5y ago
  If you actually study history (not YouTube, history books) you’ll find starving people and human rights violations to be a common cause for revolution.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    Books like this?: https://www.amazon.de/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics/dp/1610391845 https://www.amazon.de/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Pol... “and” is pulling a lot of weight in your sentence, given I’ve not made a claim about general human rights on this thread. Also? “Common cause” is very different from “has a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding”, which I consider important in this context.
    - luffapi 5y ago
      No, not books like that. History books (not pop trash). Books like this: https://www.amazon.com/French-Revolution-Enlightenment-Tyranny/dp/1681772507 https://www.amazon.com/French-Revolution-Enlightenment-Tyran... Also, cf Japanese rice warehouses in early Tokyo and why they exist.
      - ben_w 5y ago
        “Pop trash” sounds like you’re dismissing it out of hand because you don’t like the conclusion. I mean, it might be, but as I’m not even claiming to be a domain expert I have to (argument from authority fallacy notwithstanding) rely on the author biographies as a proxy for how much they know. Now, would you like to give me a brief summary of how, biologically speaking, you recon being malnourished fails to put a bunch of revolutionaries at a relative disadvantage to a non-malnourished bunch of revolutionaries?
        luffapi 5y ago
        I’m saying you need to read actual history as you seem to think that starving a population won’t lead to a revolution. > Now, would you like to give me a brief summary of how, biologically speaking, you recon being malnourished fails to put a bunch of revolutionaries at a relative disadvantage to a non-malnourished bunch of revolutionaries? People revolt because they have nothing left to lose, not because it’s strategically a good idea. “Biologically” speaking when you outnumber your foe 100 to 1, you have at least an advantage in numbers, but again that’s not why people revolt.
heartbeats 5y ago
Sick, miserable people make terrible revolutionaries. Desperate and hungry people have nothing to lose. Poor people in the US are miserable, but not miserable enough to be desperate.

ben_w 5y ago

> This is clearly historically incorrect. > What reason is that? How long do you have? https://youtu.be/rStL7niR7gs https://youtu.be/rStL7niR7gs in particular from 13:30 onwards, though the whole thing and the follow up video are both worth watching.

luffapi 5y ago
If you actually study history (not YouTube, history books) you’ll find starving people and human rights violations to be a common cause for revolution.
- ben_w 5y ago
  Books like this?: https://www.amazon.de/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics/dp/1610391845 https://www.amazon.de/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Pol... “and” is pulling a lot of weight in your sentence, given I’ve not made a claim about general human rights on this thread. Also? “Common cause” is very different from “has a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding”, which I consider important in this context.
  - luffapi 5y ago
    No, not books like that. History books (not pop trash). Books like this: https://www.amazon.com/French-Revolution-Enlightenment-Tyranny/dp/1681772507 https://www.amazon.com/French-Revolution-Enlightenment-Tyran... Also, cf Japanese rice warehouses in early Tokyo and why they exist.
    - ben_w 5y ago
      “Pop trash” sounds like you’re dismissing it out of hand because you don’t like the conclusion. I mean, it might be, but as I’m not even claiming to be a domain expert I have to (argument from authority fallacy notwithstanding) rely on the author biographies as a proxy for how much they know. Now, would you like to give me a brief summary of how, biologically speaking, you recon being malnourished fails to put a bunch of revolutionaries at a relative disadvantage to a non-malnourished bunch of revolutionaries?
      - luffapi 5y ago
        I’m saying you need to read actual history as you seem to think that starving a population won’t lead to a revolution. > Now, would you like to give me a brief summary of how, biologically speaking, you recon being malnourished fails to put a bunch of revolutionaries at a relative disadvantage to a non-malnourished bunch of revolutionaries? People revolt because they have nothing left to lose, not because it’s strategically a good idea. “Biologically” speaking when you outnumber your foe 100 to 1, you have at least an advantage in numbers, but again that’s not why people revolt.

heartbeats 5y ago

Sick, miserable people make terrible revolutionaries. Desperate and hungry people have nothing to lose. Poor people in the US are miserable, but not miserable enough to be desperate.