4 ms·

French revolution for one was not about income inequality per se. It doesn't seem the idea itself was in people's mind - and too many other issues instead.

• p3rls 3y ago
  "Per se" is doing a lot of work there. If the French revolution wasn't about income inequality then there has never been a conflict about inequality... Read the Rosseau and Voltaire of the period leading up to the crises. You can feel their passion when they talk about inequality. Here's just one event from the time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_March_on_Versailles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_March_on_Versailles "The rioters had already availed themselves of the stores of the Hôtel de Ville, but they remained unsatisfied: they wanted not just one meal but the assurance that bread would once again be plentiful and cheap. Famine was a real and ever-present dread for the lower strata of the Third Estate, and rumors of an "aristocrats' plot" to starve the poor were rampant and readily believed.[2]" Not about income equality per se, but you know, not wanting to starve in the streets. Lol what the fuck.
  • creer 3y ago
    You negate your own critique: "assurance that bread would once again be plentiful and cheap". So like I say "inequality" doesn't even enter the broad collective mind. And the intellectuals that try to run "what's next" do talk about "égalité" but again that's not what they mean. This is not what anyone means by "inequality" now. Not killing the economy with random wars, yes. Welfare, yes. Price controls even, sure. Better planning (because we are talking about famines here in this specific case - not even taxes.) Even when "Egalité" and "Fraternité" make it into foundational texts, soon after, this is not what they are about.