As I get older I get more and more socialist. Don't understand anyone who's exploited in a low paying job ever being politically conservative, and people who say 'just wait til you get into the real world' like where have I been living this whole time? Fucking Narnia?
25 years ago, I got told that a lot. With the benefit of hindsight, I think it was because there was a pervasive assumption that growing up meant buying into a system that offered a decent standard of living in return for not questioning the status quo. That was the deal the baby boomers got: screw around in your 20's, get a job and start a family in your 30's, be comfortable and property-owning in your 40's, retire wealthy. As long as you're not confronted by the reality of structural inequality and you're not in contact with Poc and the poor, who wouldn't take that deal? Most people would trade solidarity for security in a heartbeat. It's probably the biggest problem socialists face.
Now, though, the masters have changed the terms. You're supposed to buy into capitalist alienation at a young age, without any tangible benefits, and then keep paying your labor into the system even as it grinds you down. We're in the middle of a tectonic economic shift in the West. Capital has decided (thanks to automation, social media, hyper-policing, etc etc etc) that they can go full oligarchy. They think they can demand allegiance without offering anything but crumbs.
Look, I don't *want* to eat the rich. But if this goes on much longer, we're going to *have* to eat the rich or else we'll wind up eating each other.
scorpiothecat on July 25th, 2018 at 03:54 UTC »
As I get older I get more and more socialist. Don't understand anyone who's exploited in a low paying job ever being politically conservative, and people who say 'just wait til you get into the real world' like where have I been living this whole time? Fucking Narnia?
AVeryHeavyBurtation on July 25th, 2018 at 05:03 UTC »
Older people are more conservative because the poor die before they get old. Citation needed, I know.
RSchlock on July 25th, 2018 at 06:43 UTC »
25 years ago, I got told that a lot. With the benefit of hindsight, I think it was because there was a pervasive assumption that growing up meant buying into a system that offered a decent standard of living in return for not questioning the status quo. That was the deal the baby boomers got: screw around in your 20's, get a job and start a family in your 30's, be comfortable and property-owning in your 40's, retire wealthy. As long as you're not confronted by the reality of structural inequality and you're not in contact with Poc and the poor, who wouldn't take that deal? Most people would trade solidarity for security in a heartbeat. It's probably the biggest problem socialists face.
Now, though, the masters have changed the terms. You're supposed to buy into capitalist alienation at a young age, without any tangible benefits, and then keep paying your labor into the system even as it grinds you down. We're in the middle of a tectonic economic shift in the West. Capital has decided (thanks to automation, social media, hyper-policing, etc etc etc) that they can go full oligarchy. They think they can demand allegiance without offering anything but crumbs.
Look, I don't *want* to eat the rich. But if this goes on much longer, we're going to *have* to eat the rich or else we'll wind up eating each other.