It’s only stupid when you assume that the government is working in the interests of the working majority. However, if our government represents the interests of the oligarchs like the Irvings then this makes perfect sense. It’s a great way to divert our tax dollars from socially useful things they’re meant for like building housing or infrastructure, and put them back in the hands of the kleptocrats who own this country.
At the stage we are currently at, education is really the thing to focus on in my opinion. No meaningful change will be possible until there is a critical mass of people who have a shared understanding of the problems, and agree on a general course of action. This is a good read with some food for thought
I’d argue that social systems can be just as effective at driving human behavior as anything. A lot of people who’ve only lived under western capitalism tend to conflate the way humans behave within this system with human nature in general. Having grown up in USSR, I can tell you that social relations are very much a product of economic relations within society.
During the Soviet years, most people were pretty content with the state of things actually. Everybody had guaranteed jobs, housing, healthcare, and education. Nobody worried about being able to retire in dignity either. The period when things were actually bleak was the post USSR period in the early 90s.
Social cohesion stemmed from communist organization of society. Since there was no capitalism there was no path to capital accumulation. There weren’t people like Musk or Bezos running around. The way you got ahead was by becoming an artist, a scientist, or an engineer. These were the people who were held in highest regard.
It’s only stupid when you assume that the government is working in the interests of the working majority. However, if our government represents the interests of the oligarchs like the Irvings then this makes perfect sense. It’s a great way to divert our tax dollars from socially useful things they’re meant for like building housing or infrastructure, and put them back in the hands of the kleptocrats who own this country.
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It is stupid for the people, and therefore we should not be tolerating our government working against the interests of the working majority.
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At the stage we are currently at, education is really the thing to focus on in my opinion. No meaningful change will be possible until there is a critical mass of people who have a shared understanding of the problems, and agree on a general course of action. This is a good read with some food for thought
https://redsails.org/witbd-rs-abridged/
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I’d argue that social systems can be just as effective at driving human behavior as anything. A lot of people who’ve only lived under western capitalism tend to conflate the way humans behave within this system with human nature in general. Having grown up in USSR, I can tell you that social relations are very much a product of economic relations within society.
deleted by creator
During the Soviet years, most people were pretty content with the state of things actually. Everybody had guaranteed jobs, housing, healthcare, and education. Nobody worried about being able to retire in dignity either. The period when things were actually bleak was the post USSR period in the early 90s.
Social cohesion stemmed from communist organization of society. Since there was no capitalism there was no path to capital accumulation. There weren’t people like Musk or Bezos running around. The way you got ahead was by becoming an artist, a scientist, or an engineer. These were the people who were held in highest regard.