I just cracked Yanis Varoufakis most recent book Technofeudalism, and my gut is he follows your observations in detail. Might be of interest to your readers. Thanks for your insights.
Malcolm Harris' book Kids These Days has some parallel ideas. He describes how education is increasingly designed to push kids into competition with one another, and especially how high stakes testing and shrinking spots at elite universities (relative to a growing population) mean the vast majority of people won't make those top spots, and work harder and harder to even have a chance.
I think that it's also important to point out that many capitalists rely on the false claim that the good life is guaranteed if only you work hard enough. One the one hand, it's important to keep people from despairing, but on the other it's equally important to point out that so many things are unachievable to the vast majority of people, and that's actually a good thing! Rather than aspiring to be planet and community-killing millionaires or billionaires, we should be guiding kids to aspire to a healthy and mutually supportive part of a community (which takes so many more roles than what we pay highly).
This second part hit home pretty hard. Me and my partner both work blue collar union jobs. We both make quite decent money and we are both good at saving. We still aren’t able to afford a house right now and are lucky to have a 750sq ft rental for a stupid fee. Her coworker (who bought a house in the late 90’s) told her the other day that the only reason we can’t afford a house is because of “lifestyle choices” and not working hard enough at it. By lifestyle choices I would assume he means eating, because we barely spend any money…
It is absolutely a self-serving justification. If you can delude yourself into believing personal responsibility is the only thing that matters, you simultaneously justify your own inaction in the face of others struggling and normalize your position above other people. As the other commenter mentioned, it often is accompanied by a disconnect from the daily lives and conditions of other people (house/rent prices, cost of education, pensions, etc)
Oh yes it’s absolutely what you said, but it’s also a fear response. They can’t handle the anxiety of thinking that something like that could happen to them, so they have to assign blame to you when it happens to you so they can say oh that wouldn’t be me because blah blah blah.
Disabled people get it all the time. People decide we just aren’t trying to get better and that’s why we aren’t healed, or they decide it’s all in our heads. They can’t live with the fear and uncertainty of knowing that sometimes you get sick and you just never get better and that’s it. And you don’t die, you just live in poverty and sickness For years and years and years.
We also see it when they criticize homeless people. They decide that everyone is homeless because they want to be homeless and because they do drugs. They can’t possibly consider that if they suddenly became disabled They would end up there too. It takes forever to get disability checks started in the US and then when you do they are not 3 1/2 times the rent anywhere. So you end up in a tent unless you have help and support from loved ones.
Very true. And the solution to almost all of these problems is compassion and community. Knowing your community has your back if you lose your job, or get sick, or become disabled would relieve much of the anxiety and stress this causes.
The fearful or violent responses only contribute to a cycle of fear and violence. Police and prison and general odtracism are not the solution to someone not having a job for whatever reason, but as long as they are seen that way, people will always have that fear and anxiety in the background.
The sad thing is that unless the disability is visible, and not too annoying to others, there isn’t community support. I have experienced nothing but ableism IRL since I became disabled by MECFS. The only empathy I find is on line (except my PCP is great and maybe 2 of my friends get it.)
I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure that invisibility is a huge challenge. I had to look up MECFS, but after I did, it made me think of a book I recently listened to: Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick. It opened my eyes further to the many unstudied conditions that medicine discounts or belittles. At the very least, it would be a good book to share with others to help them understand your situation a little better (and that you're not alone).
I feel sort of sorry for people who live in that bubble of “if I can do it everybody can do it and if I haven’t experienced it doesn’t exist.”
Those are the people who freak out and do family annihilation when they lose their job for example. They still haven’t figured out that you can do all the right things and still suffer hardships. So when it happens to them they have no idea how to cope and I also think after the years of trash talking everyone like this, they feel shame and don’t know how to handle it.
It's important to remember that these influencers are not only selling out their own image, time, and energy to corporations, but also the time and attention of their followers via sponsored content.
Interesting read! The parallels between our world and Huxley's Brave New World seem to grow deeper by the day.
I mean I guess that’s no different than me going into an office and selling those things to a boss who pays me a tiny portion of his profits from my labor.
But I am anti-consumerism, so I’m really grossed out by apps like TikTok that are pretty much just ads. Nonstop ads. If you’re not getting ads directly from the company that they paid the platform for, you’re getting ads from the influencers even if they pretend they aren’t ads and they’re just showing you they’re cute outfit of the day.
A whole entire platform, just ads. I don’t understand why people like that, why anyone would want that.
They all are, I am slow to read them when they end up in my email box but then I end up in here blowing up your comments section because everyone who posts here is so smart and adds to the conversation in such an insightful way.
I’ve been so moved and impressed with the quality of the discourse in here. Really warms my heart, and makes me wish I had more time to respond to everyone haha
I wonder what they’re going to do when AI starts making ads with their kids faces that they don’t get credit or compensation for.
And I feel so bad for these children. Imagine entering adulthood and finding out that all the mega corporations have all your data from your whole life because mommy wanted to try to be famous? Imagine applying for professional jobs and your boss finding the bathtub video where you pooped in the water and your mom thought it was so funny and cute?
Now that I’m talking about this, I believe a child sued their parents for violation of privacy. It was probably over in the UK because I can’t imagine the US courts letting this happen. I’m gonna go Google when I’m done here because I’m curious and I hope they all sue their parents
In my darkest days of struggle I actually bought a subscription to the Powerball or something so that I could play the same numbers every week without having to go to the store and get a little ticket.
I’m not foolish, I knew the odds were ridiculous. But it was suicide prevention. I was disabled, living on a fixed income that wasn’t even enough to qualify to rent an $825 apartment in low income housing. For people who are not able bodied there’s really no hope for more income for us. It gets pretty bleak. But in my darkest days I couldn’t give up because what if my numbers came up the next week? My parents wouldn’t inherit at that money because I have no spawn, and they weren’t good parents I didn’t want them to get my lottery money if I was ever granted it. It worked, for four dollars a week it kept me alive.
Regarding the influencers, on one hand we really do need to stop making stupid people famous (that’s a Plastic Jesus quote) but I really love that Hollywood can’t gatekeeper talent anymore. Some kid growing up in rural Kentucky who will never meet anyone in the show business industry in his day-to-day life can get discovered singing on TikTok and fall into a great career. I know the odds of that are probably close to winning the Powerball, but at the same time that kid can have some hope that his circumstances might change someday.
Sometimes it’s really worth it for the hope that things might get better because we aren’t seeing any real evidence that things can get better when we are stuck in bad situations caused by capitalism.
Not just “any activity that is even mildly exciting” cos there’s plenty that is crushingly boring that is recorded and put out there. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t want to see you unwrap a toaster or whatever. If someone is that desperate for entertainment for heaven’s sake but a television!
I do appreciate some unboxing videos though because they’re unboxing things I’d considered buying and after seeing what they look like in real life (well as opposed to seeing a doctored ad) I decide not to buy them.
And I appreciate the influencers who do the deinfluencing videos, like the ladies who talk about the absurdity of fighting people in target for Stanley cups.
And this is probably off-topic, but I’m really annoyed that culture wars between the genders have made it so whenever I talk about the absurdity of the Stanley Cup thing People think I’m doing a misogyny and picking on Stanley cups because girls like Stanley cups. That’s not what it’s about at all. I just think it’s ridiculous to buy multiple $50 reusable cups that contain lead just so you can match them to your outfit.
I just cracked Yanis Varoufakis most recent book Technofeudalism, and my gut is he follows your observations in detail. Might be of interest to your readers. Thanks for your insights.
Thank you for a rec, and one that sounds great. Always much appreciated!
His The Minotaur is solid
Malcolm Harris' book Kids These Days has some parallel ideas. He describes how education is increasingly designed to push kids into competition with one another, and especially how high stakes testing and shrinking spots at elite universities (relative to a growing population) mean the vast majority of people won't make those top spots, and work harder and harder to even have a chance.
I think that it's also important to point out that many capitalists rely on the false claim that the good life is guaranteed if only you work hard enough. One the one hand, it's important to keep people from despairing, but on the other it's equally important to point out that so many things are unachievable to the vast majority of people, and that's actually a good thing! Rather than aspiring to be planet and community-killing millionaires or billionaires, we should be guiding kids to aspire to a healthy and mutually supportive part of a community (which takes so many more roles than what we pay highly).
This second part hit home pretty hard. Me and my partner both work blue collar union jobs. We both make quite decent money and we are both good at saving. We still aren’t able to afford a house right now and are lucky to have a 750sq ft rental for a stupid fee. Her coworker (who bought a house in the late 90’s) told her the other day that the only reason we can’t afford a house is because of “lifestyle choices” and not working hard enough at it. By lifestyle choices I would assume he means eating, because we barely spend any money…
It is absolutely a self-serving justification. If you can delude yourself into believing personal responsibility is the only thing that matters, you simultaneously justify your own inaction in the face of others struggling and normalize your position above other people. As the other commenter mentioned, it often is accompanied by a disconnect from the daily lives and conditions of other people (house/rent prices, cost of education, pensions, etc)
Oh yes it’s absolutely what you said, but it’s also a fear response. They can’t handle the anxiety of thinking that something like that could happen to them, so they have to assign blame to you when it happens to you so they can say oh that wouldn’t be me because blah blah blah.
Disabled people get it all the time. People decide we just aren’t trying to get better and that’s why we aren’t healed, or they decide it’s all in our heads. They can’t live with the fear and uncertainty of knowing that sometimes you get sick and you just never get better and that’s it. And you don’t die, you just live in poverty and sickness For years and years and years.
We also see it when they criticize homeless people. They decide that everyone is homeless because they want to be homeless and because they do drugs. They can’t possibly consider that if they suddenly became disabled They would end up there too. It takes forever to get disability checks started in the US and then when you do they are not 3 1/2 times the rent anywhere. So you end up in a tent unless you have help and support from loved ones.
Very true. And the solution to almost all of these problems is compassion and community. Knowing your community has your back if you lose your job, or get sick, or become disabled would relieve much of the anxiety and stress this causes.
The fearful or violent responses only contribute to a cycle of fear and violence. Police and prison and general odtracism are not the solution to someone not having a job for whatever reason, but as long as they are seen that way, people will always have that fear and anxiety in the background.
The sad thing is that unless the disability is visible, and not too annoying to others, there isn’t community support. I have experienced nothing but ableism IRL since I became disabled by MECFS. The only empathy I find is on line (except my PCP is great and maybe 2 of my friends get it.)
I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure that invisibility is a huge challenge. I had to look up MECFS, but after I did, it made me think of a book I recently listened to: Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick. It opened my eyes further to the many unstudied conditions that medicine discounts or belittles. At the very least, it would be a good book to share with others to help them understand your situation a little better (and that you're not alone).
THIS
Her coworker clearly hasn’t paid attention to house prices ‘these days’.
I feel sort of sorry for people who live in that bubble of “if I can do it everybody can do it and if I haven’t experienced it doesn’t exist.”
Those are the people who freak out and do family annihilation when they lose their job for example. They still haven’t figured out that you can do all the right things and still suffer hardships. So when it happens to them they have no idea how to cope and I also think after the years of trash talking everyone like this, they feel shame and don’t know how to handle it.
It's important to remember that these influencers are not only selling out their own image, time, and energy to corporations, but also the time and attention of their followers via sponsored content.
Interesting read! The parallels between our world and Huxley's Brave New World seem to grow deeper by the day.
I mean I guess that’s no different than me going into an office and selling those things to a boss who pays me a tiny portion of his profits from my labor.
But I am anti-consumerism, so I’m really grossed out by apps like TikTok that are pretty much just ads. Nonstop ads. If you’re not getting ads directly from the company that they paid the platform for, you’re getting ads from the influencers even if they pretend they aren’t ads and they’re just showing you they’re cute outfit of the day.
A whole entire platform, just ads. I don’t understand why people like that, why anyone would want that.
This was a great piece.
Thank you Dina!
They all are, I am slow to read them when they end up in my email box but then I end up in here blowing up your comments section because everyone who posts here is so smart and adds to the conversation in such an insightful way.
I’ve been so moved and impressed with the quality of the discourse in here. Really warms my heart, and makes me wish I had more time to respond to everyone haha
If my activity here ever gets annoying don’t hesitate to tell me. I’m full of ADHD so I get a little chatty sometimes
Oh I’m sure that won’t happen!
Not to mention all those "momfluencers" (and some "dadfluencers") who suck dry their children's lives for a taste of fame.
I wonder what they’re going to do when AI starts making ads with their kids faces that they don’t get credit or compensation for.
And I feel so bad for these children. Imagine entering adulthood and finding out that all the mega corporations have all your data from your whole life because mommy wanted to try to be famous? Imagine applying for professional jobs and your boss finding the bathtub video where you pooped in the water and your mom thought it was so funny and cute?
Now that I’m talking about this, I believe a child sued their parents for violation of privacy. It was probably over in the UK because I can’t imagine the US courts letting this happen. I’m gonna go Google when I’m done here because I’m curious and I hope they all sue their parents
Think there will be quite a lot of kids going no contact once they're of age. It's all so sad.
In my darkest days of struggle I actually bought a subscription to the Powerball or something so that I could play the same numbers every week without having to go to the store and get a little ticket.
I’m not foolish, I knew the odds were ridiculous. But it was suicide prevention. I was disabled, living on a fixed income that wasn’t even enough to qualify to rent an $825 apartment in low income housing. For people who are not able bodied there’s really no hope for more income for us. It gets pretty bleak. But in my darkest days I couldn’t give up because what if my numbers came up the next week? My parents wouldn’t inherit at that money because I have no spawn, and they weren’t good parents I didn’t want them to get my lottery money if I was ever granted it. It worked, for four dollars a week it kept me alive.
Regarding the influencers, on one hand we really do need to stop making stupid people famous (that’s a Plastic Jesus quote) but I really love that Hollywood can’t gatekeeper talent anymore. Some kid growing up in rural Kentucky who will never meet anyone in the show business industry in his day-to-day life can get discovered singing on TikTok and fall into a great career. I know the odds of that are probably close to winning the Powerball, but at the same time that kid can have some hope that his circumstances might change someday.
Sometimes it’s really worth it for the hope that things might get better because we aren’t seeing any real evidence that things can get better when we are stuck in bad situations caused by capitalism.
I hear you.
Not just “any activity that is even mildly exciting” cos there’s plenty that is crushingly boring that is recorded and put out there. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t want to see you unwrap a toaster or whatever. If someone is that desperate for entertainment for heaven’s sake but a television!
I do appreciate some unboxing videos though because they’re unboxing things I’d considered buying and after seeing what they look like in real life (well as opposed to seeing a doctored ad) I decide not to buy them.
And I appreciate the influencers who do the deinfluencing videos, like the ladies who talk about the absurdity of fighting people in target for Stanley cups.
And this is probably off-topic, but I’m really annoyed that culture wars between the genders have made it so whenever I talk about the absurdity of the Stanley Cup thing People think I’m doing a misogyny and picking on Stanley cups because girls like Stanley cups. That’s not what it’s about at all. I just think it’s ridiculous to buy multiple $50 reusable cups that contain lead just so you can match them to your outfit.
Thank you for reminding me of the upside function for the deeply suffering, a chance a success can be sustaining.