2d ago

The true American social classes

97 comments

Fuck this noise. The only classes that matter are the people who are rich enough to own Disneyland, and everyone else. Quibbling over whose shit sandwich is bigger is just dividibg ourselves for their benefit.
- This.
  50% of the economy in the US is controlled by the "Whenever the fuck I want" class.
- “Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank, but give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.”
  ― Jim Trotter
  
  This is being attributed to Jim Trotter, but I can't find a source for this claim. I can't even find when he is supposed to have said it…
  It was definitely said in Mr. Robot (2015), and it was definitely not said in the movie The Skulls (2000), no one in that entire movie ever says "bank", despite what some people on reddit claim.
  According to this blog post, the oldest tweet is from 28 Nov 2011 @Bonoboism.
  Maybe someone else can find a better source.
  Note: I'm linking only to archives, not to either reddit or xitter.
- I consider it more of a spectrum, those who are rich enough to own Disneyland on the one hand and those who are fucked the most by the system that benefits the people who are rich enough to own Disneyland on the other. Not everyone is equally fucked by the system that benefits the people who are rich enough to own Disneyland. But you're right about the shit sandwich.
- Nah there are plenty of edible rich people who aren't rich enough to own Disney Land
  
  The wealthy people who can’t afford to own Disneyland are closer to you than they are the people who can afford to own Disneyland.
  
  Don't care. They still go on the block.
  
  Sounds like you've fallen for class division propaganda.
  There are billionaires and not-billionaires.
  The difference between a billion dollars and a million dollars is roughly a billion dollars.
  
  That's a great way to run out of allies. You're closer to being homeless than a billionaire. All war is class war, however know thine enemy. There's over 1400 billionaires in the US. That's plenty to start with. We can start quibbling over the rest after that 1400.
  https://nonprofitquarterly.org/a-clear-eyed-look-at-the-consolidation-of-a-billionaire-class/
  
  Yes, eat some billionaires, and then give everyone left a choice: Glorious Revolution or French Revolution.
- I understand what you're trying to do with the 'class is the only thing that matters', but I don't think that is going to fly well in the US, specifically and especially when trying to get groups with troubled histories between one another to work together.
  Trying to unify people by ignoring or erasing their personal or communal identities and histories is not going to be effective at unification IMO.
  
  You sound like a Russian propagandist. It's us against billionaires trying to eat our planet. It doesn't get more complex than that.
  1 person does not get to decide how 99% of the resources are spent.
  
  I can assure you i'm not a Russian propagandist. You can look through my post history if you don't believe me. I'd argue right now it's pretty clear that the comment I'm replying to is unapologetically the propaganda here. It's not even that I disagree with the sentiment. It's just a bad argument for winning over folks in the US, which is full of division, and diversity of culture and opinion.
  Just, like, think for even a second about who you are trying to unite against billionaires. It includes black communities, and the police who have often terrorized and weakened those communities. It includes both those who are homeless and NIMBY communities who've constantly lobbied to deny those homeless any type of help. It includes immigrants, and blue collar workers who've constantly attacked immigrants.
  Regardless of whether this violence was motivated by the oppression of the ruling class, these are still actively ongoing acts of violence between working class individuals and groups. That bad blood shouldn't be ignored. The tagline " the ruling class is our only enemy" rings hollow for those actively being attacked by other groups within the working class. The solution should not be to hand-wavingly say "let's all just get along and unite forces". It needs to be actively engaging with these groups, and winning people over by actually stopping the violence they experience locally.
  
  Bad blood won't get solved by doing nothing either. People need a common goal. Fighting against billionaires is one billions of people can get behind regardless of other demographics. It doesn't solve the bad blood and it doesn't erase identities it simply reminds us we can be allies against the larger issue first.
  It is a catch-22 to solve the bad blood you mention before going after the billionaires because the billionaires will continue causing more bad blood and more division in the meantime. As showcased by Trump, decades of building torn down in 3mo. Doesn't matter that he decreased taxes for the rich or openly manipulates the market for himself and other rich bastards he's convinced 1/3 of America that its all worth it to hurt sexual and/or racial minorities. By the time you fix one divide he's created another 5.
  
  BuT MUh ViolEnT RevOlUtiOn!!!
  Well said. Some of the people who post here are just nuts. Or edgy teens. Keep fighting the good fight for actually having nuance and common sense.
  
  We're not going to vote our way out of this. Violent revolution should not be the first step, however working within the system has done fuck all to stop the accumulation of wealth at the top. There is no war but class war means all of us that aren't billionaires are in this together.
  
  Quite the non sequitur

97 comments