Facebook Follies of Friends and Families

[Valmy]

How are they being silenced? Their propaganda bombards us all continually.

[Razgovory]

How are they being silenced? Their propaganda bombards us all continually.

I think they were violating the terms of service for Facebook and Twitter and thus could not use the product anymore.

[Josquius]

That's how the right gets poor people to vote for them. By convincing them they're not really poor, poorness is a moral (ethnic) failing. If things were fair and not biased against them then they'd be rich.

[Admiral Yi]

That's how the right gets poor people to vote for them. By convincing them they're not really poor, poorness is a moral (ethnic) failing. If things were fair and not biased against them then they'd be rich.

This doesn't even make sense on its own terms.

[Razgovory]

That's how the right gets poor people to vote for them. By convincing them they're not really poor, poorness is a moral (ethnic) failing. If things were fair and not biased against them then they'd be rich.

This doesn't even make sense on its own terms.

I think I know what he's getting at, but he needs to clean it up a bit.  LBJ noted something similar:

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

[Tamas]

I think I know what he's getting at, but he needs to clean it up a bit.  LBJ noted something similar:

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Heh, that is a very good way of explaining it.

It also points at an important aspect of why forces of reaction have gained traction against forces of progress. People judge their lot in life in relation to their immediate peers and environment. When you eliminate the 2nd class status of women, non-whites, and non-heterosexuals, merit, as in skills, employability, and income become a much more important measures of societal status, and thus a lot of useless white people find themselves on the bottom of the social ladder where in the past they could still look down on a number of people regardless of their own status and worth.

I am not saying this should be approached with empathy or anything of that sort, but it should be understood, when you change the social order of things, even if for the better, those who enjoyed benefits of the old status quo are going to be pissed.

[garbon]

I think I know what he's getting at, but he needs to clean it up a bit.  LBJ noted something similar:

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Heh, that is a very good way of explaining it.

It also points at an important aspect of why forces of reaction have gained traction against forces of progress. People judge their lot in life in relation to their immediate peers and environment. When you eliminate the 2nd class status of women, non-whites, and non-heterosexuals, merit, as in skills, employability, and income become a much more important measures of societal status, and thus a lot of useless white people find themselves on the bottom of the social ladder where in the past they could still look down on a number of people regardless of their own status and worth.

I am not saying this should be approached with empathy or anything of that sort, but it should be understood, when you change the social order of things, even if for the better, those who enjoyed benefits of the old status quo are going to be pissed.

But that's then similar to when you have a shitty employee who is pissed when people keep getting promoted past them. You just need to work to limit the damage they can cause to the group as they increasingly become irrelevant.

[Tamas]

But that's then similar to when you have a shitty employee who is pissed when people keep getting promoted past them. You just need to work to limit the damage they can cause to the group as they increasingly become irrelevant.

I agree. It's just that I feel like this conscious damage-limiting work has been ignored and it might have helped to contain the reactionaries better, if it wasn't.

[Josquius]

I think I know what he's getting at, but he needs to clean it up a bit.  LBJ noted something similar:

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Heh, that is a very good way of explaining it.

It also points at an important aspect of why forces of reaction have gained traction against forces of progress. People judge their lot in life in relation to their immediate peers and environment. When you eliminate the 2nd class status of women, non-whites, and non-heterosexuals, merit, as in skills, employability, and income become a much more important measures of societal status, and thus a lot of useless white people find themselves on the bottom of the social ladder where in the past they could still look down on a number of people regardless of their own status and worth.

I am not saying this should be approached with empathy or anything of that sort, but it should be understood, when you change the social order of things, even if for the better, those who enjoyed benefits of the old status quo are going to be pissed.

This is a big reason why the regional inequality in the UK is such a horrid state of affairs.

In a properly working country with less regional inequality; things work.
Local kid goes to university and gets a good job?- he likely still lives in the area, he keeps the same social connections, if he has children they end up going to school with the children of less gifted people he went to school with.
A poor kid growing up in the area can see that yes, his parents haven't amounted to much, but there's all these people in varied and interesting jobs from a similar background to himself who have been able to make a success of themselves. He has a chance if he applies himself.

In the UK meanwhile, that doesn't work. If you get a good job then chances are 50% you're forced to move to London and 40% is forced into one of the other major cities. You're probably not going to be staying at home. From the day you set off for university you're leaving that world behind.
As a result kids growing up in those areas.... they know doctors and teachers are things that exist....and then....there's footballers and reality TV stars and (at risk of showing my age by exclusion) youtubers... if they can't get those jobs then there's nothing for them. Life has no hope so why bother.
Achievement in life is about conspicuous consumption of what little you have, making sure you always have the latest phone and nicest clothes so you appear more successful than your peers. Actually being more successful just doesn't happen.

Meanwhile you've people still breathing who remember the days when inequality was not so bad. When the working class was a viable thing. Not many went to university so the middle class was kept small with little reason to travel to the other end of the country (in that period, go earlier again and things are different), and there were industrial jobs aplenty.
Sure times sucked. Nobody actually wants to spend their days bent down at a coal face and shopping in bland British-goods-only supermarkets.
But compared to the current situation of despair and hopelessness? The rose tinted specs are tempting. The bad side can be forgotten and only the fundamental positives remembered and built up due to the realisation that something is wrong today.

There are many reasons to tackle inequality. Though you tend to see little recognition of this critical one that is fundamentally ruining society.

[Tamas]

Meanwhile you've people still breathing who remember the days when inequality was not so bad. When the working class was a viable thing. Not many went to university so the middle class was kept small with little reason to travel to the other end of the country (in that period, go earlier again and things are different), and there were industrial jobs aplenty.

Fine, but it is important to see that being unskilled labour in the production sector has ceased being a reliable source of decent income everywhere in the developed world. And those days are not coming back, sans a global meltdown of some sorts collapsing trade forcing local communities to fend for themselves. But that's not a good alternative to the present situation.

[Syt]

[garbon]

So not votes that should count, but land area.

[Valmy]

I think you could have made a case, one I do not agree with, based on the points raised but I certainly do not see how that particular conclusion follows.

At least they are not claiming the system is rigged and everybody needs to be thrown in jail.

[katmai]

FFS tell your dumbass family to actually read a book, that stupid post has been disproven back in 2016.

[Syt]

FFS tell your dumbass family to actually read a book, that stupid post has been disproven back in 2016.

FOX News and Daily Caller is all they need.