Why is there so much unopposed anti vaccine sentiment on the right? Why can't pharma companies fund guys like Ben Shapiro and fellow travellers to praise the vaccine?
Why is there so much unopposed anti vaccine sentiment on the right? Why can't pharma companies fund guys like Ben Shapiro and fellow travellers to praise the vaccine?
Because the ruling class actually isn’t a monolith and their material conditions don’t lean in any particular direction on this. They’ll get the latest and greatest vaccine no matter what. What the poors think of the vaccine is inconsequential. In fact, it probably lets a fair amount of them be smug and dismiss complaints about vaccine hoarding. They see no difference between an American middle class antivaxxer and someone dying in Cuba because of the embargo including syringes. Act like it’s the same people complaining about lack of vaccines and refusing to get vaccines and it’s pretty easy to dismiss
Edit: also, their infrastructure is set up to push products via reps. Their legal work is centered around drug approval and legality, not around distribution and sentiment. A drug rep’s influence ends at the doctors they sell shit to.
regardless of what faction of capital they're in, isn't it in their general interest for there to be widespread consumption? Which can't happen if millions are sick and out of work, or while the economy is is being slowed down
capital isn't that consciously run and organised. The bourgeoise merely tend to behave in the way the capitalist system rewards them for.
Sometimes this leads them to act against their long-term interests or they just don't think of what would actually be the best thing for them to do
kind of like how its in their general interest for there to be cheap energy (even though some of them are titans of so called 'green' or renewable energy) and so the oil will still flow
"Consumption" of vaccines isn't in their interest.
"Selling" the vaccines is. And since the US government heavily subsidizes vaccine research, production, and distribution regardless of how many vaccines end up in a person the companies who were a part of those areas has already gotten their payday.
It would be different if the companies got paid per vaccine actively used in a human being.
I meant general consumption of goods and services which I'm assuming can't begin to get back to normal until every one is vaccinated
Ah... okay then... there are other comments in this thread talking about how that class, while having solidarity with each other when there is a threat from the lower classes, have no problems fucking each other over for their own gain. There comments probably address that.
They’re not a strict hierarchy so there’s no central planning to make sure what they’re doing is logical. This is why state power exists. If the ruling class can control something in a decentralized fashion there’s no need to centralize it. This may just be something that they don’t have mechanisms for yet (or rather, the mechanisms were discarded so now they’re playing it all by ear)
Yes there a many conflicting interests even at the top of the capitol class, they compete for money and influence, and are often narcissists looking to one up each other. They will only close ranks when threatened and only in very specific areas like tax dodging. The vast majority of pressure capitol gets in the west is from other capitalists looking to displace them as the left is so weak. In this case if the right-wing talking heads took the pro-vax money anti-vax talking heads would just step in to replace them.