https://fortune.com/2022/04/10/americas-homeless-ranks-graying-more-retire-on-streets-divorce-housing-crisis-rising-rent-health-problems-covid/

  • ScotPilgrimVsTheLibs [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I swear, way too many boomers are just plain suckers for a "businessman in a suit" no matter how sleazy, they would have been the top customers for snake oil back in the day. Hell, they can tell them to their faces that they just suckered them with a scam and boomers would be fine with it because "private sector is good. He should be rewarded for his cunning genius in tricking me!" They claim the private sector is perfection but seem to DETEST integrity.

    Do you think I can convince boomers to start voting for fighting climate change if I gained a bit of weight, bought a kinda ill fitting navy suit from Ralph Lauren and a red tie, had an American flag pin on the suit, and then started peddling it like a businessman?

    • Foolio [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      They love spite. They love to see a disgusting asshole in a suit dunk on the beautiful, young, happy.

      https://exiledonline.com/we-the-spiteful/

      Republican elites don’t set off the spite glands in the same way, and it’s not only because of a sinister right-wing propaganda machine. Take a look at a photo of the late billionaire Sam Walton, a dessicated Calvinist in a baseball cap and business suit, and you’ll see why. If Republican billionaires enjoy their wealth, they sure as hell hide it well. As far as one can tell, Republican billionaires genuinely like working 18-hour days in offices, and attending dreary charity dinners. More importantly, it’s hard for us to imagine that these stuffy gray-haired plutocrats have interesting sex lives—nothing inspires murderous envy more than someone else’s great sex life, which is why a celebrity is so much more viscerally hateful than the richest, meanest plutocrat. These right-wing billionaires’ idea of having fun is a day on the golf green (a game as slow and frustrating as a day in the office) or attending conferences with other sleazy, cheerless Calvinist billionaires. If that’s what all their wealth got them, let ’em have it–so says the spite bloc. This explains why the Republican elite–the only true and all-powerful elite in America today–is not considered an “elitist” class in the spleens of the white male have-nots. Elitism as defined today is a synonym for “happy,” not “rich” or “powerful.” Happiness is the scarcest resource of all, not money. And the happy supply has been cornered by the beautiful, famous and wealthy coastal elite, the ones who never age, and who are just so damned concerned for the have-nots’ well-being.

      This is why I'm convinced the Dems will do decent in the midterms, maybe even make gains - Biden's approval is currently deeply under water with 18-34 year olds, and slightly net positive with over 70s. That's a good sign - who votes? Who votes for Republicans?

      • ScotPilgrimVsTheLibs [they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Damn, I always thought it was the fascists and other hogs that were the happy ones.

        Look at /pol/: the smugness, the snobbery oozes out of every letter, they are some of the happiest people I can think of. They know they have it all and with a lack of suffering in their lives, they have seen their more modest peers as punching bags.

        • Foolio [any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          /pol/ posters are a very small minority, just prevalent online. Though there are a disturbing amount of construction workers with punisher skull hoodies or stickers on their truck.

        • Ecoleo [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          No one on /pol/ is happy, as stated, fascist supporters are unhappy, unsatisfied, losers. They're pissed because they don't have the same life satisfaction others do, their smugness comes from spiting those others.

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Being smug isn't the same as being happy, and being scared and angry all the time is the core of fascism.