Are they just this stupid or do they think we're this stupid? I mean slaves were relatively happy in that they knew no other alternative. They didn't know you could spend Saturdays working in a fast food restaurant or climate controlled retail store. They didn't know you could only work 10-12 hours a day instead of 16. They didn't know you could have a modest bed and a flat screen TV and an iphone. They didn't know you could go to a store and buy cheap snacks full of fat, salt, and, sugar. As long as they didn't know that there was anything better, by what would they gauge happiness? Happiness would be a cool rain storm on a hot summer's day. Happiness would be an easier harvest than last year. Happiness would be a Sunday off to sit in a church and hear someone preach to you about your place in the world. Maybe a little bit of extra gristle in your stew that night. Sure, they were happy in that they found relief from their condition where they could.
I don't really believe that. I think slaves could easily understand that there was a better life because they saw how the masters lived. They didn't need to know about modern life. But it's illustrative of the mindset that ignoramus libs have.
But even under that idea, happiness is relative so why would poor people today be happy? Why should they suddenly compare themselves to a different time than how they're living right now? if iphones and cheap treats are the bottom, then there is a lot more above for which to yearn.
We're not even talking about a world where the global poor is at that level though. We still have slavery. It hasn't gone away. I don't even mean in a cheeky Marxist wage slavery type way. I mean what everyone thinks of when they think of slavery. Being forced to do manual labor in horrible conditions all your life. That hasn't gone anywhere.
That's really why they do this misdirection. They talk about these wonky standards of living that aren't really attached to reality. It's some stat some technocrat can measure and talk about how the system is working. But the actual reality hasn't changed. We haven't eliminated slavery. We haven't even abstracted all of it into wage schemes or social contracts. But UN's fart smelling index indicates a marginal improvement in the gross gestalt of the aggregated poor defined in the range of whatever to whatever.
Are they just this stupid or do they think we’re this stupid?
They're trying to undo the damage that twenty years of sincere climate activism produced. As the harm caused by rising temperatures become more and more tangible, people are getting anxious and are growing increasingly radical in their efforts to hit the brakes on emissions production. So media institutions that had historically used "Climate Change is Real Vote Blue No Matter Who" have to now tap the breaks when its clear Blue won't do shit to curb emissions within the neoliberal model.
We’re not even talking about a world where the global poor is at that level though. We still have slavery. It hasn’t gone away. I don’t even mean in a cheeky Marxist wage slavery type way. I mean what everyone thinks of when they think of slavery. Being forced to do manual labor in horrible conditions all your life. That hasn’t gone anywhere.
Obviously, those people aren't Vox's target audience. They're selling to college students and white collar 20-somethings, not literal human chattel doing factory work under threat of deportation or sex work under threat of being beaten to death.
They talk about these wonky standards of living that aren’t really attached to reality.
They're talking about Numbers Go Up, but what they're really appealing to is a sense of economic nostalgia. Remember the 90s, when the economy was booming and most (white) people (with some inter-generational wealth) were living very comfortably? Do you want to ruin that by trying to radically change our economic model? Because then you'll end up like Venezuela.
Are they just this stupid or do they think we're this stupid? I mean slaves were relatively happy in that they knew no other alternative. They didn't know you could spend Saturdays working in a fast food restaurant or climate controlled retail store. They didn't know you could only work 10-12 hours a day instead of 16. They didn't know you could have a modest bed and a flat screen TV and an iphone. They didn't know you could go to a store and buy cheap snacks full of fat, salt, and, sugar. As long as they didn't know that there was anything better, by what would they gauge happiness? Happiness would be a cool rain storm on a hot summer's day. Happiness would be an easier harvest than last year. Happiness would be a Sunday off to sit in a church and hear someone preach to you about your place in the world. Maybe a little bit of extra gristle in your stew that night. Sure, they were happy in that they found relief from their condition where they could.
I don't really believe that. I think slaves could easily understand that there was a better life because they saw how the masters lived. They didn't need to know about modern life. But it's illustrative of the mindset that ignoramus libs have.
But even under that idea, happiness is relative so why would poor people today be happy? Why should they suddenly compare themselves to a different time than how they're living right now? if iphones and cheap treats are the bottom, then there is a lot more above for which to yearn.
We're not even talking about a world where the global poor is at that level though. We still have slavery. It hasn't gone away. I don't even mean in a cheeky Marxist wage slavery type way. I mean what everyone thinks of when they think of slavery. Being forced to do manual labor in horrible conditions all your life. That hasn't gone anywhere.
That's really why they do this misdirection. They talk about these wonky standards of living that aren't really attached to reality. It's some stat some technocrat can measure and talk about how the system is working. But the actual reality hasn't changed. We haven't eliminated slavery. We haven't even abstracted all of it into wage schemes or social contracts. But UN's fart smelling index indicates a marginal improvement in the gross gestalt of the aggregated poor defined in the range of whatever to whatever.
They're trying to undo the damage that twenty years of sincere climate activism produced. As the harm caused by rising temperatures become more and more tangible, people are getting anxious and are growing increasingly radical in their efforts to hit the brakes on emissions production. So media institutions that had historically used "Climate Change is Real Vote Blue No Matter Who" have to now tap the breaks when its clear Blue won't do shit to curb emissions within the neoliberal model.
Obviously, those people aren't Vox's target audience. They're selling to college students and white collar 20-somethings, not literal human chattel doing factory work under threat of deportation or sex work under threat of being beaten to death.
They're talking about Numbers Go Up, but what they're really appealing to is a sense of economic nostalgia. Remember the 90s, when the economy was booming and most (white) people (with some inter-generational wealth) were living very comfortably? Do you want to ruin that by trying to radically change our economic model? Because then you'll end up like Venezuela.