“This book had WAY too much of an obvious agenda for me and I’m a leftist!” :fedposting:
Nah let’s be real they’re probably just a shitlib who thinks putting BLM in their bio and supporting Warren makes them a leftist
Anybody who says something to the effect of "listen, I'm as left as they come..." should have their opinion disregaraded immediately
Texas sweet tea from my ex's family was enough sugar to last a lifetime. Will pass on any other sweetened tea concoction for the rest of my life.
I think Earl Grey with a bit of cream and sugar's alright. can't be too much though or it turns into candy water.
Settlers is amazing, the central thesis is instrumental in explaining the apparent contradictions of the political views of the white working class in the United States. Liberals falsely conclude that the white worker must simply be too dumb to support their corporate technocracy even if their policies are technically better. This misattribution of cause stems from the intrinisic lack of systemic and material analysis in liberalism. The second you consider that the United States enjoys the wealth of a global empire and that on a global scale the white worker in the US is much closer to being bourgeois than proletarian, everything snaps into sharp focus. Suddenly you understand why reactionary policies are popular where tolerance and gestures at welfare programs aren't: because the material conditions of even the most exploited worker in the US is far high than on the periphery of empire. I'm typing this on a machine made in minerals extracted by children, this coffee I'm addicted to was likely farmed by slaves. No wonder we aren't doing a revolution no matter how bad our material conditions get, the baseline of our material reality is too good and is inherently not as horrible as in the countries this empire exploits. So yeah read Settlers
because the material conditions of even the most exploited worker in the US is far high than on the periphery of empire
of the most exploited white worker*
https://imageio.forbes.com/blogs-images/timworstall/files/2015/10/creditsuisseweatlhreport.jpg?format=jpg&width=960
That tail end of the America curve is disproportionately Black/Latino
Also shows that there are no desperately poor people in China. They virtually don't exist. :xi-shining:
I'm kind of a dumb dumb, can you put that chart into words please? Wealth decile is how proportionally wealthy a given demographic is and the percentage on the right is how much of that region they make up?
The percentage on the left is how much of that decile can be found in the given region. Of the bottom 10% of earth: 10% of them can be found in the US. About 15% of them from Europe. And virtually 0 from China.
Of the RICHEST 10% on earth: 65% of them are Western. Only 10% from China.
it's global wealth deciles numbered 1 thru 10.
For example, the average American is extremely rich, except for the 10% of Americans who are in the bottom 10%ile of global wealth (and also the 10% of Americans who are in the 20-60%ile of global wealth)
The average American is extremely rich, but the variance is extremely high. If you were to be born somewhere random, it would be safest to be born in China, where you have a guarantee of avoiding the worst poverty.
ok that's incredibly striking compared to everywhere else and yeah I see that now. The average American is either very globally rich or incredibly desperate, no middle ground. It would explain why you only have three true political movements in the USA: nice imperialism, mean imperialism, and completely apathetic.
Absolutely meant to have white be in that sentence. Great additions too comrade
I actually took this screenshot right after ordering a copy for myself. Needless to say, their review wasn’t quite convincing enough for me to cancel my order
I'm finally gonna read it. I'm constantly disappointed with fellow Americans and this could help me at least contextualize my disappointment better.
an important takeaway is around how race, imperialism, and settler-colonialism has shaped the class structure of the Amerikan empire.
Some fragile white dudes jump to claiming its about how revolution is impossible and white people are all terrible, which is uhhhhh :yikes-1: :yikes-2: :yikes-3:
Literally Sakai makes a point to address the “you’re just dividing the working class” ‘argument’ in the book which is always a great way to know someone didn’t bother to read it.
He also takes most of the book to get to "anyway, these dipshit white workers in the imperial core aren't adding value and have bullshit jobs in large part" which I felt made much of the rest of the book the material context that Bullshit Jobs sort of lacks.
it was a real eye opener how Sakai pointed out that black people in the American south had a complete, working economy that could provide for itself, how the Indian nations all had complete, working economies that could provide for itself, how quickly Asian immigrants on the west coast built up the economy there and how white America has never had that. It didn't even want to, having others do that work for them was the settler's plan all along. The USA by design never was a viable economic system that could stand on its own legs, it always needed to parasitize on the labor of the opressed peoples for that and still does to this day.
Too much of an obvious agenda for me
literally all art has an agenda and if it somehow doesn't, then it's likely boring lol
The attempt to be “nonpolitical” or “not have an agenda” is itself a political statement
it means "let's only use the political agenda that everyone already lives under and never points out"
"this book makes me uncomfortable and I am unable to engage with ideas about settler colonialism without feeling personally attacked"
"Too much of an obvious agenda" is one of those criticisms I see a lot and it makes no damn sense, like yeah this piece of art has an opinion so does everything.
Damn, finding out there's more to do than putting a BLM sticker on their minivan must have been rough for this reviewer. I think two stars was generous after breaking reality that badly for them.
i'm trying to imagine the kind of person who writes amazon reviews of theory and i'm coming up short
At least we now know that :funny-clown-hammer: read it
