(*) Not really, but keep hustling

  • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    I think the "Conservative Women" line is a bit misplaced. They don't necessarily believe in the "natural hierarchy" so much as they believe they benefit from said hierarchy due to some privilege or benefit they glean from the current system.

    Sometimes that benefit is tangible (I get to be married to a powerful man and live in a big house with servants and spend all my time with friends and family). Sometimes not (I get peace of mind knowing I'll go to heaven and sing with the angels because I was such a good person on Earth). Sometimes its purely a consequence of intimidation (I support the patriarchy because I fear reprisal for going against it).

    But there's always more on the table than a blind belief.

    With Musk fanbois, whats incredibly is how little there really is on the table. There's a social aspect, certainly. And I guess you get the thrill of riding in an expensive car, which is a thing Americans have been fetishizing for over a century. But its all such meager consumerist gruel. The yield on Muskism pales in comparison to just being a devote Catholic.

    • TheCaconym [any]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      With Musk fanbois, whats incredibly is how little there really is on the table

      It's hard to overstate just how much techbros have their heads in their asses when it comes to futurism bullshit. We're talking a lot of them perfectly convinced the singularity is real, we'll soon be colonizing Mars, and they'll upload their consciousness into a computer before the century is out. I think this plays a role as well; Musk's bullshit validates their belief in what is basically Silicon Heaven.

    • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Sometimes its purely a consequence of intimidation (I support the patriarchy because I fear reprisal for going against it).

      But there’s always more on the table than a blind belief.

      With Musk fanbois, whats incredibly is how little there really is on the table.

      For some people, on some issues, there really isn’t a direct material basis for believing what they belive. This is probably a minority of people and usually on culture war stuff, but it does happen.

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Not a direct material basis, no. But there is often an indirect or otherwise assumed material basis. Typically, it boils down to the assumption that my current (or future expected) quality of life is predicated defending the status quo or the current hierarchy.

        With Musk, you get a bunch of empty promises about a utopian techno-futurism. But when you consider what he ultimately delivers, it consistently feels more disappointing than comparable deliveries from someone like Henry Ford or Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. Nevermind the far more dramatic social/technological improvements made under a Deng or Khrushchev.

      • CheGueBeara [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        The cool thing about material bases is that you don't need to be cognizant of them not do they even need to be direct or overt. Billionaire worship follows from a consumerist way of life, itself a product of capitalism. It'll feed on people with insecurities or a desperation for someone to fix their problems or even just average folks that absorb pop culture nonsense like "Musk is a big inventor genius". The fanbois don't need a direct material interest in Musk's success to cheer for him, they just need to be part of the mass media discourse and a little unlucky.

    • LaughingLion [any, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      They don’t necessarily believe in the “natural hierarchy” so much as they believe they benefit from said hierarchy due to some privilege or benefit they glean from the current system.

      thats believing in the heirarchy if they are supporting it bubs

      like in the most fundamental sense

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        The whole "its just natural" line tends to hinge on "natural" being something that's in your perceived self-interest