when it comes to africa for example i was taught that they're poor cause their land isn't harvestable or some bullshit like that, and then i find out as an adult it's actually cause western countries fucked the shit out of them and huh that makes a lot more sense

  • CommieGirl69 [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    besides propaganda there's also the issue that the middle class tends to emulate (or attempt to emulate) the lifestyle of the dominant classes, so they kinda hate even "progressives"

    for instance, here in brazil middle class homes and even apartments used to come with a special bedroom, built away from the rest of the house, obviously in poorer conditions, and usually right next to the service area/kitchen (some of us even called it "quarto de empregada", or maid room)

    this kind of shit explains why the middle class was pissed when lula kept raising the minimum wage to the point where they couldn't have their own house servant anymore

    not that i'm a fan of lula, but it really shows how even the slightest amount of liberal "reform" riles people up (and you can't even call this a reform, right? it's just raising the minimum wage ffs)

    • RNAi [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Exactly, the middle class absolutely hates seeing the low class improve their lives. There a shitton of racism mixed in there, but yeah, same in Argentina.

      • CommieGirl69 [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        There a shitton of racism mixed in there

        oh yea definitely, but even that racism is closely associated with the class issue

        remember, the irish were basically treated like the "black people of europe" when they were the colonized/lower classes, in fact the "racial scientists" (phrenologists and the like) used to argue the irish brain was similar to the african brain and therefore they were also "made to serve", to "work with their hands", etc

        as ireland became independent and started rising up as a 1st world country this no longer served a purpose and sounds absurd to us, but it was very real and deeply believed in up until the late 19th century or so

        so that racism exists, but it's also built upon the need to dehumanize the lower classes so we can justify their conditions (though of course when this takes root in society it starts working at a subconscious level)

    • RNAi [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      And yeah, we can all shit on soc-dems like Lula here, but in any other place of the internet if I catch a whiff of anti-pink-tide I react like

      • CommieGirl69 [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        4 years ago

        i'm still like that with evo/chávez, and even correa to a lesser extent, but i've grown so disillusioned with lula and his party that i don't really care anymore :(

        after realizing how conservative his government was (and even reactionary in some aspects - he sanctioned a crime bill that was similar to that of the democrats from the 90s, or at least had similar consequences, literally doubling the amount of people in jail in ~10 years), i'm kinda just... whatever

          • CommieGirl69 [he/him]
            ·
            edit-2
            4 years ago

            oh god in the first page there's already someone getting overexcited because lula mentioned marx

            being a leftist feels like painfully spinning in an eternal vortex of struggle sessions

            alright i've joined the sub