https://twitter.com/K_Niemietz/status/1704093894647161094
☝️me when I don't understand how the ideological reproduction of capital works
(besides the classical anecdotal evidence)
Dud literally has no idea what capitalism even is much less how it structurally insures dudes at the top accumulate wealth.
I guess what they say about education is correct - nobody is gonna give you the education you need to overthrow them
Its difficult to describe capitalism & its overarching effects without sounding vaguely conspiratorial.
The idea that a maligned incentive system can result in profound society-wide harm without operating under some agreed upon master plan absolute breaks liberals brains. Individualism brain really cannot fathom the idea that class interests arise from a bunch of people making decisions that benefit their individual interests. The vague notion of competition outweighs the fact that every "competitor" has a shared interest to make decisions that directly run counter to the interests of the workers & society at large. Somehow that same conceptualization of competition never carries over to reducing labor costs.
Emergent behaviors require no collusion. Capitalism would still result in widespread social ills even if the entire ownership class was comprised of nice people™
Its difficult to describe capitalism & its overarching effects without sounding vaguely conspiratorial.
It is not surprising that the CIA financed several conspiracy groups and on the other hand propagated the very idea of "conspiracy theory" to disqualify any point of view against hegemonic.
I would say the conspiracy is by design :real-conspiracy-hours:
Conspiracy theories take on the superficial trappings of socialist ideas, that there is a single group in society actively causing its major problems, as a smokescreen to distract the people from forming class consciousness. It's the same reason fascists will adopt superficially leftist sounding rhetoric.
Mostly it is just a disconnect between the systemic vs. individualist framing. I do think that if you follow every lead under either framework you can actually get to the same conclusion since these systemic issues are the sum of entire classes acting in their perceived individual self-interests that just happen to be shared. But the systemic framing offers a very helpful layer of abstraction that makes getting there (and therefore further examination of the issues) much less of a chore.
"Conspiracy theory" is a term that's used whenever anyone ascribes conscious intent to people with power. I can say to you that school teachers are concerned about their salaries, and they're organizing, threatening to strike, and pressuring. I can say to you that farmers are organizing and looking for subsidies. The minute I say to you that the plutocracy that own most of America, that they are consciously pursuing power and wealth, someone will come along and say, "What do you have, a conspiracy theory?" or they'll say "Oh, you're cynical, or you're paranoid." Their view is that stuff just happens, things just happen, or our leaders are stupid, or they're jerks, or they're confused, and they don't know any better, and of course, the critic knows much better than everybody else. People who operate in this world operate with intent. There's no such thing as imperialism without imperialists, there's no such thing as capitalism without capitalists, there's no such thing as rulers that walk around like somnambulists in their sleep. You watch out for your interests. You watch out and you make calculations. What makes you think the people at the top don't do that? What makes you think they don't collude and organize? "Oh what do you think? You have a group of people who sit around in a a room and plan this?" And I'll say "Ohhhh noooo, they don't sit around in a room. They sit around on carousels and merry go rounds and they go skydiving and hold hands... of course they sit in rooms!"- Michael Parenti
Max Stirner asks: How is it that personal interests always develop, against the will of individuals, into class interests, into common interests which acquire independent existence in relation to the individual persons, and in their independence assume the form of general interests? How is it that as such they come into contradiction with the actual individuals and in this contradiction, by which they are defined as general interests, they can be conceived by consciousness as ideal and even as religious, holy interests? How is it that in this process of private interests acquiring independent existence as class interests the personal behavior of the individual is bound to be objectified, estranged, and at the same time exists as a power independent of him and without him, created by intercourse, and is transformed into social relations, into a series of powers which determined and subordinate the individual, in which, therefore, appear in the imagination as "holy" powers?- Karl Marx
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Often the term “conspiracy” is applied dismissively whenever one suggests that people who occupy positions of political and economic power are consciously dedicated to advancing their elite interests. Even when they openly profess their designs, there are those who deny that intent is involved. In 1994, the officers of the Federal Reserve announced they would pursue monetary policies designed to maintain a high level of unemployment in order to safeguard against “overheating” the economy. Like any creditor class, they preferred a deflationary course. When an acquaintance of mine mentioned this to friends, he was greeted skeptically, “Do you think the Fed bankers are deliberately trying to keep people unemployed?” In fact, not only did he think it, it was announced on the financial pages of the press. Still, his friends assumed he was imagining a conspiracy because he ascribed self-interested collusion to powerful people.
At a World Affairs Council meeting in San Francisco, I remarked to a participant that U.S. leaders were pushing hard for the reinstatement of capitalism in the former communist countries. He said, “Do you really think they carry it to that level of conscious intent?” I pointed out it was not a conjecture on my part. They have repeatedly announced their commitment to seeing that “free-market reforms” are introduced in Eastern Europe. Their economic aid is channeled almost exclusively into the private sector. The same policy holds for the monies intended for other countries. Thus, as of the end of 1995, “more than $4.5 million U.S. aid to Haiti has been put on hold because the Aristide government has failed to make progress on a program to privatize state-owned companies” (New York Times 11/25/95).
Those who suffer from conspiracy phobia are fond of saying: “Do you actually think there’s a group of people sitting around in a room plotting things?” For some reason that image is assumed to be so patently absurd as to invite only disclaimers. But where else would people of power get together – on park benches or carousels? Indeed, they meet in rooms: corporate boardrooms, Pentagon command rooms, at the Bohemian Grove, in the choice dining rooms at the best restaurants, resorts, hotels, and estates, in the many conference rooms at the White House, the NSA, the CIA, or wherever. And, yes, they consciously plot – though they call it “planning” and “strategizing” – and they do so in great secrecy, often resisting all efforts at public disclosure. No one confabulates and plans more than political and corporate elites and their hired specialists. To make the world safe for those who own it, politically active elements of the owning class have created a national security state that expends billions of dollars and enlists the efforts of vast numbers of people.
55 Tufton Street
Bloke shares office space with LGB alliance, Migration watch UK, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, and the Taxpayers Alliance.
Context for American users: this is the equivalent of a tweet coming from Langley.
Big
trans pride flags in banner
author of book "Universal Healthcare Without The NHS"
Pro trans rights, against freely available trans healthcare.Scratch that Tufton Street fash, definitely a transphobe.I'm pretty sure the guy is using the trans flags in his banner to show trans activists are communists, but in a bad way. I'm pretty sure that's a picture of the Communist Party of Ireland demonstrating somewhere.
Now, nost of us would see Lenin flags with trans flags and feel great about it. That rules. This idiot thinks it's frightening, but honestly he's part of the economic that should be frightened of us
Yeah, I realised that when I noticed his address is listed as 55 Tufton Street, a notorious home for fascist lobby groups.
"High-status" is a convenient way for freaks to avoid saying what they mean. Is Marxism is well-respected, or taken seriously by important people? By whom? Surely not the "apolitical"* businesspeople. By the average man on the street, and revolution is upon us? By Marxist academics and the (((cultural elite)))? By people on Twitter who were mean to you?
*lol lmao
western economic theory is just that scene from family guy where lois is speaking to the audience about patriotism or whatever
