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Steinbeck said it best when he said all Americans thought of themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
Good old American dream.
Worker and citizen maybe… consumer is more appropriate for the billionaire class as well.
Eh, I would describe the average student of today as consumers as well… I am one of em, and I do lit my consumption, but some of my friends are all day gamers, energy drinkers and Netflix hogs…
The word you’re looking for is citizen. Consumer has replaced it to take away political agency and replace it with capitalism.
I like consumer in this context because commodification and consumption are how people achieve this false solidarity with billionaires, as well as being a ground for exploitation. Even notions of personal identity are achieved through consumption of the associated products (and displaying you consume them).
Citizen is just a subject of a state, the entire class structure is composed of citizens of different positions in the political economy with competing interests. The worker and employer are both citizens but the relationship between them isn’t captured by that term.
I see your perspective and that you’ve thought through it. Makes sense to me!
Citizen definitely works for distinctions between state and it’s subjects
(before I begin my ramble, I understand this is pedantic as hell and nitpicky af. Please know that I’m not calling this meme bad, I’m only looking for someone who is willing to be pedantic about definitions with me for a few rounds or so.)
What exactly does “false solidarity” mean? What exactly is this particular understanding of solidarity either? To my knowledge (aka, I googled it to ensure my vibe check of what solidarity meant was about right), solidarity is something you feel and are essentially motivated to solidarity actions by. To feel it is to experience it, which means, by my understanding of what solidarity is, the term “false solidarity” seems nonsensical.
Like I know what you’re saying, I agree, the effect is that the worker works against his own interest for the betterment of the upper classes, but this phrasing seems… I don’t know exactly how to put it, but like inexact in a way that can probably be and should probably be fixed.
I would just call it poisonous solidarity (intentionally avoiding virus/illness words though) or something that simultaneously implies that it’s externally put there by an external actor, it’s bad for you, it can hurt things and people around you, but it still is legitimate solidarity. Those actions those workers are taking, those votes that they’re casting, those are all real actions caused by real feelings. Implying the feelings themselves are false seems to me to be lazy and irrational at this point… If this were the late 1800s, that probably would be the best phrasing we had for this at the time, but language evolves and I don’t think this language is illustrative/metaphorical enough to accurately portray the mechanics that our current culture allows us to portray about subjects like this.
But again, I’m not the arbiter of what’s true, correct, or what actually should happen, so what do you people think?
I mean, we can make up buzz words all day if you want. Toxic solidarity. Class confusion. Stockholm solidarity. But the important thing is that people learn that solidarity should only be for your economic class or you’re a dingus
Ah I think either I missed your point completely or you missed my point a bit.
Buzzwords are the entire vector used in delivering the message.
My question boils down to: Why use inefficient propaganda? Just because an old book used a particular phrase?
Memes are propaganda, and all I’m trying to say is that this could be done a very tiny bit better.
Giving up on the languages used is essentially giving up on the people who you want on your side… Isn’t it?
As for your last point, I appear to be a dingus! Lol, what do you mean by “solidarity should only be for your economics class”?
Does the truth of a matter hold no value unless it gets shit done? Like, is your angle that it doesn’t matter whether the feeling is real or not, so long as it’s not productive to “our” (but who is we/our/etc all that pedantic bs etc etc) goals, it’s justified in being called false? And if that is your position, does that not alienate people who have particularly strict measures for what constitutes something as true vs false/how would that be justified? (Then again, if I’ve mistaken what you meant by that line, this entire bit will probably make no sense, so if it seems like I’m way off base, please feel absolutely free to just ignore this whole section lol I like talking but not fighting, but I worry I may not come off that way here… So apologies in advance if that is the case)
When speaking of solidarity, it’s a short form of saying class solidarity. So, true solidarity would be a member of the working class standing in solidarity with other members of the working class. When you see billionaires supporting the decisions of other billionaires they’re showing solidarity for the bourgeois class. It’s a term intended to spread and support class consciousness.
I understand your point on buzzwords, but sometimes vibes are more important than the semantics. But these is an Internet meme, not a political campaign. If you want to spread your buzzwords around, go ahead, they seem fun. But the vibes in this meme would remain the same if you swap false out with a better word. The intent is to teach members of the working class that supporting the bourgeois class is stupid.
The intent is to teach members of the working class that supporting the bourgeois class is stupid.
As well as not letting the bourgeois define your preferences and ideals of what makes a good life, consuming the aesthetic of luxury/opulence etc. so you can experience some false sense that you aren’t actually working class.
Also recognizing the opposite, when working class aesthetics are appropriated by the bourgeois.
Whats stopping you from forming your own kibbutz type community in your country? Real question
Land?
No water or other infrastructure where the land is available, which is possible to overcome but takes a lot of resources. Where it has been tried in my country (US) it gets violently evicted by the police if they aren’t paying taxes or don’t officially own the land.
Gritty/Fetterman 2024.
Yeah now that the presidency is largely a symbolic nod to the “soul of the nation,” it’s time for a Gritty run.
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The capitalist class/bourgeoisie is depending on the ontology of class you use.
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And your perspective is?
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How is the climate there at the bridge you live under?
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Idk, trolls usually live under bridges in my part of the world.
I for one don’t like sand.
Yeah capitalism is the system, ‘capitalist’ is the class, vs proletariat. People who use their capital to derive a profit, vs workers who have no capital but use their labor to earn a profit.
leftytankie memesAny person who uses money to buy commodities is, in fact, a capitalist. Money used to invest in other people’s business output is very much what capitalism is all about. And why is the word “Capitalist” so dirty and scary to people? Trust me, I’ve seen parts of the world so impoverished people live in boxes with trenches for sewers. I say we have it pretty damn good to be part of a capitalist society and have enough wealth to buy the newest iphone or game system the minute it hits the stores.
Using money to buy commodities is a currency system. (As opposed to a barter system, where commodites are directly exchanged for other commodities.)
Capitalism is where there is an ownership class and a labor class, and the ownership class operates businesses for profit. The profit which flows to these owners comes from value which labor adds and is not compensated for; that compensation is diverted to the owners, who receive a (much) greater amount of compensation than the value they add.
Otherwise related, when the currency is not backed by a commodity (most commonly a rare metal like gold), that’s fiat money. It’s value is affected by the faith in the government which supplies it, as well as the total supply of said currency. When the price of products and services is determined by consumer demand, that’s a free market economy.
Capitalism is so good. Would you rather be insert nation exploited by capitalists?
“They’re not underdeveloped, they’re overexploited.”
Praaaaise
Buying goods is not even slightly the same thing as investing in the business selling them, of course.
I’m gonna assume you realized how dumb that claim was just after posting it, and I’d just like to say I appreciate your integrity for removing your default self-upvote.
Ah, yes, the good old sumerian capitalists buying bronze ore then complaining by clay tablets to their suppliers that quality has gone to shit because of how capitalist they are.
I can confirm this. I’m the last living sumerian king and this is all true.
spoiler
Look up the word for king in sumerian. I don’t expect many people to understand the joke without help, otherwise I wouldn’t explain the joke.
Traditionally, the term “capitalist” means “person with capital” in contrast to workers who only have their workforce to sell. The term “capitalism” is a later development linguistically.
If you have been to other countries, you saw what the capitalist world systems does. It’s not that some countries are capitalist and others are not, it’s that some are exploiting others in the capitalist world system. That you can buy the newest iphone means that someone made it.
I say we have it pretty damn good to be part of a capitalist society
This community is for posting anti-capitalist memes
So no one else with any differing opinion of any kind is allowed to post here. Got it. You only want to hear what supports your narrow point of view. Great way to go through life, bud.
Well if you want to see anything that supports capitalism you can go to millions of other places, it’s exhausting hearing the same tired comebacks over and over again so people that support true leftism tend to like spaces that are more specific for that. This is a community called “Lefty Memes”, I’m sure most people that follow this follow other communities as well that are less specific. Though I think it can be good for less left or pro-capitalists to discuss their views in these sorts of places.
If you went to a sub for a hobby just to say you dislike it then you’d expect a similar reaction. Just saying this place exists to spread anti-capitalist memes so you shouldn’t be surprised that people disagree with pro-capitalist opinions, if anything it’s the one thing you should expect, and if you don’t like it just don’t engage, easy. Doesn’t mean you can’t comment as long as you’re in line with the same rules as everyone else.
I don’t think my point of view is intuitive because I didn’t come to it easily, but it’s not like you know my point of view anyway you’re just expressing a prejudice. I’m surrounded by a society that is fueled by a suicide pact with the planet and fundamentally disagrees with my point of view, a random angry internet commenter doesn’t even register on this scale.
I’m expressing a prejudice? Well look in the mirror. I’m not the one all upset over someone else’s meaningful comment that deserves to be recognized as a valid if differing point of view. The problem with the world is, it’s become a suicide pact because of this attitude; if an opinion doesn’t align with yours then it must be wrong or “just a hobby.” You’re just as judgmental as everyone else.
Expressing a contrarian opinion for the sake of getting people to disagree so you can call them dumb basically, on a meme page, then being self-aggrandizing about it. Assuming that people who disagree with you simply haven’t considered your point of view is a touch grass moment.
Okay whatever. I’ll get over it.
They are a supporter of capitalism but in the terminology of socialist critique they are not a capitalist, as in a member of the capitalist class who owns the capital and therefore does not need to use their labor to earn money. This is in contrast to the proletariat or worker class who must use their labor to earn a living.
Many people in the world are impoverished, but what causes that? Was that caused by the lack of capitalism there? I assure you most people in poverty in the world are living under a capitalist system.
One factor in the impoverishment of the global South is due to people manipulating markets because of their ownership of the means of production. They are able to shift manufacturing to where they can get the most profit, while governments benefit from their business at the detriment of their citizens who are pushed into poverty by the corporations and governments who reduce regulations to benefit the capitalist class.
Those are good points, and in fact my college thesis was on the capitalist class vs the proletariat as it related to the global economy. In fact I researched it for months, so I’m familiar with the pro and con arguments about labor and market manipulation. It’s true that many economies in the world are impoverished, but not because of lack of capitalism, because of the “animal farm” model of social economy - some groups will always believe they are entitled to a bigger slice of the pie, and will horde it or hide it before they ever let it trickle down.
Those economies generally ARE as capitalistic as ours in the U.S. As for the South - that’s a regional problem of impoverishment and can be legitimately traced in part to enslavement of the already downtrodden. But once established that pattern is held in place by corporate greed and lobbyists for deregulation that favors the rich. I don’t disagree with that - it’s the way of the world that we live in.
