For so long the working class has had to endure systemic and state violence with its head down, and we're told this is just business as usual. If you struggle, that's just a stroke of bad luck or some fault on your part- not literally how the system was designed. Anyone pointing out that the system feeds on human suffering and exploitation is labeled some kind of goofy communist or free loader, and disregarded. Folks just kept pushing because they still had some belief that they could work hard enough to earn the American dream or whatever, but reality is creeping in. No matter how hard we work, we are never safe. No matter how much you save or earn or don't spend, it's never enough- and we're told it's always our fault. But we know better, I think people are just finally feeling able to admit it to each other. We're all getting fucked over and no amount of asking politely or voting for Healthcare reform or any of that has fixed the root of the problem
One of the things I keep thinking about is how the shooter's family was what most people would call "rich". Not "billionaire living on an entirely different planet" rich, but they had some money and influence.
Our failing profit driven systems (healthcare, the prison industrial complex, etc) were never intended to hurt people like them, but corporate America is getting so greedy that regular rich people can't entirely purchase their way out of the more unsavory aspects of capitalism (while the justice system is still stacked in their favor, loads of mommy's special boys in the alt right have some sort of criminal record that I think contributed to their outrage and employment issues in ways they previously thought people like them are exempt from). So, it's a much bigger shock to the system to them when these systems finally start impacting them.
Historically, they were its biggest cheerleaders and "proof" that it worked. You'll likely never meet Elon Musk, but these guys are on a level that you may see them at local events. They're the success story fairy tale people point to in their community and say, "Look at them. They made it and you can too."
When the system finally starts harming them and becomes intolerable to everyone except the elite of the elite, well, things are going to get real interesting.
Of course. The mooks congregating on every rundown, street corner were never given the education (by design) to put into words or frame into historical context the ways in which they are being fucked on a daily and systemic basis. When they get fed up with life's bullshit, they lash out in indigenet, rightous anger, but unable to articulate how they are feeling in words their many grievances, they just start repeating the same phrases, over and over. Their disposition can often go from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds, because there really isn't much pinging around in their brains besides whatever they are doing in the moment. They were never taught (again, intentionally, by design) to busy their thoughts on grander things like Why's? How's? Gee, I wonder. Because that is irrelevant to the daily task at hand: getting money/food/shinynewdistaction.
The people at the bottom are the ones you never have to worry about. They stay in line, because they keep each other in line. If one happens to rise above it's station to the next social strata, that is all well and good. They are, however, still easily kept in line by either skeletons from their past or by the fear of being kicked back to where they (think) belong.
Which leads me to where I am agreeing with you and said all this to help bolster your point. The upper middle class. The middle class. They are a few generators reserved from living paycheck-to-paycheck. They may have some young relatives who still start out that way, but not one in their family lives in a trailer park, or is on government assistance or has even the fear of CPS being called on them. Like you said. This class of people know how to think. They know how to function. Go high up enough along the food chain, their children go to finishing schools and spend their summers at summer camps whose tuition cost the down-payment of a small house. This is where Mangione came from. He's smart, motivated - and YOUNG. What happens when you take a young, handsome, intelligent man with everything to live for, pull the rug out from underneath him - and then point blame at some villainous CEO? That, my friends, is how you create a radical.
I wish Mangione hadn't allowed himself to be caught. He could have got more of them. He basically just lit himself on fire like Bushnell. Did Bushnell stop the war in Israel? No. Did I remember his name without first stopping and googling it first? Also, no. And we all know the saying: don't set yourself on fire to keep other people warm: cause in Mangione's case, a life sentence is forever, and ain't no one picking up that torch once they put an extinguisher to his corpse.
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u/Dogtimeletsgooo 16d ago
For so long the working class has had to endure systemic and state violence with its head down, and we're told this is just business as usual. If you struggle, that's just a stroke of bad luck or some fault on your part- not literally how the system was designed. Anyone pointing out that the system feeds on human suffering and exploitation is labeled some kind of goofy communist or free loader, and disregarded. Folks just kept pushing because they still had some belief that they could work hard enough to earn the American dream or whatever, but reality is creeping in. No matter how hard we work, we are never safe. No matter how much you save or earn or don't spend, it's never enough- and we're told it's always our fault. But we know better, I think people are just finally feeling able to admit it to each other. We're all getting fucked over and no amount of asking politely or voting for Healthcare reform or any of that has fixed the root of the problem