Listen to a reading of this article: ❖ If the working class had as much class solidarity as the ruling class has there never would've been a ruling class. ❖ Stealing someone's labor is worse than stealing their property, because it's theft of their life; you can replace property if you want, but you can't replace hours of life. And rigging the system so people need to work longer hours in order to survive is this form of theft at mass scale.
Your point cannot be overstated. Too many people who ought to know better still seem wrapped up in personalities: "Nancy Pelosi has got to go"; "AOC is such a phoney!" Both statements are true, but mask the hundred others just as bad waiting in the wings to replace them.
I am an old woman now and although I have always recognized how the bosses steal our lives through wage slavery, I didn't really recognize how much wear and tear they do on our bodies too.
When I was young and healthy, I took the bumps and bruises, strains and sprains in stride. But they have all come back to me now as arthritis, tendinitis and other aches and pains that may or may not require medical intervention in the end.
When I was climbing poles for the phone company in San Franciscco back in the 70s and 80s, coming down hard on my ankle did not hurt too long. It healed. And so did my back injury.
But now I need to use a stick to walk on that ankle and maybe a hip replacement from what was a minor injury at the time.
So my point is that the bosses don't just rob your time, they take a long-term toll on your physical body while begrudging health care and pensions for their workers.
My problem with Donald Trump isn’t Trump himself; in a country off 330 million people there are bound to be more than a few deranged ‘charismatic leader’ types. Those who suffer from anxiety, depression, low self-image, etc., deserve our compassion—but not psychopaths. They’re often great salesmen; attractive, charming, and confident, but have zero empathy for anyone except themselves. Unencumbered by conventional moral standards, anxiety, and self-doubt, they’re often ‘successful’ in their pursuits. As a detective I watched some pass lie detector tests when their statements were proven false. In short, they’re what every corporate lobbyist wants in a politician, what every shareholder wants in their CEO, and what both Democrats and Republicans want in their President. Voila, Trump! No, my problem isn’t Trump; it’s with his “supporters”. Regardless of Trump’s stated political positions—even if they were identical to those of Bernie Sanders— his behavior was so obviously and unmistakably arrogant, narcissistic, insulting and megalomaniacal—in short, everything parents warn their children not to be—it’s hard to understand how anyone could like, let alone trust him to lead the most powerful country on earth. Trump’s long history of failed and/or fraudulent business enterprises, bankruptcies, and stiffed creditors are exactly what one would expect from such a troubled individual. It’s outrageous to say that almost half the country who voted for Trump after 4 years of his lunacy share the values of a sociopathic bully, but please, somebody, refute it. What’s even more outrageous is that the other (establishment) half does too, and the Biden administration documents precisely that, as Noam Chomsky said, “Psychopaths rule the world.”
Although labor theft (theft of life as you so clearly elaborate) has been ongoing since before feudalism, corporate capitalism has elevated it to a new level, an art form in service to greed. Without the least fragment of shame. When our privatized insurers title themselves "Optima Health" and other twisted linguistic absurdities and oxymorons, our rage should be unbounded as they repeatedly use the standard capitalist model of cutting labor costs. This translates to not only stealing the labor of remaining overstretched medical/hospital staff, but uncounted lives of patients who die because of such under-staffing. This is pure sociopathy and its perpetrators deserve no less than isolation from the rest of humanity and the rest of the biosphere. I'd suggest some tiny volcanic island in the Pacific where they can all be huddled together to await their inundation by rising seas, except that I'd be hesitant to further pollute the oceans with their highly concentrated toxicity.
I agree with everything you say, save one. You blame the system, but humans keep recreating the systems. They seem to arise from something in ... I won’t say human nature, but something very deep in human habit, in the “collective unconscious,” maybe ever since agriculture, when people negan to be able to accumulate food and other goods and steal them from each other. The Euroid empires had the technology and the arrogance to ramp this way up.
There’s a book called Thr Parable of the Tribes that states that if one tribe becomes aggressive toward its neighbors, they have to remake themselves in its image or be taken over, expropriated and enslaved. This is the vicious cycle: self;-defense, but also envy and emulation. One successful greedhead gives others ideas.
Revolution: you empower a cadre to expropriate the billionaire oppressors. Then they keep it and become the new billionaire oppressors.
"If the working class had as much class solidarity as the ruling class has there never would've been a ruling class."
Romantic fantasies and Les Miz aside, as long as the 1% stay united, revolutions do not happen when the 99% revolt and overthrow the 1%, because the 1% will do whatever it takes to retain power.
Revolutions happen when the 1% are divided amongst themselves, usually as a result of a disagreement how to respond to external threat or a dispute over how to divvy up spoils.
"Biden may be stopping all progress and breaking most of his campaign promises, but he did also campaign on bringing back the Obama years so in that sense he kept all his campaign promises."
Um, no. He has not reinstated JCPOA (the Iran pact), nor has he stopped the prosecution of Julian Assange. He has not "brought back the Obama years," as awful as that might be given Obama's actions in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine.
Not sure where you came from but you have emerged in my consciousness as a clear and powerful voice. I look forward to your comments.
Your point cannot be overstated. Too many people who ought to know better still seem wrapped up in personalities: "Nancy Pelosi has got to go"; "AOC is such a phoney!" Both statements are true, but mask the hundred others just as bad waiting in the wings to replace them.
Another great piece. Thank you, Caitlin.
I am an old woman now and although I have always recognized how the bosses steal our lives through wage slavery, I didn't really recognize how much wear and tear they do on our bodies too.
When I was young and healthy, I took the bumps and bruises, strains and sprains in stride. But they have all come back to me now as arthritis, tendinitis and other aches and pains that may or may not require medical intervention in the end.
When I was climbing poles for the phone company in San Franciscco back in the 70s and 80s, coming down hard on my ankle did not hurt too long. It healed. And so did my back injury.
But now I need to use a stick to walk on that ankle and maybe a hip replacement from what was a minor injury at the time.
So my point is that the bosses don't just rob your time, they take a long-term toll on your physical body while begrudging health care and pensions for their workers.
I submitted your article to The Unz Review
https://www.unz.com/news/
Good one.
Caitlin, excellent article.
My problem with Donald Trump isn’t Trump himself; in a country off 330 million people there are bound to be more than a few deranged ‘charismatic leader’ types. Those who suffer from anxiety, depression, low self-image, etc., deserve our compassion—but not psychopaths. They’re often great salesmen; attractive, charming, and confident, but have zero empathy for anyone except themselves. Unencumbered by conventional moral standards, anxiety, and self-doubt, they’re often ‘successful’ in their pursuits. As a detective I watched some pass lie detector tests when their statements were proven false. In short, they’re what every corporate lobbyist wants in a politician, what every shareholder wants in their CEO, and what both Democrats and Republicans want in their President. Voila, Trump! No, my problem isn’t Trump; it’s with his “supporters”. Regardless of Trump’s stated political positions—even if they were identical to those of Bernie Sanders— his behavior was so obviously and unmistakably arrogant, narcissistic, insulting and megalomaniacal—in short, everything parents warn their children not to be—it’s hard to understand how anyone could like, let alone trust him to lead the most powerful country on earth. Trump’s long history of failed and/or fraudulent business enterprises, bankruptcies, and stiffed creditors are exactly what one would expect from such a troubled individual. It’s outrageous to say that almost half the country who voted for Trump after 4 years of his lunacy share the values of a sociopathic bully, but please, somebody, refute it. What’s even more outrageous is that the other (establishment) half does too, and the Biden administration documents precisely that, as Noam Chomsky said, “Psychopaths rule the world.”
Although labor theft (theft of life as you so clearly elaborate) has been ongoing since before feudalism, corporate capitalism has elevated it to a new level, an art form in service to greed. Without the least fragment of shame. When our privatized insurers title themselves "Optima Health" and other twisted linguistic absurdities and oxymorons, our rage should be unbounded as they repeatedly use the standard capitalist model of cutting labor costs. This translates to not only stealing the labor of remaining overstretched medical/hospital staff, but uncounted lives of patients who die because of such under-staffing. This is pure sociopathy and its perpetrators deserve no less than isolation from the rest of humanity and the rest of the biosphere. I'd suggest some tiny volcanic island in the Pacific where they can all be huddled together to await their inundation by rising seas, except that I'd be hesitant to further pollute the oceans with their highly concentrated toxicity.
Critical Race Theory is about "The System". Look at how it has been weaponized to support the system.
A slight disagreement on property. It takes "life units" to obtain property.
I agree with everything you say, save one. You blame the system, but humans keep recreating the systems. They seem to arise from something in ... I won’t say human nature, but something very deep in human habit, in the “collective unconscious,” maybe ever since agriculture, when people negan to be able to accumulate food and other goods and steal them from each other. The Euroid empires had the technology and the arrogance to ramp this way up.
There’s a book called Thr Parable of the Tribes that states that if one tribe becomes aggressive toward its neighbors, they have to remake themselves in its image or be taken over, expropriated and enslaved. This is the vicious cycle: self;-defense, but also envy and emulation. One successful greedhead gives others ideas.
Revolution: you empower a cadre to expropriate the billionaire oppressors. Then they keep it and become the new billionaire oppressors.
How do you fight THAT? Extinction?
"If the working class had as much class solidarity as the ruling class has there never would've been a ruling class."
Romantic fantasies and Les Miz aside, as long as the 1% stay united, revolutions do not happen when the 99% revolt and overthrow the 1%, because the 1% will do whatever it takes to retain power.
Revolutions happen when the 1% are divided amongst themselves, usually as a result of a disagreement how to respond to external threat or a dispute over how to divvy up spoils.
"Biden may be stopping all progress and breaking most of his campaign promises, but he did also campaign on bringing back the Obama years so in that sense he kept all his campaign promises."
Um, no. He has not reinstated JCPOA (the Iran pact), nor has he stopped the prosecution of Julian Assange. He has not "brought back the Obama years," as awful as that might be given Obama's actions in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine.
Other than that, spot on!
Thanks!