Post AnV32gHDtKoPwe782S by dedicto@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by dedicto@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AnV1BbvbEIcL9h87t2 by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-10-29T13:05:03Z
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“The rentier economy is characterized by low growth and therefore less material prosperity for everyone, but more guaranteed relative position for those on top. And people, it turns out, really like relative position.” @sjshancoxli https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-plutocrat-populist-axis/
(DIR) Post #AnV1nTguIq0Oc4JXyC by dedicto@mastodon.social
2024-10-29T13:11:53Z
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@interfluidity @sjshancoxli IOW billionaires and bigots alike are fundamentally about cutting off their noses to spite their faces. The fundamental divide is between those who want to be better off in absolute terms vs. those who want to boss others around.
(DIR) Post #AnV2EVtGEZjlFiz4ue by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-10-29T13:16:47Z
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@dedicto @sjshancoxli i think it takes a whole lot of social insurance before any of us are comfortable with a really dynamic prosperity. it’s like how safety is a more basic element of Maslow’s hierarchy than “self-actualization”, growth. once safety is threatened, a bitter rentier stasis seems better than risking any alternative. some of us are more comfortable with risk and dynamism than others. but i think as a social generality this is very broadly true.
(DIR) Post #AnV32gHDtKoPwe782S by dedicto@mastodon.social
2024-10-29T13:25:50Z
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@interfluidity @sjshancoxli Yes. But these same bossy asshats resist every effort to create greater security for all through #basicincome, housing reform, public healthcare, etc. Security, too, can be relative. And these people have basically sold their souls to the devil. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
(DIR) Post #AnV3Uw2asI7MwckBTU by dedicto@mastodon.social
2024-10-29T13:27:13Z
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@interfluidity @sjshancoxli Only if your core value is the right to put a boot on someone else's face does fascism start to make sense.
(DIR) Post #AnV3UwmK8GhJES8hkm by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-10-29T13:30:57Z
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@dedicto @sjshancoxli yeah. the fascism is a step farther than safetyism. i think it’s organized effectively by the plutocrats, because safetyism alone invites calls for social insurance, so plutocrats construct threats, an “enemy within”, that is not them and that social insurance can’t address.
(DIR) Post #AnV3UxiSe7Ca8lL8N6 by dedicto@mastodon.social
2024-10-29T13:30:33Z
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@interfluidity @sjshancoxli This is of course a broad-brush oversimplification. I think there are many who appear to be all in on relative position, but are actually conflicted, and could be bought off with enough absolute prosperity and security if it were on offer. But they despair of it, and become bigots out of sheer sour grapes.
(DIR) Post #AnV3ihRZwVwPj7zgLQ by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-10-29T13:33:27Z
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@dedicto @sjshancoxli most people are adaptive, i think. they can be nice liberals under one social order, cruel bigots under another. they’ll gravitate towards whichever order seems most plausible to protect them from unwanted change and threats both social and economic.
(DIR) Post #AnV4IiiofVXU7EETjM by dedicto@mastodon.social
2024-10-29T13:39:57Z
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@interfluidity @sjshancoxli Probably true. And there is, in physical chemistry terms, a potential barrier separating the two regimes. The offer of prosperity and security needs to be GENEROUS, not minimal, to overcome that barrier. Instead of seeing their task clearly, the lanyards blame it on racism — as if that were a core value, instead of a symptom.
(DIR) Post #AnV4KUst5SxHmJn4hU by dedicto@mastodon.social
2024-10-29T13:35:30Z
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@interfluidity @sjshancoxli This also gets to why I am so FURIOUS with the corporate Democratic Party for having let things get this close to a precipice. These damn lanyards are the ones who should have been trying hard to provide enough prosperity and security to buy off the conflicted bigots. Instead, they too have gone along with the billionaire script.
(DIR) Post #AnV4KVXedtZ5okrdFA by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-10-29T13:40:17Z
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@dedicto @sjshancoxli exactly. if they get another chance, i have hopes they may finally be learning something. Biden’s domestic policy already reflects a real break with we-love-Google Obamaism, and the very public betrayal of liberal ideals by Musk and Bezos are harder to overlook than the whole rogues gallery of Crows and Leos and Kochs. if Democrats win, i think they do understand they were at some risk, small but real, of ending up in the camps.
(DIR) Post #AnV4SVCXnBOR4unmCW by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-10-29T13:41:43Z
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@dedicto @sjshancoxli Yes. The foundation upon which we all stand must be stable and worth preserving, not a grudging consolation prize granted from humiliating pity.
(DIR) Post #AnV4YrT9ugn7sXbbnc by dedicto@mastodon.social
2024-10-29T13:42:52Z
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@interfluidity @sjshancoxli That's what I'm counting on, too. That this will be too close for comfort. Not in terms of percentage of the vote, but in terms of psychological vividness.
(DIR) Post #AnV4bzYsHcdPqRluds by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-10-29T13:43:26Z
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@dedicto @sjshancoxli it sure feels like a near-death experience to me.
(DIR) Post #AnV5FnaIEWDCHXPtUu by dedicto@mastodon.social
2024-10-29T13:50:37Z
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@interfluidity @sjshancoxli I'm reminded of the scenes in The Lord of the Rings where people to whom Mordor and the Dark Lord were never more than old tales are overshadowed by the fumes of Mount Doom and confronted by orc armies and flying Nazgûl.
(DIR) Post #AnV5IT5WtUEpaCIfaq by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-10-29T13:51:07Z
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@dedicto @sjshancoxli seems apt!
(DIR) Post #AnX5YzATmJIK1gPYum by kentwillard@zirk.us
2024-10-30T13:03:31Z
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@interfluidity We could purchase more goods and services, thereby increasing employment, innovation, and satisfaction. Instead, we deplete our income competing for shelter.