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Nov. 26th, 2017 12:13 pmIt turns out that my previous claim was in fact correct.
Nov. 26th, 2017
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Nov. 26th, 2017 04:34 pmThis is the result of a couple of books I've read and some stuff that ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
amaebi and I have been talking about, and I'm wondering on opinions.
If you're committed to the idea that the US is the land of equal opportunity, and observe that most really rich people are white and an awful lot of really poor people are black, you can either give up your idea that the US is the land of equal opportunity, or you can stick with it and maintain that black people are lazy. This makes opposing welfare easy, because the people who need welfare have already been mentally classified as unworthy.
That's a self-consistent view of class struggle, and I'm curious about ideas for how to attack it, that aren't easily dismissed as anecdotal.
What I've seen in the past is that it's really easy for people to lure themselves into the "I'm unlucky, and that's why I'm in this situation, but those other people in the same situation as me are just lazy" mindset. (Also: "I need this disabled sticker because some days I can barely make it back to the house and have to spend the rest of the day in bed, but THAT person is just walking along like he's fine, so why does HE have a disabled sticker?")
There's another route out of this dilemma, thatamaebi and I have halfway mentioned, that being people who say "yeah, the US isn't equal, but since I'm on the top, I'm quite happy with the situation." I don't think there's any point trying to have a discussion with people who start from that premise.
But I am interested in trying to talk to people who don't see how economics, class, and race are intertwined.
amaebi and I have been talking about, and I'm wondering on opinions.If you're committed to the idea that the US is the land of equal opportunity, and observe that most really rich people are white and an awful lot of really poor people are black, you can either give up your idea that the US is the land of equal opportunity, or you can stick with it and maintain that black people are lazy. This makes opposing welfare easy, because the people who need welfare have already been mentally classified as unworthy.
That's a self-consistent view of class struggle, and I'm curious about ideas for how to attack it, that aren't easily dismissed as anecdotal.
What I've seen in the past is that it's really easy for people to lure themselves into the "I'm unlucky, and that's why I'm in this situation, but those other people in the same situation as me are just lazy" mindset. (Also: "I need this disabled sticker because some days I can barely make it back to the house and have to spend the rest of the day in bed, but THAT person is just walking along like he's fine, so why does HE have a disabled sticker?")
There's another route out of this dilemma, that
amaebi and I have halfway mentioned, that being people who say "yeah, the US isn't equal, but since I'm on the top, I'm quite happy with the situation." I don't think there's any point trying to have a discussion with people who start from that premise.But I am interested in trying to talk to people who don't see how economics, class, and race are intertwined.