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  • This reminded me of a passage from that Conspiracist Manifesto released a few years ago. It was, uh, not great, but this quote has always stuck with me:

    At this point, it would be foolish to ask whether they are conspiring, the 1% who hold %48 of the world's wealth, who attend the same type of schools, places and people everywhere, who read the same newspapers, succumb to the same fashions, bathe in the same discourses and in the same sense of their hereditary superiority

    Of course they breathe the same air.

    Of course they conspire.

    They don't even have to plot for that

    • Those who suffer from conspiracy phobia are fond of saying: “Do you actually think there’s a group of people sitting around in a room plotting things?” For some reason that image is assumed to be so patently absurd as to invite only disclaimers. But where else would people of power get together – on park benches or carousels? Indeed, they meet in rooms: corporate boardrooms, Pentagon command rooms, at the Bohemian Grove, in the choice dining rooms at the best restaurants, resorts, hotels, and estates, in the many conference rooms at the White House, the NSA, the CIA, or wherever. And, yes, they consciously plot – though they call it “planning” and “strategizing” – and they do so in great secrecy, often resisting all efforts at public disclosure. No one confabulates and plans more than political and corporate elites and their hired specialists. To make the world safe for those who own it, politically active elements of the owning class have created a national security state that expends billions of dollars and enlists the efforts of vast numbers of people.

    • Damn that's a nice quote, shame

  • It's amazing how these people have somehow managed to read even less theory than the average communist.

    • The smart ones do read theory, but regurgitate this cuz that's their job. And then the stupid ones read this and regurgitate this, because it's already shit

  • I can't get a business person to read their emails or attempt to understand their business even when a fuckload of money is on the line. The idea that they could have their mind changed about their desire for ownership and exploitation to live a fulfilled life in a world where we all suffer less is laughable. Their buy-in is incredibly solid. The idea that they'd strike a deal with a union more quickly than they would a CIA-backed mercenary group charging 20k to make the problem go away is ahistorical

  • It's not like most of them are cartoon villains who cackle and rub their hands together, jerking off at the thought of inflicting pain upon the poor.

    It's more that they're sociopaths that don't give a fuck about it. And to whatever extent they or their lackeys DO have any humanity, they insulate themselves from the effects of their actions through many layers of management, outsourcing, etc.

    And perhaps some of the smaller fries only do care about their business, but what's good for their business generally is good for the capitalist class. They donate to lobbyist groups that further the interests of the whole capitalist class, whether they are acting purely in their "own" interests. They lobby for local ordinances and tax breaks that achieve the same goal. You get the idea.

    These groups and those that work with them are probably closer to cartoon villains though.

  • Okay if capitalism doesn't exist and nobody does anything on behalf of it, then it should be okay if we overthrow it, right? I mean you can't defend that which doesn't exist. So if there's nothing to defend, then what's the problem with socialism? What are you preserving?

    • I already know how these people would answer. Their response is that what exists currently is simply freedom. Maybe some minor tweaks are necessary to bring more people into the fold of freedom, but otherwise what exists now is not an intended, designed structure.

      However they'd claim socialism is an attempt to corral natural human freedom in an unnatural way.

      These people don't like admitting that certain people have intrinsic political conflict with others. They view all conflict as misunderstandings or the personal moral failure of greed

  • Like this has got to be case in point of a generation raised on media who can only relate to politics through spectacle and aesthetics.....right? I'm coming up short on analogies but this is like the equivalent of wondering why UFC fights don't look like marvel movie action pieces or some shit. Like guess what kids: in real life oligarchs and business interests don't meet in secret shadowy smoke filled rooms. They meet out in the open on million dollar yachts and pieces of property and they often televise everything openly.

    The real life truth is every bit as evil but its also infinitely more banal.

  • If they only care about their business, that in and of itself makes a political statement. Absence of care defines politics as much as presence of care does

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