I have this hypothesis that people’s sympathy can only extend as far as their capacity to imagine themselves in that situation. Basically, they could imagine themselves as an IDF soldier just following orders, but can’t imagine themselves in an open air prison being slowly killed after trying everything except violence. They’ve been to a music concert, but they haven’t been in a hydrologic press of systemic violence.
They can imagine themselves as landlords and as renters, they may even know some of both. So maybe they want some compromise, but a restructuring of society where they needn’t be subjected to a landlord is outlandish. It’s a lot harder to imagine themselves disenfranchised and subject to the whims of carceral state.
Therefore, I postulate, when they have an interaction with Marx more generally, you might tell them “society can work perfectly well without some asshole acting as an all powerful middle man between you and what you produce - on the contrary, it would work better!” They can’t accept it because they have a very vivid image of them exploiting the surplus labor value themselves.
Of course that is the case. They defend for example being an IDF solider, because they or their social circle is sympathetic to being an imperial agent and may very well end up in service to imperialism. “My cousin Dave works for raytheon, he isnt a bad dude! He would never want genocide!”
I have family in law enforcement and working in “”“defense.”“”" Don’t want to say too much because it would easily dox me, but I’m talking about actual feds.
One of the steps towards becoming a socialist is seeing how awful that part of my family is. They’re fucking ghouls and some of the worst pigs you’ll ever meet. Made me say “If they treat their own family like this, what the fuck are they doing to people who have no recourse?”
Maybe it’s because my maternal grandmother was genuinely one of the worst people I’ve ever known and my dad was a piece of shit so I have a personality disorder. I don’t see why it’s so hard for people to accept their family members are terrible human beings. Especially people who had literal nazis or slave owners in their family.
Even Heinrich Himmler loved his family. He called his daughter regularly by telephone when he was away. She’d come visit her father at work, where she’d get candies from other nazis, including Hitler. Her father just happened to be head of the SS and had her with him when overseeing the Holocaust at Dachau. She was 16ish when the war ended, so it’s not like she didn’t understand what was in front of her.
Yah. Like your dad was literally head of the SS. Shows how complicit Germans were. It wasn’t a few leaders who tricked everyone. It was a nationwide belief system.
I have this hypothesis that people’s sympathy can only extend as far as their capacity to imagine themselves in that situation. Basically, they could imagine themselves as an IDF soldier just following orders, but can’t imagine themselves in an open air prison being slowly killed after trying everything except violence. They’ve been to a music concert, but they haven’t been in a hydrologic press of systemic violence.
They can imagine themselves as landlords and as renters, they may even know some of both. So maybe they want some compromise, but a restructuring of society where they needn’t be subjected to a landlord is outlandish. It’s a lot harder to imagine themselves disenfranchised and subject to the whims of carceral state.
Therefore, I postulate, when they have an interaction with Marx more generally, you might tell them “society can work perfectly well without some asshole acting as an all powerful middle man between you and what you produce - on the contrary, it would work better!” They can’t accept it because they have a very vivid image of them exploiting the surplus labor value themselves.
Of course that is the case. They defend for example being an IDF solider, because they or their social circle is sympathetic to being an imperial agent and may very well end up in service to imperialism. “My cousin Dave works for raytheon, he isnt a bad dude! He would never want genocide!”
I have family in law enforcement and working in “”“defense.”“”" Don’t want to say too much because it would easily dox me, but I’m talking about actual feds.
One of the steps towards becoming a socialist is seeing how awful that part of my family is. They’re fucking ghouls and some of the worst pigs you’ll ever meet. Made me say “If they treat their own family like this, what the fuck are they doing to people who have no recourse?”
Maybe it’s because my maternal grandmother was genuinely one of the worst people I’ve ever known and my dad was a piece of shit so I have a personality disorder. I don’t see why it’s so hard for people to accept their family members are terrible human beings. Especially people who had literal nazis or slave owners in their family.
Even Heinrich Himmler loved his family. He called his daughter regularly by telephone when he was away. She’d come visit her father at work, where she’d get candies from other nazis, including Hitler. Her father just happened to be head of the SS and had her with him when overseeing the Holocaust at Dachau. She was 16ish when the war ended, so it’s not like she didn’t understand what was in front of her.
His daughter became the “queen” of neo-nazism in post war germany, girly never thought her dad was wrong in the slightest.
Yah. Like your dad was literally head of the SS. Shows how complicit Germans were. It wasn’t a few leaders who tricked everyone. It was a nationwide belief system.
She was a nazi socialite, why should change?