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Capitalist: No no, what you really hate is socialism.
Citizen: Why do I hate socialism?
Capitalist: Because socialism causes [lists problems created by capitalism].
Citizen: Wow, I sure do hate socialism.
But also,
Citizen 2: [lists actual socialist policies while avoiding certain key words]
Capitalists: I can get behind that.
Let me fix that for you,
Citizen 1: I can get behind that.
Capitalists: You shouldn’t, that’s communism! Think of all the money you have to waste when you get rich!
And that’s the core of it.
Every poor moron thinks that one day they will get rich and they don’t want to ruin things for their future rich self. The don’t actually DO anything to get rich, they don’t have a plan, resources, much intelligence, they’re not doing anything to improve their life, go to school, seek a better job, learn about finances. But one day, they’ll be rich. They believe this until they get to about 50-60, their health issues start creeping up, then it starts to dawn on them that they’re over the hill and have no real future beyond the current state of affairs–same life, but just older, sicker and weaker. THEN they sometimes wake up and see the bullshit, but it’s too late.
Some of these people pick up a modest inheritance from their dead parents, but they usually piss it away in a few years, certainly aren’t going to invest it, use it to build anything or have any expectation of creating generational wealth. They buy a big pickup truck and some assorted stupid shit, and it’s wasted in a flash.
Everyone likes socialism, as long as it isn’t called socialism. Two sides of the same coin. We’ve been duped.
I would also argue that few people have made a very good case connecting peoples concerns to capitalism. So to many it has a Southpark-ish ring to it: capitalism is bad. Don’t do capitalism. It’s an abstract thing, and abstract opponents make people feel despair and impotence.
The most persuasive people I’ve seen don’t use that word often. They directly link peoples concerns to inequality (unfair taxation and employment laws), climate ( fossil fuel companies) and unregulated abusive businesses such as big tech.
Those are not faceless, abstract entities, so people can organise their (justified) anger better.
Has anybody else heard good approaches for helping people understand ?
If you’re willing to go “you’re absolutely right! What a good point!” every time the person you’re talking to aligns with you even a little bit like “you’re absolutely right, you work so hard it’s completely unfair you’re taxes are so high… and the taxes of the wealthy are so low in comparison!” they feel smart and validated and might not even notice you tacked on your own commentary and also avoid buzz words it’s actually not that difficult to talk to people in an effective way.
Presenting as a truck driving blue collar good ole boy before subtly bringing up how much we lose to income tax while the wealthy pay next to nothing is my technique. If they defend the wealthy they’re lost to the boot polish, but that’s pretty uncommon in my experience.
The most persuasive people I’ve seen don’t use that word often. They directly link peoples concerns to inequality (unfair taxation and employment laws), climate ( fossil fuel companies) and unregulated abusive businesses such as big tech.
This is the way. Lefty movements have rightly been criticized for being too academic. Expressing people’s concerns in a more relatable and practical way gets more people on board.
As if you can simplify it to one single cause
No seriously, if you pull off enough masks all of societies problems are just money and xenophobia in varying degrees.
I just spent 7 weeks researching organ shortages in the US for a class. Turns out live donations go up dramatically if you reimburse people for the money they lose while doing the procedures and families are more willing to donate the organs of the dead if they are told they’re going to a similar demographic as them.
Homelessness? “Those people” don’t deserve human rights and they don’t have the money for housing. Xenophobia and money.
Opioid crisis? The pharma companies knew there were addictive and factored that into their push to get doctors to prescribe them like candy. This has been proven by internal documentation released in court. Money.
White supremacy? Don’t even have to explain it. Xenophobia.
Rise of Facism? Xenophobia exploited for money.
Pay gaps between men and women? Xenophobia because women aren’t taken seriously and money because it benefits the company to pay someone less.
Stagnant wages? Xenophobia because rich people don’t think poors deserve money and money because they get more if we get less.
Racism in America? Xenophobia and money. Most racists are just raised to hate by previous generations. If you go back far enough for those you find that the hate came from considering the other as property and by turning them into people you hurt the owner’s money. The seed was money and the fruit is xenophobia.
Christian nationalism? It looks like xenophobia but Surpise! It’s money. Religious capitalism is the idea that God rewards those w who are holy and what better reward than wealth? So if you’re poor, it’s because god doesn’t like you which means you’re evil.
It is literally money and hate all the way down.
Everyone
