Who will survive in America?
Who will survive in America?
Who will survive in America?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hmr8YLNzoQ
The Real Class War
21–30 of 634 posts
Re: The Real Class War
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, this is what gets me. Say what you will about the man, but few people complain that Elon Musk is a billionaire because clearly he's repeatedly investing his wealth in actually trying to advance humanity in meaningful ways. Similar story with Bill Gates and his foundation. But wtf is the average billionaire (of which there are thousands) or hundred-millionaire (of which there are tens of thousands) doing wit…
Or they are just quietly building businesses, rather than make flashy headlines. You don't need to "advance humanity" - just creating a service or product to satisfy since other human's needs is a good enough goal.
Advancing humanity should be a requirement for access to that kind of money.
It's a hugely privileged position to be in, and the idea that it comes with exactly zero responsibility to Rest of World is nonsensical.
Re: The Real Class War
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, this is what gets me. Say what you will about the man, but few people complain that Elon Musk is a billionaire because clearly he's repeatedly investing his wealth in actually trying to advance humanity in meaningful ways. Similar story with Bill Gates and his foundation. But wtf is the average billionaire (of which there are thousands) or hundred-millionaire (of which there are tens of thousands) doing wit…
Or they are just quietly building businesses, rather than make flashy headlines. You don't need to "advance humanity" - just creating a service or product to satisfy since other human's needs is a good enough goal.
Sure, but once you’ve done that and you’re rich, what do you do then?
For most billionaires the answer seems to be that you buy a moderately upgraded version of all the stuff you had when you were middle class, and then you sit around content to watch the numbers slowly increase.
Do something interesting! It doesn’t have to be noble, it doesn’t have to be for the greater good, just do something! Build a palace to rival the Queen’s! Build an enormous statue of yourself! Hire a thousand concubines on a desert island! Colonise Antarctica! Single-handedly bring back the classical symphony by sponsoring an annual competition for the best one! Build an island and declare yourself king of it! Just do something, guys!
Re: The Real Class War
#24What a fantastic article; this might be the high point for my 2019 Hacker News reading. What clarity of vision.
It is remarkable reflecting after an article like that on the complete inability of the US political system to organise itself to reward work done rather than access to the super-elite social circles. I'd love to know if this Julius fellow has a take on what mechanisms the 0.1% are using to drive the growing wage gap.
I already have an opinion; I just think if he has one it will be more insightful.
Re: The Real Class War
#25Amusing - it's immediately obvious that Harvard's political philosophy degrees, or at least Julius Krein's, seem to be given out based on word count and not much to do with political philosophy. It's regrettable to see an Ivy League education wasted on a man that would go on to declare himself an alt-right nationalist, and start his own 'zine to provide his readership his own shallow intellectual veneer over their bi…
While Krein used to support Trump, he decisively abandoned him after Charlottesville and calling him alt-right now doesn't seem founded in fact: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Krein To be frank, I think your sort of self-satisfied academic left rhetoric is a large part of the problem, and so you are so in love with it that you've fundamentally misunderstood the writer's argument, which is a great deal closer to…
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Re: The Real Class War
#26Amusing - it's immediately obvious that Harvard's political philosophy degrees, or at least Julius Krein's, seem to be given out based on word count and not much to do with political philosophy. It's regrettable to see an Ivy League education wasted on a man that would go on to declare himself an alt-right nationalist, and start his own 'zine to provide his readership his own shallow intellectual veneer over their bi…
Did you even read TFA?
I understand a little of what you're saying in your second paragraph, and personally I prefer the term 'working poor' instead of 'working class'. Since people these days can work 3 jobs and still be poor. But these kinds of definitions are not what should be focused on. I think you're missing the forest for the trees.
I see no evidence for the argument you make in your third paragraph. Nor do I understand why you read this as some neo-fascist trick on class consciousness.
Re: The Real Class War
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
While Krein used to support Trump, he decisively abandoned him after Charlottesville and calling him alt-right now doesn't seem founded in fact: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Krein To be frank, I think your sort of self-satisfied academic left rhetoric is a large part of the problem, and so you are so in love with it that you've fundamentally misunderstood the writer's argument, which is a great deal closer to…
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What do you believe Krein is recuiting for?
Re: The Real Class War
#28Amusing - it's immediately obvious that Harvard's political philosophy degrees, or at least Julius Krein's, seem to be given out based on word count and not much to do with political philosophy. It's regrettable to see an Ivy League education wasted on a man that would go on to declare himself an alt-right nationalist, and start his own 'zine to provide his readership his own shallow intellectual veneer over their bi…
Just as an additional data point to the conversation, I didn’t know who the author was (I don’t live in the States) and I think this was my first time visiting the website on which the article was published, and as such I thought the author was more on the left of the political spectrum.
Re: The Real Class War
#29I read it, though not closely, and am still unclear what is the "real class war". The educated-but-alienated professional elite against the oligarchs? I'm just guessing.
Also, he kind of loses it in the final paragraphs, which weakened my impression of the rest.
Re: The Real Class War
#30What a fantastic article; this might be the high point for my 2019 Hacker News reading. What clarity of vision. It is remarkable reflecting after an article like that on the complete inability of the US political system to organise itself to reward work done rather than access to the super-elite social circles. I'd love to know if this Julius fellow has a take on what mechanisms the 0.1% are using to drive the growin…
> political system to organise itself to reward work done
How do you decide which work is valuable and which work isn’t?