Welcome to the Ruling Class*
It sucks when someone believes there’s a serious problem in your life and doesn’t respect you enough to acknowledge it. Or is too afraid of how hard it might be to offer even recognition, let alone help. It’s too much for them so you’re on your own. And if it keeps up they often start to judge you for it – you just deserve mistreatment if you keep getting it. They have to hate you, to justify how bad they’d feel if they didn’t. Oppression requires denial.
I am feeling extra fed up with capitalism today. Well-meaning people so often celebrate the opportunity to participate in the worst parts of it, when they’re finally granted that privilege by the establishment. Get rich quick like trading firms do by speculating in secondary markets. It mostly works, if you agree to the game and can afford to sometimes lose. All you need is tens of thousands of dollars to buy in and a willingness to not see the violence inherent in the system.
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, and none of us are individually responsible for the harms the system creates; we can’t escape the system we’re in except by changing it. But we could at least stop promoting the parts with the least value and the most harms. Direct speculation on securities is bad enough, but secondary markets are bets about other people’s bets, intended to help big players meet their predictions – good, bad, or otherwise – and to influence the price of underlying securities beyond what they already do through control of corporate boards, debt and lobbying. I was accosted with a bunch of propaganda today and spent some time pushing back against it. It riled me up at first and I was excited to talk about it, but eventually it always just makes me sad.
I skipped my most direct contributions to capitalism today, and did none work. Not even email. Told me boss about it ahead of time and slept in. Felt fine about it all day. It did make me forget Melissa was coming but that actually went pretty well, even if it caught me by surprise. She didn’t get most of her shit but she got some of it, and seems motivated to make the rest go before too long.
Got my hairs cut today, got some dowels and PEX, harassed the manager at Ace Hardware about their age discrimination policies, and finally got weed for myself. Wrote at @BPS about low and high function days and the value of both, shared found art with HA4H, and considerer an ancient house in the Central District (which is where Seattle stashes many PoC, immigrants, and old industrial waste). Wrote a postcard and canceled an insurance policy and made plans to do driving on Friday. There is lots of busy left this week but I’m feeling okay about it thus far. And feeling good about officially canceling work today to keep myself in that zone.
ZiB
*Title Footnote, since WordPress won’t let me link directly. 1Not actually the ruling class, obviously. But the part of the underclass where the rich bribe you more efficiently, so they don’t have to deal with plebs directly. It feels like safety, if you ignore how it kills people. It is safety, compared to being targeted yourself. But it’s the same fragile kind of endless hustle you had before, just … Continue reading
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Stars for Later
| ↑1 | Not actually the ruling class, obviously. But the part of the underclass where the rich bribe you more efficiently, so they don’t have to deal with plebs directly. It feels like safety, if you ignore how it kills people. It is safety, compared to being targeted yourself. But it’s the same fragile kind of endless hustle you had before, just with a little more leeway to keep your patriarchy unit alive. |
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