this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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Lefty Memes
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An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of the "ML" influence of instances like lemmy.ml and lemmygrad. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.
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Steinbeck said it best when he said all Americans thought of themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
Good old American dream.
Worker and citizen maybe... consumer is more appropriate for the billionaire class as well.
Eh, I would describe the average student of today as consumers as well... I am one of em, and I do lit my consumption, but some of my friends are all day gamers, energy drinkers and Netflix hogs...
The word you're looking for is citizen. Consumer has replaced it to take away political agency and replace it with capitalism.
I like consumer in this context because commodification and consumption are how people achieve this false solidarity with billionaires, as well as being a ground for exploitation. Even notions of personal identity are achieved through consumption of the associated products (and displaying you consume them).
Citizen is just a subject of a state, the entire class structure is composed of citizens of different positions in the political economy with competing interests. The worker and employer are both citizens but the relationship between them isn't captured by that term.
I see your perspective and that you've thought through it. Makes sense to me!
Citizen definitely works for distinctions between state and it's subjects
(before I begin my ramble, I understand this is pedantic as hell and nitpicky af. Please know that I'm not calling this meme bad, I'm only looking for someone who is willing to be pedantic about definitions with me for a few rounds or so.)
What exactly does "false solidarity" mean? What exactly is this particular understanding of solidarity either? To my knowledge (aka, I googled it to ensure my vibe check of what solidarity meant was about right), solidarity is something you feel and are essentially motivated to solidarity actions by. To feel it is to experience it, which means, by my understanding of what solidarity is, the term "false solidarity" seems nonsensical.
Like I know what you're saying, I agree, the effect is that the worker works against his own interest for the betterment of the upper classes, but this phrasing seems.... I don't know exactly how to put it, but like inexact in a way that can probably be and should probably be fixed.
I would just call it poisonous solidarity (intentionally avoiding virus/illness words though) or something that simultaneously implies that it's externally put there by an external actor, it's bad for you, it can hurt things and people around you, but it still is legitimate solidarity. Those actions those workers are taking, those votes that they're casting, those are all real actions caused by real feelings. Implying the feelings themselves are false seems to me to be lazy and irrational at this point... If this were the late 1800s, that probably would be the best phrasing we had for this at the time, but language evolves and I don't think this language is illustrative/metaphorical enough to accurately portray the mechanics that our current culture allows us to portray about subjects like this.
But again, I'm not the arbiter of what's true, correct, or what actually should happen, so what do you people think?
I mean, we can make up buzz words all day if you want. Toxic solidarity. Class confusion. Stockholm solidarity. But the important thing is that people learn that solidarity should only be for your economic class or you're a dingus
Ah I think either I missed your point completely or you missed my point a bit.
Buzzwords are the entire vector used in delivering the message.
My question boils down to: Why use inefficient propaganda? Just because an old book used a particular phrase?
Memes are propaganda, and all I'm trying to say is that this could be done a very tiny bit better.
Giving up on the languages used is essentially giving up on the people who you want on your side... Isn't it?
As for your last point, I appear to be a dingus! Lol, what do you mean by "solidarity should only be for your economics class"?
Does the truth of a matter hold no value unless it gets shit done? Like, is your angle that it doesn't matter whether the feeling is real or not, so long as it's not productive to "our" (but who is we/our/etc all that pedantic bs etc etc) goals, it's justified in being called false? And if that is your position, does that not alienate people who have particularly strict measures for what constitutes something as true vs false/how would that be justified? (Then again, if I've mistaken what you meant by that line, this entire bit will probably make no sense, so if it seems like I'm way off base, please feel absolutely free to just ignore this whole section lol I like talking but not fighting, but I worry I may not come off that way here... So apologies in advance if that is the case)
When speaking of solidarity, it's a short form of saying class solidarity. So, true solidarity would be a member of the working class standing in solidarity with other members of the working class. When you see billionaires supporting the decisions of other billionaires they're showing solidarity for the bourgeois class. It's a term intended to spread and support class consciousness.
I understand your point on buzzwords, but sometimes vibes are more important than the semantics. But these is an Internet meme, not a political campaign. If you want to spread your buzzwords around, go ahead, they seem fun. But the vibes in this meme would remain the same if you swap false out with a better word. The intent is to teach members of the working class that supporting the bourgeois class is stupid.
The intent is to teach members of the working class that supporting the bourgeois class is stupid.
As well as not letting the bourgeois define your preferences and ideals of what makes a good life, consuming the aesthetic of luxury/opulence etc. so you can experience some false sense that you aren't actually working class.
Also recognizing the opposite, when working class aesthetics are appropriated by the bourgeois.
Gritty/Fetterman 2024.
Yeah now that the presidency is largely a symbolic nod to the "soul of the nation," it's time for a Gritty run.
Capitalism isn't a class though
The capitalist class/bourgeoisie is depending on the ontology of class you use.
Yeah capitalism is the system, 'capitalist' is the class, vs proletariat. People who use their capital to derive a profit, vs workers who have no capital but use their labor to earn a profit.
~~lefty~~ tankie memes