It's almost cliche to say this, but Americans are all equal. However, some are more equal than others. Growing into an adult, and also growing wise, I have seen with stark clarity the strings of manipulation that are used to get adults and young adults to conform to certain prescribed behaviors. The illusion of freedom of choice in America is exactly that. You are free to choose, just so long as your choice happens to echo the one who holds the purse strings. It's mind boggling really how this is true from the billionaire to the head of a small family. It is true from the Hollywood producer to a dating profile on OK Cupid. People desperately try to manipulate other people through the access of money.
Here in Utah, I am privy to one of the most obscene uses of money and control wielded by religious families. Let's say a teen (read this as a young adult) identifies as LGBTQ and they "come out" to a religious parent. I've seen them wield access to money like a knife. On the line are threats of homelessness, abandonment, isolation, because the young person very rarely has access to the kinds of money one can live on when on their own (especially with prices soaring in the rental market).
The solution to all of this (of course) is democratic social and monetary safety nets. Being a democrat, I think all people should have access to free medical care and universal basic income. All people should be allowed to vote regardless of whether they are in prison (or not), and housing should just be a right. If you are kicked out of a home, the government should step in and provide you with one free of charge. Call me a leftist radical if you wish. But this so called "socialism" terrifies the ruling class, because it takes away their weapon. It defangs them with the ability to scourge a person with access to money.
Utah is also one of the states in the union that is deliberately tossing extra unemployment benefits because they want to try to starve people who are on unemployment into taking crappy jobs that no one wants to do. My brain just cannot comprehend why they think this is a good thing. It is so transparently evil, that I don't know why the ones who are making this decision don't think of themselves as the devil incarnate. If you want people to work, pay them $30.00 per hour with childcare, paid leave, a full benefits package, and a generous pension. If that bankrupts you, then you are not (in fact) a job creator and don't deserve the company that you are trying to create. Stop exploiting people. Exploitation is bad, mmmkay? If your excuse is: well I want to be a job creator so I can be rich. Well tough titty. You don't have a right to be rich, and you never did. Too many people want to be rich, and it's this greed that is destroying the nation and the world.
What I don't get is why anyone would want to control another person so terribly. What does economic control give you? What does social control give you? Even if they were your own child, why wouldn't you want them to just choose to love you. If they didn't choose that, maybe it's you, and you should be a nicer person. Why would anyone want anyone else around them that wasn't choosing of their own free will to be around them? At some basic level, wouldn't you want a loved one to be taken care of no matter what? I wonder if these people (who are so into controlling another) get mad that plants grow on their own (and flourish) whether or not they are around. I think it would be a healthy lesson for people to understand that you do not have the right to treat another person like garbage. No one belongs to you. Everyone deserves a healthy and prosperous life, and they deserve to flourish regardless whether or not they even like you as a person.
I shake my head at the frustration of understanding why some people just crave power over another. Wouldn't it be healthier if you instead craved painting a nice model or if you craved playing some Dungeons & Dragons with friends on a weekend or if you craved a good book? Wouldn't it be funner if you solved a problem and then told other people how you did it and helped them to overcome a challenge too? Imagine what the world would be like. I like to think that in a world where roadblocks were removed and people could just choose what they would like to do or what they would like to believe or who they would like to love without coercion or manipulation, that everyone would be so much happier. The only way we will ever find out is to disarm those with money so that they can't scourge the backs of the ones without and make them do things that they don't want to do.
During the lockdown from late March to June last year I was making about 50% more than usual thanks to unemployment with the extra $600 a week. Most people still on unemployment with that extra $300 a week would be making more than taking some crappy fast food or retail job with almost no benefits. So yeah instead of raising the minimum wage and providing benefits, let's just end unemployment to force people back into crummy jobs. That's what Jesus would do, right?
ReplyDeleteFascists nationwide (my new name for Republicans and I'm just calling it like I see it) who have state government power are filled with hatred and they also believe in Jesus. They always have ways to justify their departure from morality with an excuse. Once the excuse has sunk in, they can go back to treating people as less than human. They can go back to abuse, threats, and malignant control. Psychologically, it's pathological narcissism created by an incredibly devalued self image while forging a grandiose reflection of themselves. This becomes a well of need that has no bottom, and it's destroying everything.
DeleteEven though I have a degree, at one time when the economy was horrible, I worked a lot of low paying jobs with no benefits, until I managed to climb out of that situation. Oddly, I didn't view those jobs as crappy. I was glad to at least have a job. The thing is we do need workers in fast food and retail. In Michigan, we have help wanted signs everywhere. If the minimum wage was raised to $30 an hour, it may sound great, but that cost is going to be passed onto the customer. Even now we are having the problem of inflation. It has nothing to do with politics, but if someone can work, they should work no matter what that work might be rather than take free money. Greed is something that drags our society down, but so does laziness.
ReplyDeleteJust this morning I saw a thing on Twitter where an ice cream shop couldn't find workers, so they raised their starting pay to $15 an hour. The owner of the shop discovered that this had many hidden benefits. The workers were happier. Because they weren't working 2 or 3 jobs, they were on time, more rested, and nicer to the customers. Also, turnover went down, so hiring costs and such went *down* for them.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever talked to someone, and the conversation was all about other people? What was going on with them. And what they *should* be doing. I find these conversations tedious, but I have noticed of late that there are certain kinds of people that only talk in this sort of topic realm.
I imagine these people would love to control those in their orbit if they could. So, they would totally exert financial control if they could. It's like their lives aren't filled with things that interest them, so they look to the people around them for their fulfillment.