BB #3: Class Warfare

Today a second Brain Bubble; a pair of related BBs fired into the interweb. The first one concerned the “mainstream liberal media” meme. This one concerns another meme we seem to accept as given, but which I think deserves deeper thought.  (Of course, I’m prone to thinking most things deserve deeper thought than they get, but that’s another BB… or SB… or full-blown article!)

In any event, this BB concerns the idea of “Class warfare.”  It’s a phrase often used by the upper class to describe any sort of perceived “attack” against them. It implies “dirty fighting” and seeks to turn any complaint—no matter how valid—into an ad hominem attack.

Which, of course, would be unfair, right?

Wrong.

It deflects valid complaints about the real unfairness, which is the growing gap between the very wealthy and the rest of us.  A gap that is increased and strengthened by purchased political power.  It turns any attempt to suggest that participating at a greater level in the welfare of the country is somehow unfair to them.  That being asked to contribute in greater measure to the country that provided the platform for their wealth is unjust.

The Conservative point of view so frequently seems to boil down to, “I got mine. Fuck you. Go get yours (if you can).”  It’s an oddly evolutionary view coming from the side that seems associated with anti-science and anti-evolution. It’s the Liberals that seem more prone to equalization and supporting the weak.

Maybe class warfare is exactly what is already going on.  And the regular citizens of this country, the so-called 99%, are the ones losing the battle.  That’s hardly surprising given the disparity of power involved.

The danger here is a tipping point where the powerless and voiceless begin to feel as other beleaguered groups do when they find no recourse except terrorism. I’ve often wondered why it hasn’t happened already.  Back in the 70s I predicted the country would be “in flames” by the turn of the century, but fortunately (I guess) that hasn’t happened.

In this modern era, I had some hope the “Occupy” movement would gain some sort of traction and accomplish something.  I thought the same thing regarding the Obama presidency.  But the Occupiers have faded and vanished, and nothing changed.  Obama promised change, and nothing changed.

At some point we decided that “Greed is Good!”  At some point, we became almost entirely materialistic and shook off the annoying restrictions of principle and intellect and honor and fairness.  At some point we turned into a voyeuristic society of tweeting, ignorant, stupid, narcissistic, shallow assholes.

No wonder nothing changes. We’ve all anesthetized by our cell phones and “reality” programming.  We’ve abdicated thought and analysis to the talking heads on the TV machine without realizing there’s no thought or real analysis there, either.

It is class warfare, and not only are we losing, we may already have lost. It’s possible that it’s already over. It’s our bed, bed bugs and all.

Is it too late, or can we still engage? It will require waking up and taking back control from the wealthy. It is class warfare, and we’re losing, in part, because we’ve accepted the meme that “class warfare” is bad, that we should sit back, relax, watch TV and let business proceed at will.

We’ve said, “Hell, NO!” to that kind of shit in our past. Maybe we need to unify our voices and say it once again.