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Harry Potter and the Status Quo rule
(lemmy.blahaj.zone)
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this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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It's a broad stroke for sure. But there is definitely a demographic of milquetoast liberals who believe in progressive causes as long as it doesn't bring them too much discomfort. The sort of person who wants the far right to go away "so we can all get back to brunch", but is terrified of the sort of mass structural change that would be required to create a truly egalitarian society.
I believe that's the sort of person being addressed here. It doesn't help that the word liberal is heavily overloaded.
I believe the post is referring to those who are both economically and socially liberal. The rainbow capitalists. They believe in equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community, black and brown people etc. but refuse to acknowledge, learn or put the work into how a system like neoliberal capitalism results in these groups being oppressed in the first place.
In order for equality to be achieved the system has to radically change. A lot of liberals don't want this because it makes them feel uncomfortable (and a lot of the time this conflicts with a system they benefit from).
Right, it's the sort of person who thinks that female billionaires or black billionaires are icons of progress. As opposed to the continued existence of billionaires being a blight on society regardless of their gender or colour.
Or the sort of person who donates to a charity sleepout for homelessness, but opposes social housing development or improved renters' rights at the expense of landlords. Probably because they are a landlord themselves and are incapable of confronting the hypocrisy of being sad about the housing crisis while simultaneously profiting from it.
"Rainbow capitalist" is a great term btw.
No one is a bum because they're lazy. You're the second Mexican I've heard this ridiculous bullshit from this week, which isn't many but it's still concerning.
Man, that's such a cold and unempathetic attitude. What do you think causes homelessness? How many homeless people do you think got there because they were just lazy, useless people? As opposed to being dealt a shitty hand by life?
Once you're in that situation, it's insanely hard to get out of it. "Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" is a satirical phrase intended to highlight the physical impossibility of such a task. If you genuinely want people to be able to improve their lives, you have to give them a helping hand to get them started.
Instead, you basically want to hand a death sentence to anyone who's unfortunate enough to hit rock bottom. That's fucked up man.
In our lifetime it's very likely we're going to pass the point where there won't be enough work to go around.
Once a computer or machine can do a job to a human standard, no one is going to hire humans that you need to keep paying to do that job when a company can CapEx the machine one time.
What then?
Millions or billions starve?
A safety net someone can live off is essential because a lot of the world is going to be relying on it in a few decades. And it needs to be in-place and solid long before we get to that point.
Being freed from having to work should be a good thing we aim for, not some impending extinction event.
I would encourage you to look into the stats on welfare abuse and see how rare it is. The number of people who abuse the system and use it as an excuse to be lazy is tiny in relative terms. Clamping down on that small minority is only possible if you are willing to accept huge collateral damage in the form of pain inflicted on disadvantaged people who just need some help to find their feet.
If you allow people to slide into abject poverty, it just causes more poverty and social problems. Do you want to increase the number of people who are desperate, have nothing to lose, and feel like society doesn't give a shit about them? What do you think that does to a person? Do you think that motivates them to better themselves? For some people maybe, but for many it means doing whatever they have to in order to survive, including crime, drugs, etc.
I would much rather live in a compassionate society that helps people when they need help. If that means that a small number of people get away with not pulling their weight then so be it. It's a small price to pay.
It's pretty damn clear that countries with a strong social safety net are happier and more prosperous over all than those with a callous sort of dog eat dog attitude.