Will Shetterly's Blog, page 37

Things I shared on November 14ths

When I ask "Why do the children of the rich deserve to be given money, while the children of the poor do not?" rich people say we all can give to whoever we please. That's like being asked why someone deserves to be beaten and being told we all have a right to swing our arms. - Neoliberals think justice is shattering ceilings for the 1%. Socialists think justice is shattering walls for the 99%

Things I shared on earlier November 13ths

Universalists believe this: "We must approach the problem as humans first, and whatever else we are second." —Malcolm X - An archaic insult every socialist should know: “quomodocunquizing clusterfist” Quomodocunquizing: making money in any possible way Clusterfist: a ‘close-fisted’ or grasping fellow - I learned a sad thing: An early draft of the Pledge of Allegiance included “equality

Racism fails to explain why Obama won far more of the white working class vote than Hillary Clinton

From Class Reproduction in America Revisited – Policy Tensor: Donald Trump won the white working class, defined as non-Hispanic whites without a college degree, by 39 percentage points. It was the largest margin since 1980. But it did not come out of the blue. Starting in the 1990s, the white working class has increasingly abandoned the Democratic Party. Even in 2008, when Obama won with a

Things I shared on earlier November 12ths

When capitalists say, "It can't work," they mean, "We can defeat it." - Identitarians don't care that other groups suffer from the things they do. This makes solidarity impossible. - People, stop making fun of Trump being afraid of the rain. He has a completely understandable fear of melting. - "Proper English" is the polite way to say "ruling class English". - Dear people who agonize

Things I shared on earlier November 11ths

You cannot reason people out of denial. You can only avoid what comforts them and hope time will make them strong enough to face the world. - The Bible means "the books", but it's bound as one book. That's its first contradiction. - The Bible, an anthology, contradicts itself. The verses you cite reveal everything about you and nothing about your religion. - Unpopular opinion? Malibu

Things I shared on earlier November 10ths

Most people who benefit from neoliberalism simply can't understand the rage of those who have been shafted by it. - "a black student is three times more likely to be suspended or expelled than a white student." Without considering class, that's meaningless. A black student is two-and-a-half to three times more likely to be living in poverty than a white student. Are poor white students and

Things I shared on earlier November 9ths

If the internet didn't feed trolls, the easily-outraged would die of boredom. - Agnostic: An atheist who is quickly bored by arguments about theism and atheism. - Emma Bull, talking about the failure of facts to reassure people: "Statistics can't hug you." - Reminder: The socialist Charles Fourier coined the word "feminism", a fact that's inconvenient for capitalists and identitarians

Things I shared on earlier November 8ths

People who complain about "class reductionists" believe it's wrong to focus on poverty instead of identity. - The worst part of the election cycle: The week after, when pundits tell their fans why the results confirm their biases. - In the US, a third-party vote in a major election is the only way we can register "none of the above". - The mob that went to Tucker Carlson's house is an

Things I shared on earlier November 7ths

I just saw a Star Wars fan ask if the bad reviews for Solo were from Russiabots. She added, as though this were a known fact, that bad reviews for The Last Jedi were from Russiabots. I haven't seen Solo, but if she's right about Last Jedi, I have to tell Emma I'm a Russiabot. - I may start speaking of Marie Antoinette feminists instead of identitarian feminists. They're people who are upset by

Things I shared on earlier November 6ths

I'm not sure which is harder for an old gunfighter—having the kids keep gunning for you, or despairing because the kids shoot with so much enthusiasm and so little skill. - If you see power in terms of privilege, you defer to those who grant privileges lest they be taken away. If you see power in terms of rights, you demand them from those who try to withhold them and fight if they refuse your