https://twitter.com/K_Niemietz/status/1704093894647161094
The think tank bros are not okay. Props to this dumbass retweeting all the people calling him a fucking idiot though. Good bit.
apolitical
I already knew this meant "status quo warrior ashamed of sounding right wing" but recent interactions with federated Lemmy users have really hammered in what a bunch of bootlicking sycophants for capitalism tend to call themselves "apolitical" or "nonpolitical." 
“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”
― Bertolt Brecht
“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”
― Bertolt Brecht
Brecht was cookin
how much could a bean cost, Michael... ten dollars?
It does seem to be "apolitical" awareness day on lemmy. Saw multiple threads on how the nonpoliticals want everyone to stop posting political memes
marx failed to consider this one
This reminded me of a passage from that Conspiracist Manifesto released a few years ago. It was, uh, not great, but this quote has always stuck with me:
At this point, it would be foolish to ask whether they are conspiring, the 1% who hold %48 of the world's wealth, who attend the same type of schools, places and people everywhere, who read the same newspapers, succumb to the same fashions, bathe in the same discourses and in the same sense of their hereditary superiority
Of course they breathe the same air.
Of course they conspire.
They don't even have to plot for that
Those who suffer from conspiracy phobia are fond of saying: “Do you actually think there’s a group of people sitting around in a room plotting things?” For some reason that image is assumed to be so patently absurd as to invite only disclaimers. But where else would people of power get together – on park benches or carousels? Indeed, they meet in rooms: corporate boardrooms, Pentagon command rooms, at the Bohemian Grove, in the choice dining rooms at the best restaurants, resorts, hotels, and estates, in the many conference rooms at the White House, the NSA, the CIA, or wherever. And, yes, they consciously plot – though they call it “planning” and “strategizing” – and they do so in great secrecy, often resisting all efforts at public disclosure. No one confabulates and plans more than political and corporate elites and their hired specialists. To make the world safe for those who own it, politically active elements of the owning class have created a national security state that expends billions of dollars and enlists the efforts of vast numbers of people.
The water cycle? Kind of ridiculous to think all those rivers are working together, most of them only care about their own flow. The idea that they all work together to prop up an 'ocean' is ridiculous.
how do all the birds know where the flock is going? nature really is a mystery
Birds are bourgeois
Unless they are gathering in dimly lit rooms and saying "we are doing capitalism", it's not real capitalism
I would say that this is similar to how american liberals don't believe in any form of racism besides someone screaming the n word while using klan robes, but I am not convinced that these think tank ghouls believe in anything besides filling their pockets
Man, people this bad at their jobs can get and keep jobs, why can't I?
Have you tried preaching the good word of free markets?
Have you tried preaching the good word of free markets?
LinkedIn 
I am a man who has never heard of emergence before.
Even at the lowest local level, governments grovel at the feet of businesses, dare they be seen as hostile to commerce
What does "high-status conspiracy theory" mean? Cuz every "high-status capitalist" seems to keep blaming the Jews without fail.
it reminds me of when chuds call a Starbucks barista the elite but a white guy in the suburbs with a pool supply business and a $100,000 truck is working class
Assuming he's not stupid and/or lying, looks like he's so annoying that despite being a think tanker, no business association is willing to invite him to any ! meetings.
He's the "head of political economy" at one of the oldest British neolib think tanks lmao
Head of political economy and completely oblivious of the entire field of political economy.
Imagine being a ghoul so odious not even the other ghouls want you at their table.
Lmao
This guy is onto something in that liberals don't perceive actions by markets as coordinated political actions. They see it as invisible, since capitalism wasn't formed on the basis of markets explicitly, its formation was couched in more vague rhetoric about freedom, liberty, fraternity. Some aspects of the formation of capitalism took the structure of religious debate, like protestants breaking from Catholicism.
Whereas all socialist movements have been more explicit about the aims and goals. The communists don't hide their intentions. That makes a communist government much more obvious in it's pursuits to the average liberal. It's why statements like "communism killed 100 million people" makes sense to a liberal in a way that a similar statement "capitalism killed billions of people" doesn't make sense to them.
They don't see capitalism as an agreed upon movement or enforcement of certain hierarchies. They see it as full liberation of people and simply the natural consequences of full liberation. But they can see socialism as an enforced structure, since socialists don't hide what they're doing and socialism is formed by a single united working class interest. Capitalists aren't always in unison with one another.
I mean the point is Adam Smith's hand is invisible
if it becomes visible, that's communism
i meant this as a joke but there's actually something there tbh
How much do you want to bet this person has a hidden checkmark?
It's amazing how these people have somehow managed to read even less theory than the average communist.
we obviously just imagined the chamber of commerce and every other business lobbying group
The guy doesn't even admit that capitalism exists, apparently. There's no evidence of the bourgeois class doing anything.
My man you are literally head of political economy at a think tank. What is there to think about if there are no people manifesting effects economically!?!
??? A business owner paying an employee minimum wage and seeking a profit from this exchange is a specific action taken by specific individuals.
This person is like a fish saying water doesn't exist if they see no actions performed by capitalists. Or their entire job is being as obfuscating as possible.
I can't get a business person to read their emails or attempt to understand their business even when a fuckload of money is on the line. The idea that they could have their mind changed about their desire for ownership and exploitation to live a fulfilled life in a world where we all suffer less is laughable. Their buy-in is incredibly solid. The idea that they'd strike a deal with a union more quickly than they would a CIA-backed mercenary group charging 20k to make the problem go away is ahistorical
"[insert random class here] are comically apolitical. They only care about their own [insert activity/property here]. The idea they all work together, as a class to prop up [contemporary social economic system here], is... not plausible"
Ok so that is the template now replace with the most comical examples you can think of
-Feudal lords/Castles/Feudalism
-Roman patricians/Villas/primitive accumulation(or slavery)
-Catholic Priests/Churches/Catholicism
So on, you're right its absolute dumbest shit but it also stems from the complete misunderstanding of what "politics" is as well, I mean what are the chances the random person on the street even knows the actual origin of the word? How many Americans think politics was invented in 1776 or even later?
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
I’m guessing by political he means “woke or anti-woke” which is a stupid way to gauge how political one is to begin with, but even then it’s stupid because while most business owners might try to appear politically neutral publicly (as a means of avoiding controversy that might affect their business), when you get to know them you find most are very solidly chuds
Again, they're making up our position in an absurd way, and then getting mad about it so they can dismiss it.
We need to incept a new logical fallacy that covers this. I've noticed that people have been using "wh@taboutism" against neoliberals around the internet. It's not turning the tide yet, but it's making some heads explode. All of a sudden comparing two similar situations is ok and is no longer wh@taboutism. Unless you're criticizing Dems of course, then you're just helping trumputler
It's not like most of them are cartoon villains who cackle and rub their hands together, jerking off at the thought of inflicting pain upon the poor.
It's more that they're sociopaths that don't give a fuck about it. And to whatever extent they or their lackeys DO have any humanity, they insulate themselves from the effects of their actions through many layers of management, outsourcing, etc.
And perhaps some of the smaller fries only do care about their business, but what's good for their business generally is good for the capitalist class. They donate to lobbyist groups that further the interests of the whole capitalist class, whether they are acting purely in their "own" interests. They lobby for local ordinances and tax breaks that achieve the same goal. You get the idea.
These groups and those that work with them are probably closer to cartoon villains though.
"The capitalist class doesn't exist, business owners merely all act in their own material interests which just happens to be in opposition to the material interests of their workers. Sure, they have all the money and power to influence the state to preserve the system in a form that is advantageous to them, but they're technically not colluding every time so I'm clearly smarter than Marx."
USING YOUR MONEY AND POWER TO SUPPORT THE STATUS QUO IS NOT BEING 'APOLITICAL'! 
Okay if capitalism doesn't exist and nobody does anything on behalf of it, then it should be okay if we overthrow it, right? I mean you can't defend that which doesn't exist. So if there's nothing to defend, then what's the problem with socialism? What are you preserving?
I already know how these people would answer. Their response is that what exists currently is simply freedom. Maybe some minor tweaks are necessary to bring more people into the fold of freedom, but otherwise what exists now is not an intended, designed structure.
However they'd claim socialism is an attempt to corral natural human freedom in an unnatural way.
These people don't like admitting that certain people have intrinsic political conflict with others. They view all conflict as misunderstandings or the personal moral failure of greed
Tell me you've never read Marx without telling me you've never read Marx
Like this has got to be case in point of a generation raised on media who can only relate to politics through spectacle and aesthetics.....right? I'm coming up short on analogies but this is like the equivalent of wondering why UFC fights don't look like marvel movie action pieces or some shit. Like guess what kids: in real life oligarchs and business interests don't meet in secret shadowy smoke filled rooms. They meet out in the open on million dollar yachts and pieces of property and they often televise everything openly.
The real life truth is every bit as evil but its also infinitely more banal.
It's the dunk tank.
This is where you come to post big-brained hot takes by chuds, libs, or even fellow leftists, and tear them to itty-bitty pieces with precision dunkstrikes.
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