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@ginnymcqueen The rich occupy their own filter bubble in which they only encounter other rich people and only read other rich people's views in rich people's magazines. They often have conspiracy theories about the poor, such as that they're secretly rich but just pretending, or that being poor is a "lifestyle choice", and so on.
From their perspective they have gained their money so easily - usually via inheritance and capital income - that they can't see why anyone else might struggle. They can arbitrarily choose lifestyles, and so they assume everyone else can too.
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@csaurus @ginnymcqueen there's a similar thing here, and I think it's partly a generational thing. 20 or more years ago cell phones were an expensive luxury item typically only used by business executives. Same for wide screen TVs.
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@csaurus @ginnymcqueen The UK social "safety net" is probably still better than the US, but has been deteriorating for decades. It's relatively easy to end up with zero income, even if you go through all of the bureaucratic processes and meet all of the criteria.
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@csaurus @ginnymcqueen there is no significant voice for the working class inside of the UK parliament, and the Labour party hasn't attempted to represent them for a long time. At the last general election one Labour MP said that if you are unemployed then the Labour party has no intention of representing you.
There has been some hope around the election of Corbyn. Corbyn has some of the attributes of "old labour" as it was before the 1980s (the beginning of the rise of Capital in the Piketty book) and he occasionally mentions terms like "working class" and "socialism" which the last Labour administration never did. Unfortunately, nearly all other Labour MPs hate him and the only reason they can't overthrow him is because he has a large amount of grassroots support among party activists and unionists. If he wins in the June general election I think there will be another coup attempt shortly afterwards.
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@sulman @csaurus @ginnymcqueen here in the last few years there have been popular TV shows like "Benefits Street" which are specifically intended to demonize the poor in a similar manner to how the Goebels used movies to demonize Jews. They're commonly known as "poverty porn" shows, which make the poor look foolish/feckless/uneducated and generally not middle class enough.
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@csaurus @ginnymcqueen In the case of Corbyn his parliamentary comrades have already tried twice to get rid of him, with very well organised campaigns. Unfortunately for them Corbyn has always had a large amount of support among the ordinary party members, and it's one member one vote when it comes to the leadership.
So given that they've tried twice I think they will try again either way - whether Corbyn wins or loses. If he loses they'll say it was all his fault and if he wins the other Blairite MPs will be eager to get their mits back on the levers of power, one way or another.
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@maiyannah @csaurus @sulman the middle class aspiration to appear charitable towards unfortunates
Bob Mottram
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