When The Lady On The Checkout Is Your Class Enemy
From the Socialism 101 Reddit, a question of crushing import:
Are cashiers working class? I know this sounds like it should be obvious, but think about it. Cashiers do not produce any commodities. Under a non-capitalistic society, nobody would do what they do. In fact, their job is almost more like a cop. They keep commodities away from people and demand that you pay a fee to the bourgeois to access them. And if you refuse, they will use the violence of the state against you by reporting you to the authorities for shoplifting. So how are they, in a Marxist analysis, working class?
Yes, it’s real, or was, until deleted for attracting attention from unclean heathens. And needless to say, earnest rumblings ensued. You do, I think, have to marvel at the thought of someone going through life continually scanning for class enemies, obstructers of the Great Proletarian Revolution, and concluding that checkout assistants have just made the list.
Note the line,
Under a non-capitalistic society, nobody would do what they do.
Note too that the implications of this claim, for all manner of unglamorous but necessary tasks, are somehow not explored.
Consider this an open thread, in which to share links and bicker.
Googled ‘chitterlings and bag’. One of the first things that came up was “How do I cook chitterlings and eliminate that horrible smell that they make while cooking?”
Over in Notlob, it is unclear whether generic holiday songs are also verboten.
Speaking of questionable food, as if the Chinese haven’t done enough this year.
Over in Notlob, it is unclear whether generic holiday songs are also verboten.
Well, I have occasionally seen drivers bouncing wildly around in their cars as they sing, which must be dangerous *, but the wording wording of the news item makes it unclear whether merely singing shall also be an offence. Bad news reporting or badly formulated announcement from the police?
* On the other hand, it is a useful signaling device: “I have the mind of a four-year-old. Do not expect me to exercise prudence or self-restraint.”
Even Banks himself was smart enough to recognise that his stories were fantasies; that a) communism is only feasible without scarcity of goods, and b) eliminating the scarcity of physical goods, if it’s even possible*, is millennia away.
Some sf readers seem to think that AI will make almost all jobs obsolete in the very near future–while making goods very cheap–so that we should immediately begin implementing a universal basic income scheme to bring about the glorious socialist future. They ignore the fact that automation generally creates new sorts of jobs, that most current unemployment is due to offshoring of industries, over-regulation of many sorts, cradle-to-grave guaranteed welfare (why work?), and cultural pathologies that make people unemployable. Furthermore, they refuse to face the fact that cradle-to-grave welfare rots a culture. Theodore Dalrymple’s observations go in one ear and out the other. Perhaps they like to think that in the future life will be one long ComicCon.
Frederik Pohl’s Midas World is a fascinating collection of short stories on what happens when room-temperature fusion power is perfected…
Hmmm, only ever read the original 1950’s short story.
…for all manner of unglamorous but necessary tasks, are somehow not explored.
I’d volunteer to be the night-soil man. Distribute fertilizer to the few hardy souls willing to wrest food from the Earth, and deposit the rest in the living rooms of all the poets and philosophers as feedstock for whatever profound works they come up with next.
Furthermore, they refuse to face the fact that cradle-to-grave welfare rots a culture.
We’ve been subjected to an experiment in Future Socialism today. Given the amount of rioting and looting and increases in abuse in the home, it appears that, given a free ride, most of us do not turn into artists, poets, and other creative types. Fascinating.
questionable food
Even in Hong Kong, McDonalds offers atrocities like cheese tea and Pizza Hut thinks peaches and thousand island dressing are appropriate pizza toppings. Not that Pizza Hut isn’t shit everywhere of course…
Tautology. It’s because they’re children (emotionally).
I do not identify them as nerds because they like to escape into sci-fi that is based on fluff-headed premises. Rather, this behavior is a conspicuous symptom of being a nerd.
Furthermore, they refuse to face the fact that cradle-to-grave welfare rots a culture.
Anyone remember a short story where normal living meant sitting in front of a monitor wall, engaging in unproductive social networking, all day, with no in-person human contact? I think it was by Harlan Ellison, but it might have been JG Ballard.
Anyone remember a short story where normal living meant sitting in front of a monitor wall, engaging in unproductive social networking, all day, with no in-person human contact?
The best I can come up with is Ray Bradbury’s The Pedestrian in which a man is arrested for taking a walk rather than sit in front of the TV. And then there’s Asimov’s The Naked Sun, in which people live alone and only interact via video.
[…chitterlings and bag…]
David will not say whether or not CMOT Dibbler is his food supplier.
David will not say whether or not CMOT Dibbler is his food supplier.
Big Sheila, she of the kerbside offal emporium, assures me, and I quote, “Them’s good eats.”
Anyone remember a short story where normal living meant sitting in front of a monitor wall, engaging in unproductive social networking, all day, with no in-person human contact?
Fahrenheit 451?
Big Sheila, she of the kerbside offal emporium, assures me,
I have it on good authority that Big Sheila gets much of her supply from these fine people.
Anyone remember a short story where normal living meant sitting in front of a monitor wall, engaging in unproductive social networking, all day, with no in-person human contact?
The Machine Stops?
“Over in Notlob, it is unclear whether generic holiday songs are also verboten.
but the wording wording of the news item makes it unclear whether merely singing shall also be an offence.”
That’s why I wear a mask when driving alone in my pickup truck. No one can tell if I am singing.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, good news, everyone, you are now allowed to play tennis, but you and your opponent cannot use the same ball.
Many years I used to joke (in response to any pettifogging bureaucratic intrusion) that I could foresee a time when I would need to submit an application in triplicate for permission to have a shit. Well, I’m laughing on the other side of my face now.
[ Slides along bar a voucher for 5% off chitterlings and bag… ]
David, could I please have instead d. A professional journalist? I have a number of dirty, unpleasant and humiliating jobs that need doing and who better to do them?
Many years I used to joke…that I could foresee a time when I would need to submit an application in triplicate for permission to have a shit. Well, I’m laughing on the other side of my face now.
New York City says Permission denied!” (After public outcry, city walks back directive that outdoor diners may not enter restaurants even to use bathroom.)
Take a look at that Twitter account: seriously racist, criminal, malevolent “community” of people too deranged to be treated as fellow citizens.
I’ve taken a wrong turn and found myself in Black Twitter a few times before, so I didn’t tarry, just long enough to see the approving post of a video of the late psychotic singist Nina Simone. There seems to be a very strong aversion to admiring anyone wholesome in that world. (Note to self: recount my Nina Simone story some day.) Didn’t I read recently that around now some cosmic forces were going to bestow upon our melanated friends special powers that would render them even more awesome than they already are? Has anything been detected?
I’ve taken a wrong turn and found myself in Black Twitter a few times before…
Who are most racist in America? Blacks, by a large margin, says black conservative columnist Larry Elder: “Thirty-eight percent of whites felt most blacks were racist. Even blacks agreed, with 31 percent saying most blacks were racist…”
[glances at recent posts] Sorry about the extra trailing blank lines, David. Not sure how that happened. Couldn’t possibly have been carelessness on my part.
The Machine Stops?
We have a winner.
https://www.plexus.org/forster/index.html
Muldoon,
What’s hard to fathom about gross and near inedible?
Except for those little scottish meat pies. They’re delicious. Lived off them for nearly a year.
Back in the 1980s I did indeed visit communist countries such as Hungary and Czechoslovakia. I bought things. Someone would take my money and give me the goods. It wasn’t a supermarket but the principle is the same. So that contention re a supermarket checkout person is utter drivel. Shows up Marxism for exactly what it is, nonsense.
Shows up Marxism for exactly what it is, nonsense.
But they’re the good people. Everybody thinks so.
What’s hard to fathom about gross and near inedible?
Didn’t I read recently that around now some cosmic forces were going to bestow upon our melanated friends special powers that would render them even more awesome than they already are?
You may be thinking of this:
You may be thinking of this:
“As black people, genetically we are stronger and smarter than everyone else, we are more creative, on December 21 our Real DNA will be unlocked and majority will be able to do things that we thought were fiction. Learn who u are as a people. they wanna make us average.”
Average would be an improvement. She’s clearly compensating for that sad fact. Rarely does the Dunning Kruger Effect manifest itself so malevolently.
And as I may have noted before, a significant fraction of African Americans would willingly do what Hitler’s SS did.
You may be thinking of this
Cheers, Farnsworth, that’s the one. We must be telepathetic!
Re: You may be thinking of this
Well, it’s the 23rd here, I am not seeing anything different among the POC in my neighborhood (or from People of Pallor for that matter). Any unusual reports from other parts of the world ? Is this going to be a sudden manifestation of powers a la X-Men or something much slower like the opening of 2001 ?
Well, it’s the 23rd here, I am not seeing anything different among the POC in my neighborhood…
Meanwhile, the cabdriver from Ghana looks at that Twitter account and asks “what is this shit?” His cousin, the economics major at the local university replies, “yes, what a bunch of losers.”
Merry Christmas to all.
And thanks for the Hades’ Star recommendation. All things considered, probably the most useful “gift” this year. A Merry Christmas ping shortly…
Damn…meant to put that comment on the Tidings page…Sigh…Well, pinged anyway.
Will move comment to relevant thread. I do like to keep things tidy.
I do like to keep things tidy.
[glances at door to wine cellar, to see if drops of blood have been removed yet.]
Blood?!?
Geez – I thought that was just a full-bodied, but slightly metallic Cab Sauv.
One word — Wakanda.
One word — Wakanda.
The Once and Future Was Was Kangs?
That’s them. I, personally, wouldn’t find empowering an imaginary country that’s only successful because it got hit by a magic rock, but clearly that’s just my whiteness talking.
The internet doesn’t build intelligence, it reveals it.
In an unfree market cashiers are kept by The State to maintain appearances at stores where the shelves contain:
Read Theodore Dalrymple’s description of the North Korean department store, with attendants who never sell anything and customers who never buy anything. When they realize they’re being watched, they simply begin handing out identical crappy bowls, which the customers then queue to return elsewhere in the store.
Well, I’m laughing on the other side of my face now.
Which would mean you’re laughing out your other cheek(s)?
Venezuela has a simple solution for the cashier problem. No goods = no cashiers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJu95z_LCv4
Chicago has also realized cashiers are unnecessary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO4p97PK_Xo