Arm and Hammer

For our basic Labor Day post, click here:

http://worldofdrjustice.blogspot.com/2011/09/labor-day-indeed.html

For our various posts on labor, here:

http://worldofdrjustice.blogspot.com/search/label/labor

This time round, an update in view of strident Republicans accusing President Obama of “fomenting class warfare”.  As has widely been observed by the observant, class conflict is already here;  what is lacking is class consciousness.

The bosses have tried numerous tricks to blur the rifts among the strata underlying actual production; the result has been called the “Society of the Spectacle”.   The crudest is to somehow

(A) induce workers to identify with the bosses.  

This is clearly a long shot, but two basic approaches exist.   Induce them to

(A1) admire wealth.  Key to this strategy is the cult of the celebrity.  You yourself will never be rich, but you get to gobble down the latest dish on Britney’s rehab or whatever.

(A2)  aspire to wealth.  Two sub-strategies are offered:

(a) Lick the boss’s tassle-toed loafers, and perhaps someday he’ll give you a break.  (Thus, Trump, “The Apprentice”.)  As only a handful of such breaks are available, you need to lick extra hard.

(b)  Hold out your apron and stand still, scanning the sky;  perhaps something will fall into your lap.  (Thus the state-run lotteries, and the Indian Casino scam.  Or, be the offspring of a billionaire.)

Some folks fall for these (women for A1, men for A2a, both for A2b), but for most, it’s a stretch.  So then there’s this:

(B) Blur the basic class distinctions  in a kaleidoscope of granfalloon-like caste distinctions.

Thus,  attention is distracted from the Working Class as such, with definite relations to the means of production, to a broad, formless mass without practical common interests to speak of, and with special emphasis upon those largely detached from the productive process. 

As:  the mass of people may be seen in an infantilized perspective, as “consumers” or “the poor”.   Or we are told of a vast “middle class” -- here the word “class” indeed appears, but wrenched from its moorings, for this maxi-granfalloon is in no wise defined in terms of relations to the means of production, or of society’s self-reproduction, but merely in terms of how much money you happen to have, however come-by (earned, inherited, or won at lotto);  nay more, by the life-style you (for a time) manage to keep up, with no distinction between those actually paying for it, and those living on unrepayable loans.

And if -- bleeding heart that you are -- you feel like feeling sorry for someone, the media dwell upon all manner of societal niches -- single mothers, senior citizens, welfare recipients, blacks (and sometimes “minorities”, but really no category so potentially potent is encouraged -- “minorities” never means, say, Asians),  the homeless, the handicapped, sexual deviants, medical patients, special-ed students …  And if all else fails, direct attention abroad, à la Mrs Jellyby. Thus, you don’t find celebrities joining with the Teamsters on the picket lines;  instead, they go scampering off to Africa, where they can do no harm.

~

 

The Democrats are in no sense a Workers Party;  still, they do have certain stylistic differences with the Republicans.  Thus, Obama today spent Labor Day hanging out with union guys in Toledo,  Ohio, while Romney spent it  hiding in his house.

[Update]
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/opinion/krugman-disdain-for-workers.html?src=me&ref=general
Consider the Twitter message sent out by Eric Cantor, the Republican House majority leader, on Labor Day — a holiday that specifically celebrates America’s workers. Here’s what it said, in its entirety: “Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success.” Yes, on a day set aside to honor workers, all Mr. Cantor could bring himself to do was praise their bosses.