“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.” - Frederick Douglass
It's straight Marxism. At one time -- say, between 1848 and 1900 -- it kinda sorta described a real thing (the non-agricultural, non-clerical, non-professionals), but no more. Moreover, it was always intended to be a propaganda slogan -- "workers of the world, unite!" -- because, you know, there's this thing called Industry, and it's run by Capital but staffed by The Workers, and it's the same everywhere, because... well, because apparently everyone was a little slow upstairs in the late 19th century. These days, only tenured humanities professors believe something so silly.
"we're all middle class" has been the American fantasy since at least the turn of the last century. And only in the depths of PhD dissertations do people think of themselves as "the proletariat."
To throw around the term "working class" is to concede mental ground to an exploded, evil ideology that has been responsible for more death than any other in human history.
I'm sure Bill is fully aware of the origins and typical use of the term. I think he's using this with a bit of irony... a little jab and a twist. The working class here is ... the class that works. You know, as a way to make a living, and doesn't find it "demeaning".
People like me, who started out weeding sewage outflows and cleaning cabins sweeping parking lots and mopping floors at McDonalds and working up to flipping burgers. Because it was work that needed to be done, and people paid me to do it, and I needed to be paid.
2 comments:
I HATE the term "working class."
It's straight Marxism. At one time -- say, between 1848 and 1900 -- it kinda sorta described a real thing (the non-agricultural, non-clerical, non-professionals), but no more. Moreover, it was always intended to be a propaganda slogan -- "workers of the world, unite!" -- because, you know, there's this thing called Industry, and it's run by Capital but staffed by The Workers, and it's the same everywhere, because... well, because apparently everyone was a little slow upstairs in the late 19th century. These days, only tenured humanities professors believe something so silly.
"we're all middle class" has been the American fantasy since at least the turn of the last century. And only in the depths of PhD dissertations do people think of themselves as "the proletariat."
To throw around the term "working class" is to concede mental ground to an exploded, evil ideology that has been responsible for more death than any other in human history.
That's my two cents anyway, comrades.
I'm sure Bill is fully aware of the origins and typical use of the term. I think he's using this with a bit of irony... a little jab and a twist. The working class here is ... the class that works. You know, as a way to make a living, and doesn't find it "demeaning".
People like me, who started out weeding sewage outflows and cleaning cabins sweeping parking lots and mopping floors at McDonalds and working up to flipping burgers. Because it was work that needed to be done, and people paid me to do it, and I needed to be paid.
See how that works? ;-)
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