Machines are fairly straightforward devices, even the delicate and complex ones. I mean that from the stance of that when a piece wears out or breaks, you remove it and put a new piece in its place. The old piece is, at that point, a piece of trash.
Machines are built with a purpose, to do a particular task, even if that task is purely ornamental. But they only work if all the parts are good.
And herein lies the problem, the corporate view of people, and, thus, the Republican view of people, is that we are all parts of some great profit machine. We are all here to generate money for them. For them, and that's the part you have to understand. We, the people, are all parts. Cogs. Gears. Pegs.
It is this view, the inherent view of people from corporate America (and the Republicans), that makes them disdainful of the "unproductive members" of society. "Unproductive members" equates to "broken pieces" of the machine. And what do we do with broken pieces? We throw them away. We do not keep them around as clutter, and we certainly don't "take care of them." That's just wasted resources.
And you wonder why the healthcare plans being offered up by the Republicans are so bad for the sick and elderly and poor...? Really? You wonder about that? These "people," because the Republicans barely view them as people, are a waste, a drain. They suck up resources that are more deserved by "productive members" of society, i.e., the rich, the 1%, the [leaches]. [Yes, let's feed the parasites even more.] So you're cries of, "But people will die if you take away their healthcare," do really fall on deaf ears because, you know what?, that's the actual idea.
Get those broken pieces of the machine out of society!
Of course, then, the problem (it's not a problem) is that we are not a machine. We are not some great biological wealth machine for the rich despite the fact that we've allowed them to turn us into one. [Over and over and over again throughout history, I might add.] That's the actual problem, we have allowed them to use us as this, and we need to stop.
Well, that's part of the problem. There's also the part where the "Christian" (because they're not really) Right, the Evangelicals, have abandoned charity and mercy in favor of the more hard-line Pauline philosophy of "if they don't work, don't let them eat." And they've taken up this philosophy because it fits in with the whole "God rewards [with money!] the just and worthy, and punishes [by taking away their money] the sinners." So, you know, if you're having financial difficulties, it's because you're a lousy sinner being punished by God and, if you'd just "get right with God," he'd reward you financially and you wouldn't need any charity or mercy. [These people are fully behind Trump and the Republican agenda, just by the way.]
All of it is about money, and,while I don't really agree with Paul on the whole "money is the root of all evil" thing, it is the root of an awful lot of evil.
No, I don't have "an answer" to all of this or how to deal with it, but I think "the answer" begins with people realizing that they've been "turned into" a money-printing machine for the wealthy. People need to realize that they are not cogs, not pegs, at least not round ones. Not even square ones.
If people are pegs, they are all strange pegs. At least, that's how we all start out, with weird little growths and arms and awkward angles and edges. Unfortunately, many of us spend our years as parents trying to take of the edges and angles of our kids and make them into these unified little round pegs that can grow up and fit into any hole. If not that, we don't do anything to stop the education system from doing that for us.
But it's time to stand up for the things that diversify us, differentiate us, make us unique. We are not pieces of a machine, and it's time that we stopped acting like we are.
Ah, so THAT'S where the blog name comes from.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8mYLi3PGOc
ABftS: I guess you waited a long time to get to post that link. heh
DeleteAnd if they don't work, don't let their children eat either! Because there is no bottom to their depravity. I've heard of some weird form of "Christianity" that basically says if you're wealthy, then you're moral and good no matter what you do because god wouldn't allow you to be wealthy otherwise. It's disgustingly self-serving, and I bet you can guess what branch of religion the so-called president worships.
ReplyDeleteJeanne: That's not a weird form; that's the normal, mainstream form. That's what prosperity doctrine says, and it's endemic in modern evangelical "Christianity."
DeleteWe may be entering an era where the public opinion doesn't matter. Only 35% of REPUBLICANS like the GOP health care plan. Another 44% claim not to have enough information to know whether they like or dislike it; whether they are being truthful is a different story.
ReplyDelete79% of REPUBLICAN either don't support the bill or don't have enough information to have an opinion on it. Despite that, the Senate reportedly might vote on the bill next week.
It turned out to be bad politics (and bad policy) to pass Obamacare with a Dem strongarm; but at least the Dems could say they were aiming to fulfill the goals their voters cared about and supported. The Republicans are determined to pass a bill even their OWN supporters don't like.
If it passes, we will have crossed a watershed moment in politics. Lee Atwater and George W came up with the theory that you don't need to have broad appeal: you just need to make sure the people who DO like you get to the polls. That was further sharpened by Karl Rove and strategists like him: get your voters out and suppress other voters, a result we saw hit its stride, if not its peak, in 2017.
That has led us to a situation where the governing elite no longer need to fear public opinion. Incumbency, gerrymandering, the politics of division, and voter suppression have potentially installed a Republican government that is, for all intents and purposes, unassailable through the political apparatus.
That's a machine for you. An unstoppable perpetual motion machine of Republican policies. It's like a Santa Claus machine in reverse.
Briane: The Republican healthcare bill matters to the only supporters who matter to them: the wealthy and the corporations. Who cares what the little people think? The little people are little.
DeleteThis is why we stop arguing with them. We need to find a way to go around them. House them in their little worlds and let them think they've won while the rest of us get on with creating a world that is good for all of us.
ReplyDeleteLiz: I think we're past going around them, too. We need to put them down. It's way past time for this behavior to be allowed. They're all spoiled children who have grown into truly horrible and despicable teenagers and young adults because they've never had to suffer any consequences for their behaviors. (I mean that metaphorically, of course, since they're all old, rich white men sucking on the tit of white privilege.)
DeleteThe disregard for anyone but themselves is truly appalling.
ReplyDeleteTAS: Completely.
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