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Education is the best way
Exactly why Reagan defunded higher education and every republican administration has dismantled public education.
"We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat." Not my words, but those of the Reagan administration.
Dumbed down masses are easier to control and mindlessly consume. Exactly why GTA6 will do massive numbers while Rockstar and Sony continue their cartoon villain evil streak.
I sound like a broken record but, BAN ADVERTISING. Along with all the pretty well established secondary bad effects of advertising, the most basic direct effect of it is lying to people. If people weren't deluged daily with lies about how they should think of this or that company, they wouldn't be so readily deluded into thinking of a company like a person with a positive effect on their world.
This. ☝🏻 We gotta ban advertising.
This. ☝🏻 We gotta ban advertising.
It's so bad that when JC Penny tried to stop deceptive pricing they almost went out of business.
When I worked in retail, the store had different price label flags for different sales, discounts, etc. One of those was "Every Day Low Price." If something had they price it would never go on sale because they were loss leaders, even big ticket items. The prices on those were below the sale price of competitors.
Far too many times I had a person ask if something already in their cart was on sale, I'd give them the above spiel and even comparison shop for them, and every single time they'd put it back.
It was truly frustrating.
Ruthless mockery.
Probably won't work, but at least you'll get a laugh out of it.
Could work tbh. If you show ppl the mirror of reality of them living in dirt conditions while their favourite billionaire buys their dog a 3rd 100 sqm house, they may wake up.
Havent seen alot about musks, gates, etc spending sprees. Bezos had that wedding. Zuckerberg is buying up Hawaii. This needs to be way more prominent.
I like that answer.
You have to convince them that they won’t someday be billionaires themselves. And, convince them they don’t want to be billionaires.
Yeah, well said. Too many people are delusional
Explain to them exactly how much a billion dollars is, so they understand
You're three bad months away from being homeless.
You will never be three good months away from being a billionaire.
I think I could become a billionaire if I started off as a trillionaire
Take control of the media.
People don't like to admit it and they hate it when you say it usually, but TBH if you put something on blast on the news, most people will go along with it even if it's fairly crazy. Or at least, enough people to get what you want done.
There's a reason why oligarchs almost always buy some sort of media network once they get to a certain point of wealth.
Education. But you can clearly see the defects of the last 40 years of defunding and deriding education.
Be vocal about it. Not just online. Word of mouth is much stronger than a thousand online posts.
Posting about it on the fediverse does jack shit, because we already agree. Posting on Facebook or shitter where the boot lockers are also does jack shit, because the algorithm will sort your opinion out of where it needs to be, and it's cost free for them to post their angry indoctrinated talking points.
However there's absolutely nothing Zuckerberg or Musk can do to stop you from expressing your opinion to your family and friends in real life.
I'm fucking done with avoiding topics of politics out of politeness at family gatherings. I have absolutely no desire to cozy up in unspoken agreements of class war or racism or fascism.
I speak up, and so should you. Keep in mind that you need to repeat a point at least 3 times before they even begin thinking about it themselves. And that's what you want: Them to start thinking. They will come to right conclusion if they just start thinking.
Shame. Cultural norms and taboos are reproduced through shame.
Look down on them. Call them bootlickers. Be clear that you think you're better than them. Make jokes at their expense. Roll your eyes. Leave them out of things.
That's how a culture exercises soft power against manners we think are unacceptable.
Platforms like twitter and facebook (and many "news" companies) brainwash their users, mostly by providing multiple different lies. Users pick whichever lie appeals to them the most, and they pretend they have found the truth.
To combat this, we need to emphasize the importance of thinking critically and verifying claims.
State the facts. Correct their misconceptions. Emphasize that billionaires are intentionally killing us all; lazy thinkers might reconsider if there is a possibility their life is at stake. I'm not saying threaten them, but we are all threatened by human greed.
The people you're talking to might not listen, but someone else might. Sometimes it just takes repetition to get through to someone, hearing the same clear message from multiple different sources.
If they're being paid off you can't stop them. You have to stop the billionaires first, then the payoff money stops flowing and all of a sudden the arrogant and petty petit bourgeoisie are on their own desperately trying to convince you that they were on your side all along.
Mostly independent media. Throw in a ban on advertising if you are already at it. Probably not realistic, maybe just much harsher rules on obvious lies and political influencing campaigns in media. Much harsher prosecution.
Advocate for stakeholder socialist policies like worker and consumer coöps that would render billionaires impossible.
This. Arguing with people online is -- with all due respect -- a complete waste of time if your goal is to change the world.
Ignore the people who have dumb opinions. It isn't as though if you win 500 arguments Elon Musk donates all his money to Socialism.
Go join a tenant's union or a mutual aid society. Go build the alternative world that doesn't transfer all our money upward.
(Also, though, if you do this long enough there will likely be a revolution. But that part comes after you feed and shelter enough people that it begins to become a threat to capital. It's downstream. Either way, don't bother trying to persuade strangers on the internet,)
Education, help your community, try to help people around you getting out of their job thoughts and doing something they actually like, meet new people
How much do you want to invest in ammo and a solid backing wall?
Explain to them that you can still be a billionaire if you are dead. You can still be a senator if you are dead. Next question.
Ridicule.
when education does not work we build walls.
You have to instill class consciousness in them, which is extremely difficult to do, especially in the usa bc our public education system in many places lies and says that this is a meritocracy when it's not. So people believe that if they just work hard and do what they're told then they'll get rich. And when that obviously doesn't happen, the republican party points towards whatever minority group they've selected for that election cycle and says "it's their fault"
Like I said, actually getting people to understand that they have more in common with the poorest, queerest, immigrant than they do with a white cishet billionaire is really difficult, but the best way to do it is to redirect the conversation from minority groups to the actual problem. For example, if someone complains that immigrants are stealing their jobs then don't start with a denial or disagreeing with them. Say, "you're right. Companies hiring undocumented immigrants for less than or just minimum wage does depress wages for Americans. Companies that do this should be adequately punished and we should streamline our process for getting documents for undocumented immigrants. That way companies can't take advantage of them or depress the wages of americans either." Some people won't listen bc they don't want to learn, but if you keep trying eventually some people will listen and learn
Also try to get them to understand just how much money a trillion or even a billion dollars is
you would have to stop all the MSM from airing news in a certain way, like no tabloid/opinion pieces.
Mock them.
That's the fun part. You don't. It's human nature, at least for neurotypical hominids to submit to confident icons, even when that confidence is unearned and grounded in hubris, not competence. Wealth makes people very confident, even about things they don't actually understand. You're not going to educate them into abandoning millions of years of human instinct. What you can do is make people angry enough at the current crop of billionaires they're ready to put them up against the wall tell them you have a way to keep terrible people from getting that obscenely wealthy again, and then do it... with the knock on effect of making that level of obscene wealth disparity systemically impossible for anyone. That's going to make people angry too though, you're probably going to end up crucified for it, because you know, it's a country of temporarily embarrassed billionaires.