I had an expensive lunch today with some friends who are quite well off and one of them posed a similar question, if everything is so hard right now why is this restaurant full?
Quite simply it’s because you don’t see the struggles that are not in your world.
“Stop hanging out with the poors.”
That’s what these people unironically believe tho. When I was still trapped in the hustle culture, grindset mentality horseshit in between getting out of service and actually reading theory, it was a common aphorism among the folk I was surrounding myself with, and no doubt from the ‘gurus’ they were taking their note cards from, was loosely that who you socialize with is what will come your way. Basically, you couldn’t get your money up hanging around people who didn’t have that same motivation. In hindsight, it really just feels like pocket-checking with more steps.
Hustle culture “you are the average of the your friend’s net worth” is a plague but what bothers me more if that the responses make it sound like economic realities are a matter of perspective.
Whether people across socioeconomic goods, class divides etc. are faring well is something that can be objectively measured. Never perfectly but if done well the readings can still be extremely useful. But the “I fucking love science!”
ers come up with responses like “uhm ackshually the people doing well are not going to be bragging about it on reddit” as if it is something worth adding to the conversation.
If connection to poor people cause failure in Capitalism, then the Liberals can’t accuse Communist countries of plutocracy and hard working innovative red scare mastermind boogeyman scapegoat.