Hey members, I'm still working on a good way to get you access to my raw book notes. Today we'll dive into some thoughts from How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism.
Late in the book Doctorow questions if people are really more racist now, or just more afraid that any semblance of success they may have is under threat due to the regulatory capture of the rich. Are people really afraid that the equality being pushed means that they're fighting harder for the few scraps that capitalism leaves for those that aren't part of the top echelon of the wealthy and influential?
Maybe instead we should be directing our hate and vitriol at the rich? Does that not happen because we know that the rich don't operate by the same laws we have to operate under. Look at Donald Trump, if he was a poor dude that stole some bread because he was starving, he would have been in cuffs and under some type of arrest. Instead he gets to threaten people and walk around free.
This is in part because he could drum up the money to post bail, which means that bail is ultimately a tax on being poor. In fact any regulation that results in a fine is only keeping those that can't afford the fine in line, for all others it's just a cost of doing business.
Finally, every story of a successful billionaire is the story of someone that's hoarding more wealth they could use in their lifetime, while those around them starve. They're the proverbial dragon on a pile of treasure they don't really care about and can't use, but they must have more all the time and they'll guard that treasure with their life.
This is much like every "heartwarming" story of some kid sacrificing to help pay for their parents cancer treatment is really a story of a medical system that doesn't value human life, unless that life has money to pay for itself. Only those that have money are valuable enough to continue to live. Heartwarming stories are often terrible stories about the capitalist world that has been built around us.
