[vzidex]

This is a good point, but I've been getting the feeling that the working class is getting more and more fed up with our conditions as we're squeezed for every last dollar of surplus value.

At the end of the day "the people in power" have power because the masses allow them to. If enough people refuse to participate in the system then the system will fall apart - e.g. the state only has the capacity to process so many evictions. This pandemic has been the greatest catalyst for class consciousness that I've seen in my life, and I think it has the potential to reshape our society after it's over.

[dakna]

I agree that this might catalyze awareness. But the people in power know they need the mass acceptance to stay in power. Which is why every new medium that reaches a big enough audience is infiltrated with agenda pushing content. It is absolutely critical to divide the masses to stay in power. It doesn't matter which side, as long as you have one side to identify with and another side to blame in this post-factum society. The percentage of people dropping out of the belief systems and trying to rationalize again is IMHO too small for large scale effects to not allow the people in power to continue. Its a handful of swing states that matter.

That being said, I have more hope for smaller, local circles, because then the partisan lines get blurry due to a common local identity.

[Ididntdothis]

Remember this joke?

‘A banker, a worker, and an immigrant are sitting at a table with 20 cookies. ‘The banker takes 19 cookies and warns the worker: “Watch out, the immigrant is going to take your cookie away.”’

If the ruling class plays it right the working class will go after each other instead of the ruling class. And so far they seem to do really well.

[vzidex]

Hah! I've never actually heard that joke but it's a good one.

And yes, that is definitely what they'll do - every time something major happens in our society I've observed the mass media following the playbook from Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" almost exactly.

That being said, every "big event" is an opportunity for mass radicalization of the working class and these "big events" are happening more and more often. It's like the quote from the IRA: "We only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always".

[Ididntdothis]

Electing Trump was already a response to these events but unfortunately people chose a billionaire who mainly cares about themselves. The Russian revolution and the nazis were also a response to events but in either case the people made bad choices....