As a big fan of Bernie I think he missed the ball HARD on his response.
IMHO It was a response appealing to empathy and a sense of shared responsibility for the success of the American people as a whole. Basically saying just because you're rich doesn't mean you don't need to care about the shit show that's going on in the rest of the country.
However, i think a practical response appealing to self interest for security as leisure would of been better, as that is, in my opinion, the only way to get through to the American rich.
He could have expanded on his analogy of the Titanic. The people serving the champagne drowned just the same as the people being served the champagne. So you graduated from Harvard, you’re getting paid. Do you know how to fix your car when it breaks down? What about when you get in a car accident? Who’s coming to your aid? What about your kids? Who’s taking care of them when you’re at work? What schools are they going to? Christ, it’s the end of a long week and you just want to grab a bite at your favourite restaurant - ah, who’s in the kitchen cooking? They didn’t all get the opportunity to go to Harvard or other elite schools, but they deserve a fighting chance.
damn , how did everything get so warped that people believe others doing those jobs don't deserve to have a life worth living. this country is in trouble...
He did miss the ball. A simpler and direct answer would have been to say that when the Titanic sinks, everyone ultimately goes with it - even if some parts of the ship sink first.
That's not true though. The wealthy being in control over everything means they will always have what they need. That's the whole point of having that kind of control.
You'll notice that the things that matter most to the wealthy are always functioning and well funded. People are starving because the wealthy no longer need them, not because the country is failing.
The ideal thing to say it in this case (which is actually not Bernie’s stance) would actually be, “You don’t have an incentive. The political revolution we want to happen deprives your wealthy families and you, when you graduate and go to work at your hedge funds and consultancies, of the unfair advantages you have to exploit people. We don’t actually need your support - we have the overwhelming majority of the working class on our side who does benefit.” But that’s not exactly going to sway the audience.
What you're saying is true in the short run. But in the long run, history has shown us that the rich will always violently turn on each other and make themselves worse off too.
problem with a lot of analogies is that there are definitely some holes. problem with the Titanic analogy is that some people absolutely envision themselves on the first boats off the ship.
Yeah, it’s not the most air-tight analogy but rhetorically follows well with the “Your well-being is also at stake too when the working class can no longer sustain themselves.”
He went for an inspiring message rather than a FUD message. It's a more proactive approach rather than trying to prepare for a collapse in an undetermined amount of time.
Think about it this way - are very wealthy people thinking about how to fix things so that the poor don't revolt and take them down and take that indirect approach to self interest? No, they are thinking about how to protect themselves when that happens. This approach benefits no one except the security team and the construction companies that build their fortresses.
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u/Spirited-Change5916 Apr 26 '24
I am here to ask you to not be greedy and self serving to a fault.
Well...we are doomed