UnionGuyPEI
Robert ReichThe myth of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a cruel hoax designed to convince poor people and people of color that the injustices they face are a result of their own actions, rather than an oppressive system rigged against them.
Semi Sentient AI Cooling Water@rbreich It's used unthinkingly by conservatives but the original meaning was to try & do something completely impossible.
Jargoggles@rbreich The phrase "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" was originally meant to describe something that is so impossible that it is ludicrous to even suggest it.
Of course, conservatives still use it this way, except they're not aware that they are.
Leslie Varney@jargoggles @rbreich I especially like when they post about a #BIPOChero and the struggles they surmounted to show how anyone who can't succeed under the same circumstances is not working hard enough. It's like, bro, why aren't you pulling down Bezos/Gates money ... I mean, you had all the same struggles, right?
@virtuallyleslie @rbreich Every time I hear something like that I think "now, why do you suppose your story is so remarkable, then?"
You don't get to talk about how everyone can do what you did and also be treated like an unlikely success story. That's as mutually exclusive as the "we can't afford to give raises" / "we just posted record profits" dichotomy.
The math isn't mathing.
@jargoggles @rbreich I'm also fond of when some #middleage #straightciswhitemen starts talking about how they're self-made and pulled themselves up, blah blah. Ok, but let's look at all the #socialist systems that got you there; public education, if not for you, for your employees, public transportation, roads, fire safety, police protection. Then they say, but that's taxes. Mm hm, what do you think taxes are, if not socialist in nature? You've used resources provided by others
@jargoggles @rbreich But ok, what about that socialist idea of insurance? Or even banking — we all put our money together to keep it safer and to allow it to help other's who can afford to bank here or are accepted as a good investment by the bank. Do you bank or carry insurance? You didn't take one step without it involving others help.
Kevin Karhan 
The Part of History You've Always Skipped | Neoslavery
huesm@rbreich
You are not failing, if the system is rigged against you.
You are not failing, if the system is rigged against you.
FrancisHayden@rbreich Anyone familiar with Newton’s Third Law will understand the point
Eleanna Of Tundar@rbreich Christopher Rufo, the architect of the CRT law school course anti-white racism conspiracy theory, became a hardline GOP operative because the “documentary” he was filming couldn’t prove that his presupposition that poverty was a psychological problem and not a policy failure. Sort of like how the Nazis believed they were the descendants of the super race of “Atlantean-Aryans” and did everything they could to get the archaeological record to fit that insanity.
Wade Wainio@rbreich The insistence that the American Dream is still an achievable goal despite barriers such as poverty, mass incarceration and racism, not only fails to provide any solution, but makes matters worse.
Aang ⚡️@rbreich
Hi Robert, just out of curiosity, are you paying for your Twitter blue mark?
I noticed that you still have it.
Authentic curiosity. I have a Twitter account but will never pay for the mark (well, I don't need it, Twitter is not essential, and I have almost no followers anyway)
Hi Robert, just out of curiosity, are you paying for your Twitter blue mark?
I noticed that you still have it.
Authentic curiosity. I have a Twitter account but will never pay for the mark (well, I don't need it, Twitter is not essential, and I have almost no followers anyway)
@rbreich I always took it to mean use what you have. Survival can depend on it. No boots? What else can you use? Too literal I think.
@devinprater @rbreich I disagree. We have a daddy problem in America or should I say a lack of one. We need real men to step it up and be a dad instead of living the gang punk life out in the hood! Come on pops! Get real and be with your kids! You made them! Raise em!!
Ben Evans
Wendy Lady@rbreich if pulling myself up by the bootstraps was measured in how hard I pulled, I'd be a millionaire by now.
Stargeezer Smith@rbreich
Besides, pulling yourself up by your own boot straps violates D'Alembert's Principle.
Besides, pulling yourself up by your own boot straps violates D'Alembert's Principle.
Breaddrink@rbreich although they can be both at the same time.
Violette Jean@rbreich Here is some help for people to understand how this system works:
Noted Tea Enthusiast@rbreich The "Bootstraps" myth now is propaganda to redirect empathy away from the poor so that no one [with privilege] objects to the status quo.
@rbreich Well, the Black Panther Party took self-determination and autonomy extremely seriously and some form of agency exists in marginalized groups. But no, most ppl will never be billionaires.
Charles Watts@rbreich Absolutely! A #CruelConservative hoax.
@rbreich of course it impossible to actually pull one's self up by their own bootstraps.
GraveScarecrow@rbreich I absolutely blame the Puritans for this horrible ideology of wealth meaning a deity's favor, and poverty indicating a lack of morals. Blaming the poor for being poor. It's a sick dogma that still runs through many sects of xtianity.
Bryy Miller@rbreich the real cruel part is that we've been shown how easy it is to make things easy.
Fifth Yanran@rbreich If I can see a more detailed explanation, I can understand the meaning of this sentence. Maybe it's because I have too little life experience.
@rbreich FDR Wallace Perkins progressive populist New Deal Dems: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help".😉👍 Reagan / neoliberals: "bootstrap" gaslighting, punish yourselves, you 99%.☹️😡👎
Naomi Heartbreak@rbreich this is so true, but people don't want to know it. On my masters course we were learning about how education enables social mobility - evidence clearly shows, it doesn't, but the students AND the tutors all seemed able to swerve this somehow, and get on to discussing what we could do as teachers to enable social mobility of our students. Holy swallow that government rhetoric, Batman.
WesDym@rbreich Even more, the expression started as irony: Bootstraps are actual straps or loops that are part of boots, which are used to help pull them on to your feet. In the earliest usage of this expression, it was an ironic and sarcastic suggestion that a person could actually lift up their entire body this way. Obviously, you cannot, and that was obvious then, too. The entire point was that it was an unrealistic expectation. NO ONE can do it, no matter how strong or determined they are.
SearingTruth"The Republican Party is built upon the principle that the only problem with society is that the working and poor are lazy."
SearingTruth
Indy Richard 🏴@rbreich To put this false idea of rich people becoming rich because of 'hard work' into perspective, in the UK a qualified nurse earning average wage of £33,384, would have to work for 30,000 years to earn a billion pounds if they save all of their wages and don't need it for food or rent.
#WealthInequality
#WealthInequality
xanatax 🐰@rbreich … They think we can afford boots in this economy? 🤔 Currently wearing knock-off shoes that just say, “Made in China” but look like Crocs. 🤣
Extinction (our fate)@rbreich Nobody owns bootstraps these days. Strictly rentals, and the rentiers have made them prohibitive.
These days it's pure hustle.