@davidnjoku @mekkaokereke

australia imports a lot of really dodgy policy ideas from UK and USA (similar culture/mindset) so US history/ economic history is the latest rabbit hole I’ve been down, trying to understand why people vote for despots, against what seems to be their own self-interest, etc

i suspect the rot set in before 1776 - and USians believe the national narrative that escaping the divine right of kings made a difference… even tho’ anglo/european ideas about land, class/caste, were never questioned. e.g. 13 original colonies already had inequity baked into them before 1776 (including the existence of a class of white consumptibles now known as white trash), but the systems were not rebooted when US was created.
(Kimberly Jones made a similar point during BLM in 2020 video and subsequent book) https://youtu.be/llci8MVh8J4?feature=shared
… the country was never founded on equality, and the people left behind have little hope of catching up

hard to summarise in a single toot, but i think Isabel Wilkerson mentioned the key in her book CASTE — marginalisation is so entrenched that people are not just competing on things like wages, but make decisions based on the desperate need to maintain *relative* status.

another good read … Heather McGhee in THE SUM OF US writes about an idea someone else mentioned here… any abuse by the system is okay so long as it hurts marginalised people more than it hurts me