I've been systematically canceling my credit cards...

Apr 16, 2003 22:52

Walk into work (JC Penney) this afternoon and one of the ladies in the break room mentioned that she got someone to open a charge card today. And it hit me. It's totally Marxism in action.

The wealthy people who own the company give us $2 per charge card to encourage us by making us think the extra money (insignificant after taxes) will allow us to buy luxury items that will make us more like them - total sign exchange value.

Meanwhile, the working and middle class max out their JC Penney charge card by buying even more luxury items they really don't need but think will make them look wealthier. But this doesn't actually make them more like the wealthy class. In reality, it worsens their situation by trapping them in a vicious minimum monthly payment cycle that keeps them paying 22% interest for the rest of their lives and preventing them from amassing the wealth that would project them into the wealthy class in which they aspire to be. To top it all off, the wealthy class grows wealthier off the 22% interest the working and middle classes are paying in their vain attempts to appear wealthy.

As a JC Penney associate, I aid the continuation of this cycle to keep the rich people in power.

After realizing all this (in the middle of my shift, no less), I was a little depressed because I realized I'd never be able to unite my fellow proletariat in a rebellion against the wealthy powermongers. And I do like our semblance of democracy because all men are NOT created equal. It would be absurd to put me in the NBA just for equity's sake. And I'm sorry, but I don't want someone whose natural abilities are best suited for snow plowing to ever, EVER perform surgery on my brain.

So the moral of the story? Appreciate Marxism as the interesting theory that it is. But don't think about it too hard. And whatever you do, don't apply it to your real life.

I think I'm going to stick with deconstruction. It's a happy little world where I can pretend that Marxism has no definite meaning...
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