A better word for plutocracy: Richtatorship.

[True Blue Door]

I could never get behind the terms "plutocracy" or (gag) "corporatocracy." This is Pluto:

[img][/img]

And this is Pluto:

[img][/img]

So how is plutocracy rule by the rich? Yes, yes, I know the etymology - but most people don't and never will, and most people who do still don't make the association on a basic emotional level. But what alternative is there? "Corporatocracy" is a syllable-salad train wreck with no meaning at all to most people, and at best abstract associations for those who think.

Allow me to propose a better and comprehensive alternative to both terms: Richtatorship.

Now hold on, I know it isn't a pretty word. In fact it's puerile, but that's part of the point. It gets right to the dirty, shitty heart of the matter, and in a way that's still more linguistically elegant and powerful than the alternatives. The meaning and the moral value of that meaning are self-evident, and cut straight to the chase: Rich people doing whatever they want and making you do whatever they tell you. Everyone can relate to that - even most rich people themselves.

Whatever they collectively want, no matter how strongly opposed by the overwhelming majority of the American people, usually becomes law. And whatever they collectively do not want, no matter how strongly demanded by the overwhelming majority of the American people, usually does not become law. They corrupt every level of government, and commit all level of crime with impunity so long as their peers are not victims.

You won't win any intellectual prizes for using the word "richtatorship" or "richtator", but you'll leave a mark whose meaning everyone knows instantly.

[JHB]

1. Not sure thaty works. Say "richtator" and this comes to mind...

Last edited Tue Sep 23, 2014, 10:26 AM - Edit history (1)

[freshwest]

2. Good. I hope it catches on.

[silverweb]

3. No.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Aren't we already being dumbed down enough? Why play along with it?

[True Blue Door]

4. Isn't sacrificing communication on the altar of vanity "playing along"?

Or are we having this conversation in Latin the way that people who considered themselves educated once did?

[silverweb]

5. It has nothing to do with vanity.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]It has everything to do with effective communication.

The etymology of words has been and should again be part of basic English language education. Knowing where words came from, how they changed as they transitioned from one language to another, and the subtleties and nuances of meaning that have resulted in today's language are an important part of effective communication.

Dumbing down language to eliminate shades of meaning was one of the themes in 1984, remember, and it's happening under our noses right now. Most kids graduate from high school with an elementary school reading level and with only bare-bones communication skills.

Giving them more dumbed-down word substitutions because some Latin roots and the etymology of 2 and 3-syllable words might take a little learning and stimulate their brains is not giving them communication skills.

It's been my experience that if we speak to people intelligently, they tend to perk up and try harder to respond intelligently; they even enjoy learning and using new words. You might try it some time instead of helping the rush to the bottom dumbest and reducing everyone to the lowest common denominator.

[True Blue Door]

8. Your idea of communication seems ass-backwards.

You think we should talk to people as if they already knew what we wish they knew, and just shrug off the failure to connect as their fault.

But if that's to be our logic, why don't we just conduct our politics in Esperanto? Or Greek syllogisms?

[silverweb]

11. Suit yourself.

[Throd]

10. Thank you!

[silverweb]

12. My pleasure.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Understanding of language has gone the way of understanding of civics in this country -- two of the most important subjects required for an educated populace, dumbed down so much that they're virtually gone.

For the benefit of other readers, who might find the OP's argument amusing, take note of the inane and often blatantly false "infotainment" networks that feed people what they're "supposed to" believe and buy and do. Can anyone really think TPTB aren't very pleased with that?

Jefferson knew:

[font face="Arial"]"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. ... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be."

[font face="Verdana"]
Carlin knew it, too:

[font face="Arial"]&quot The real owners of America) want obedient workers. Obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork. And just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, (etc)...."

[font face="Verdana"]
All for the privilege of being allowed to live "approved" lives of quiet desperation in service to the 1%.

Please: "Teach your children well."

[socialist_n_TN]

6. I prefer the dictatorship of capital.....

No need to reinvent the wheel.

[AZ Progressive]

9. Americans needs things to be as simple as possible for them to remember and get

Why do you think most corporations have shortened their names?

[el_bryanto]

7. I don't know - i like Plutocrat. Rolls off the tongue. nt