Degrees of Separation of Culpability. How the Plutocrats are carrying out a global mass slaughter.

[Zalatix]

WARNING: this ventures into tl;dr, but I feel it's REALLY worth it.

Okay, first a history lesson.

In Nazi Germany, the concept of social Darwinism blossomed into outright eugenic slaughter. Jewish people, the disabled and others, were rounded up into concentration camps and slaughtered in a gruesomely orderly fashion.

In terms of culpability, Hitler was directly connected to this mass slaughter. He had zero degrees of separation of culpability.

Now let's fast forward to today.

Jobs leave America and Europe and go overseas to India and China. There is an ongoing war against welfare benefits, living wage proposals, financial support for the unemployed, health care for the poor, and even a war to rollback the most basic workplace safety protections. Who is behind this? The Republicans and blue dog Democrats. Behind them? The Plutocracy, such as minions like Mitt Romney and leaders like the Koch brothers. (Romney is a mere minion; unlike the Koch brothers, he isn't worth enough to make it onto the boat when the world ends [a joke, folks; see the movie 2012].)

Now let's look at what happens when the Plutocracy actually gets their way.

1) You're laid off and your job leaves the country to China, India or Mexico.
2) You go on unemployment and start looking for work.
3) You can't find ANY job for the next 2 years because there are 5 people competing against you for every job opening. Some jobs you go to and there are up to a thousand people competing for it.
4) Your unemployment benefits cut off at 26 weeks if the Plutocrats get their way. So for 78 weeks of that 2 years you are getting nothing at all.
5) With no money coming in, you turn to welfare. Sorry, that has been cut by the Plutocrats. Now you have to turn to the soup kitchens. Meanwhile, you are now getting behind on your rent.
6) At about 34 weeks you're evicted and now you're homeless. The soup kitchens have become overburdened because there are an increasingly large number of people in the same shoes as you.
7) It's 40 weeks. For you, there is now a food shortage. You face malnourishment, and also winter has arrived; the shelters are overloaded, so you spend a lot of time out on the street, with no access to a shower. The clothes you took out of your old apartment are getting worn and you have no place to wash them, either. Your job hunt has ground to a halt because employers can smell you coming from down the street. You have no home address and no contact phone.
8) 52 weeks. The hard winter is constantly making you sick, PLUS among the homeless community a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis has been spreading, and now it has reached you. You have no health insurance so your only hope is the emergency room, where you risk spreading your sickness to other poor people, endangering many lives at once.
9) 78 weeks. You are either dead from malnourishment and tuberculosis, from winter exposure, or being killed by some psychopath teenager who thought it was funny to beat you to death.

Or you have survived, and a genie has come and conjured up a job for you that pays less than what you earned before, you find a place to live, and you slowly pick yourself back up.

The Plutocracy runs the numbers on this. So many of people in your shoes die quietly, and so many others survive. The cycle of outsourcing American jobs repeats itself and many more either die or survive. Slowly, but surely, attrition cuts down on the numbers of what the Plutocracy has judged to be "useless eaters".

So let's take a look at the degrees of separation of culpability here.
1) Send jobs out of the country. Create a shortage of jobs.
2) Cut welfare and the social safety net.
3) People wither off the vine and die.

I'd say that's about 2 degrees of separation there. That means that as a Plutocrat you can say "I didn't cause them to die. I didn't go out there and kill them. They died because they were weak and unfit and they could not adapt to the economy."

There are other factors that help the Plutocracy here. Such as working class Americans fighting each other and sometimes killing each other in acts of robbery, gang wars, homophobia, troops with PTSD going on shooting rampages, destitute parents killing their kids when they can no longer provide for them, all kinds of miscellaneous things. Plutocrats also count on workers dying in the workplace (factories, mines, etc.) or getting sick and dying (asbestos, mesothelioma, etc.). And of course if one or two working class Americans decides to wage a direct war of aggression on the Plutocrats, say, a dying cancer patient trying to assassinate a CEO, killing them would be "self defense" because while the CEO is at least 2 degrees separated from culpability over this patient's imminent death (due to refusing them coverage), the would-be assassin is directly culpable for the assassination attempt. It's not hard, then, to turn the public against them.

Slick, folks, very slick. But how is this possible?

Well, who here has played pool? It's like that. Allow me to use an analogy here, I'm gonna go way out on a limb but I believe my logic is quite solid. The working class are the colored balls and the pockets are their graves. The Plutocrats don't knock the balls into the pockets by hitting the balls themselves; you use the cue ball. The metaphorical cue ball keeps you and your pool stick from being directly culpable. The working class assassin mentioned above, meanwhile, has committed the fatal error of 1) declaring a Plutocrat to be a pool ball; and 2) using his pool stick to hit him directly. Hitler also made this mistake, on a grand scale. This analogy actually turns ironic when the economy takes the pool stick, hits the cue ball, and drives the Plutocrat 8 ball into the pocket with a market crash. (See: financially ruined bankers jumping off of bridges.) THAT might have happened if there had not been any bailouts for the bankers in 2008.

But, you see, the Plutocrats have rigged it so that they're never a ball on the pool table. Their skin is not in the game. They've got it rigged so they always hold the pool stick and they never hit a working class ball into the pocket/grave directly. The cue ball is the economy which they manipulate as a method of culling people on the sly.

The world has been brainwashed into believing that death comes from the cue ball, the "invisible hand", the economy and its natural evolution. It's simply too preposterous to believe that the killing blow actually came from Plutocrat wielding the pool stick. The balls on the field are too busy banging into one another and waging war on one another to see the stick, or the demon who's holding it.

Hitler was crude; real gentlemen Plutocrats, however, play by the rules; by the cue and the stick. Thus they keep their hands clean when people start dying. But the end is still the same. Gas chambers or disease and starvation, dead is still dead. Was Nazi Germany faster about getting rid of their undesirables? Yes. But the Plutocracy is driving the world toward a major resource crash and environmental crisis which will precipitate a population crash as well; a catastrophe for the 99%, but absolutely no such thing for the Plutocrats who will be living in comfort and ease behind their troops and high walls while all this goes down.

Hitler was too fast and too direct. The Plutocracy is slow, methodical, and they keep their hands at least two degrees of separation from the inevitable consequences of their behavior.

Do I sound crazy? Yup. But I ain't selling anything except awareness. From now on I guarantee that when you watch these Conservatives, Blue Dogs and Libertarians in action, nothing will surprise or shock you anymore. You might even be able to use this to predict what they'll do next. Questions like "Why don't they care?" will come across as silly to you because as you observe these politicians and Plutocrats in the future you'll see everything they do is consistent with what I'm saying. You'll know it's not that they don't care - it's that they want to drastically reduce the numbers of the 99%. They see them as useless eaters worthy of extermination. Yes, I said it: extermination, by 2 or more degrees of separation of culpability. You can set all non-Leftist political clocks by what I've said.

[Speck Tater]

1. Face it. Historically, the global economy was NEVER stronger than...

... right after the Black Plague decimated Europe. Not only did everyone have jobs, but the labor shortage meant that wages got bid up and the standard of living skyrocketed.

Unemployment is mother nature's way of handling overpopulation.

The problem is not that the jobs were outsourced. That only changed who lives and where they die. It doesn't cause an increase in the global death rate. Moving jobs from country A to country B just moves some of the poverty of country B into country A. India gets some of our jobs and in exchange we get some of their poverty. There's no free lunch and the scales MUST balance.

From a global perspective, globalization and outsourcing simply means that Americans lose some of their economic privilege and have to share it more equitably around the world. The world is overpopulated, and SOMEBODY is going to die. A LOT of somebodies are going to die. We complain about globalization because we want the ones who die to be the little brown people in countries were they talk funny, NOT right here the good old privileged US of A. Our role has traditionally been that of exploiter of the world's poor. We are outraged at the thought that we might have to become part of the world's poor.

But faced with the choice of continuing to exploit the world's poor, or to join the world's poor, of course we want to preserve our privileged status.

[HiPointDem]

2. That is a load of crap.

[Zorra]

5. Fine. Set an example for us. Go. Leave now, and go live in the slums of Calcutta.

"But faced with the choice of continuing to exploit the world's poor, or to join the world's poor, of course we want to preserve our privileged status."

LOL! Take from the poor and give to the rich, so that everyone can be really, really, poor - except for the 1%.

Buh-bye! Have a nice time in Calcutta! Before you go, would you like to buy a bridge? It's a smokin' deal! Call me.

Voters in India say No to Globalization

Of course, there is no greater lie than the suggestion that economic globalization done along corporate-friendly lines has been good for the world's poor.

Just as this form of globalization has robbed American communities of factories and service jobs and has impoverished farmers in the United States, so it has deprived the poor of developing countries of traditional livelihoods and hope for a better life.

It has to be that way because, for multinational corporations to reap the excessive profits their shareholders demand, they must squeeze the last penny out of even the poorest of the poor.

Yet, while that much should be obvious, you will still see the dupes and stooges of corporate capital pitching for free trade, market reforms and privatization. Unfortunately, while they are consistently wrong, the dupes and stooges continue to occupy stations of great influence in both major political parties and most of the major media in the United States. As a result, the lie that says globalization leads to prosperity for the poor continues to be spread.

I really hate Third Way 1% globalist propaganda spew with a passion. The fact is, people who have nothing have nothing to help others with.

Wouldn't it be better to overthrow the 1%, strengthen our country and people, and create within manageable boundaries and parameters, a nation based on real equality and a broad sense of human community? And then, when we have something of genuine substance and value to give, promote our egalitarian system to other nations? *Hey, y'all, look what we got. And it really works!

Of course, the Plutocrat globalists would never permit this; and they have the unlimited resources to crush the seeds of democracy before it grows.

Here is an example of what they are doing to Occupy, the activist arm of the 99%, 24/7, all around the world.

Frankfurt: "Some 5,000 police are ready to be deployed."

Hundreds arrested in 'Blockupy' protests in Frankfurt

Thousands of anti-capitalist protesters defied a demonstration ban in Frankfurt on Friday. Hundreds were arrested. Organizers are hoping many more will turn out for an officially approved demonstration.

German police arrested more than 400 people who took part in banned anti-capitalism demonstrations in the country's financial capital, Frankfurt, on Friday.

Police moved in quickly to breakup gatherings in front of several large private banks and the European Central Bank (ECB).
snip
The organizers say they hope tens of thousands of protesters will turn out for the final rally on Saturday.

[Zalatix]

6. That, and he totally misses the point of what I said. Totally.

[Zalatix]

8. Oh, so the mass deaths of millions was okay?

Your argument of "Unemployment is mother nature's way of handling overpopulation" is the classic social Darwinist mindset. You sound just like a Republican when you say things like that.

And what about the brown people here in America? Yeah, you won't respond with an answer to that question. In fact all you've done here is do a pointless little drive-by.

[Speck Tater]

17. Mass death is NOT O.K., just inevitable given overshoot.

And my point was simply that our American standard of living is only possible by exploiting others around the world, and when we are forced to pay the true cost of our luxury, we complain. We are accustomed to our privileged status in the world, and prefer not to acknowledge that it depends on exploiting others. The 1% exploit us, and we, the 5% globally, exploit the others. No, we are not all the 1%, but we are damn near all the top 5%, considered globally. Globalization spreads the wealth around, we object to that just like the 1% objects to their wealth being spread around.

[Lars39]

3. Lack of insurance and healthcare

Or cruddy insurance that won't pay is another way the herd is being culled. Add in weaker environmental laws(hello, fracking?) and workplace safety standards and you've got more people dying sooner, too, all with that separation of culpability.

[cali]

4. uh, you are selling opinion, not awareness.

oh and a lot of bullshit.

There is no big plot to commit genocide ala Hitler. It's stupidity and greed. You give these assholes far too much credit.

The comparison between the plot you purport and a game of pool was funny as hell though. Pointless, ridiculous, but funny.

It's opinion. And yeah, it's crazy, adolescent style, non-critical thinking opinion.

I prefer actually thinking- painful as that can be- then some silly unifying theory of the world that smells the same as all those theories, no matter how different they may seem.

They all smell of religion.

[cali]

9. sigh. more hackneyed garbage. It's up to YOU, genius, to provide some evidence

for your half baked conspiracy shit.

And no, honeypie, I'm not shilling for capitalism because I don't think buy your CT.

Just out of curiosity, do you speak in cliches all of the time?

[Zalatix]

10. Oh jeez. More of your childish temper tantrums.

I've provided plenty of evidence for what I've said. I even laid out the mechanics of it in explicit detail. Perhaps if you're not shilling for Capitalism, then your problem is a lack of reading comprehension? I made zero errors. You will not respond to this with any evidence where I was factually wrong.

There's no conspiracy theory here and you will not show any evidence of such, because none exists. I have flawlessly explained to you the mechanics of the war on the working class and the best you can come back with is a hissyfit troll job because really, this is all above your level of understanding.

You are welcome to come back at me with more of your childish and unsubstantiated claims of "conspiracy theories".

[cali]

11. You evidently don't know what evidence is.

You provided no evidence. None. Your made up mechanics are not evidence. Evidence would consist of facts that bear out your contentions. And no, your ad homs don't count either.

You expressed an opinion. Opinion is subjective. It is not fact. It may or may not be "truth" and "truth" is something else with a high degree of subjectivity.

Where are you wrong? You espouse a conspiracy theory- that there is a cabal of people methodically planning genocide (and btw, what is their motive?).

What you haven't done is made a coherent argument. I contend that the results we're seeing are generated by the inherent and serious flaws of our culture of exploitative capitalism- that the institution itself and the culture of the institution are a structure that produces the negative results we see all around us. Furthermore, I'll argue that this extends beyond an economic structure to a wider cultural American structure- call it the high western culture if you will. It's expansionist and individualistic to the detriment of the larger group.

Are you following? I'm adhering to Orwell's admonitions about writing and trying to put things simply.

And yes, claiming that there is a cabal of powerful people methodically planning and carrying out genocide is as sure as CT as is possible.

Logical refutation of your adolescent bullshit, is hardly a hissyfit, darlin'. What you're doing here couldn't be more obvious.

Hugs and kisses,

[Zalatix]

14. And now we can add 'ad-hominem' to the terms you know nothing about.

I attacked your idiotic arguments, not you. You are the one who started this, and now you can't take what you dished out? Oh, poor you. You must need a band-aid for all those self-inflicted wounds on your ego. Wounds that you're now blaming on me.

And you still haven't shown any "conspiracy theory" in my argument.

For you to claim that anything I said was wrong, you must deny that outsourcing does occur. You must deny that MILLIONS of Americans out there have spent up to 2 years being unable to find a job. You must deny that this can lead to homelessness. You must then deny that malnutrition and deadly diseases are spreading among the homeless. You must then deny that this can and often does lead to death.

For me to be wrong and your delusionary madness of an argument to hold, you must claim that the Plutocrats do not collude to send jobs out of this country. You must then argue that these folks don't lobby the Government to keep jobs leaving America, and you must also argue that they don't lobby Republicans and Democrats to cut welfare benefits, health care benefits and unemployment benefits for the poor.

You must categorically deny all of that, for your laughably misguided argument to hold water. Oh and Orwell is rolling in his grave at the idea of you invoking his name.

And yes, claiming that there is a cabal of powerful people methodically planning and carrying out genocide is as sure as CT as is possible.

Uh huh, yeah, is that why President Barack Obama himself accused the Republicans, who are by run by a group that fits the definition a cabal, of social Darwinism?

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/04/president-obama-delivers-blistering-partisan-attack-on-modern-republican-party/

President Obama is a lawyer by trade. A Harvard Law School-educated lawyer. He doesn't just throw words out there; he is very precise in the things that he says. When he accuses the GOP of social Darwinism he is not throwing out hyperbole; President Obama doesn't do hyperbole. He very much means the GOP's goal is to cull the working class herd. Culling the weak is the core of social Darwinism. For your argument to have any basis in reality you must now deny that President Obama accused the GOP of social Darwinism.

Now who bankrolls the GOP? The Plutocracy; particularly, ultra rich billionaires like the Koch brothers and organizations like the Heritage Foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. You want to know what the cabal is? It's this specific group.

They're why we couldn't get an anti-offshoring bill through Congress - neither the Koch Brothers nor the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are in Congress, but they hold more influence over Congress than 300 million American voters. Do you deny this? Well, do you? I'm waiting. You're the one who started this, now let's hear it - do you deny that the Koch Brothers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce bankroll the war on American workers, the war on the social safety net, the war on unemployment benefits, and the war on the working class? Do you deny the Koch Brothers' connection to the John Birch Society and the Heritage Foundation? Remember, you're the one who said this was a conspiracy theory and that there wasn't a cabal behind it - so what would you call the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Heritage Foundation and the Koch Brothers, all waging a war against the working class, waging a war against the social safety net, all wielding more influence than we the people? If you say THAT is not a cabal then your credibility is clearly dead on arrival.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabal

A cabal is a group of people united in some close design together, usually to promote their private views and/or interests in a church, state, or other community, often by intrigue.

The people and groups whose names I have specifically mentioned, have been proven to be a close-knit group which promotes their private views in the State, often by circumventing the will of the People by the use of their extreme collective wealth. They wield their power constantly, always behind the scenes, with ZERO accountability to we the people. Do you deny any of this? Please, I dare you to. I can be here all day showing you news articles.

Now would you like to admit you're wrong, or are there any other bullshit gyrations and excuses you'd like to throw out as a smokescreen to defend what's left of your credibility and ego?

Edited to add: This would be a smart time for you to declare victory and claim that this argument isn't worth continuing... because at this point your argument has pretty much committed suicide.

[cali]

15. there's an odd perfection to your being so consistently in error

"h jeez. More of your childish temper tantrums." That is not a criticism of an argument. But I admire your gall, dear. And I'm not whining, I'm having far too much fun. You seem a tad bit unnerved though.

You are arguing from fallacy in a very textbook way. Of course I can argue persuasively that you're wrong EVEN if I agree that millions of people, for example, are out of work and sinking in this economy. The fact that millions of people are suffering in this economy is not evidence that a cabal is practicing genocide.

Moving on: (and btw, saying that someone is delusional and mad, is what's known as.... an ad-hom. :rofl

I don't know if PLUTOCRATS (my you certainly do likie that word) collude to send jobs out of the country. I know that corporations have done so and are continuing to do so. And know I don't need to argue that things that are happening- such as lobbying- aren't happening to refute your CT. Again, that's arguing from fallacy.

And you have no clue about Orwell's advice about writing. That much is clear. And the whole rolling in the grave is just more hackneyed rhetoric because that seems to be what you employ. You don't exactly use original language for your CTs, but you aren't alone. Most people who buy into that aren't exactly filled to the brim with original thought.

So, onto President Obama. Yes, he delivers blistering political attacks on republicans, but he has never ever said anything about a cabal of our elite practicing genocide and using a partisan attack he made as evidence that he believes what you do, is a trifle odd. Well, more than a trifle.

Admit I'm wrong? I've argued coherently that you are spinning a CT and not producing any evidence for it. You haven't argued anything. You've just sort of spat out this seemingly randomly generated cliches and news articles that do not back up your central claim about a cabal of 1% folk who sit around methodically (oooh, they're so much more sophisticated than adolph) plotting and carrying out genocide.

Just out of curiosity, Do you know what Occam's Razor is? Do you understand how apply here?

[Odin2005]

12. Capitalism is the greatest mass murderer of all time.

[cali]

13. so is communism. but is there a cabal of people methodically planning and committing genocide?

That's what the op claims.

[Iggo]

16. "Yup."