this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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Betty Sue makes $286,000 per month on Etsy. She started with nothing, and now she's filthy rich.

Come on, man. The chances of that happening to the average person are close to zero. Stories like this give people unrealistic expectations.

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[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 105 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Gotta keep the American dream alive.

Give people hope.

People with hope don’t revolt because they still have something to lose.

[–] Kintarian@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago

Wouldn't want a class war brewing.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

"Bread & circuses" is an ancient protocol, and hasn't been absent from any government policy since the invention of bread, beer, etc. #TheMoreYouKnow

[–] Xeroxchasechase@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (5 children)

The irony is that far right IS actually people revolting

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 17 points 1 month ago (3 children)

They're doing it wrong I think

[–] poweruser@lemmy.sdf.org 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)

They rage in favor of the machine Rage Against the Machine rages against

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago
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[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's pretty common that angry revolutionaries are used by another rich bastard to get into power by usurping the movement. The classic "meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

[–] OpenStars@discuss.online 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Rules for Rulers

The rulers change, but the rules do not.

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[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The guys who they need to be revoting against are the ones telling them who to hate...

Left has similar falacies.

[–] Xeroxchasechase@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Not sure. I mean, yeah, the racist fascist narcissistic dementic monster doesn't looks like the ideal candidate in a democracy, but if your intention is to fuck the system that fucked you, while giving you a feeling of superiority, it looks like a perfect match. For too long, the difference between the Democrats and Republicans was cosmetic at best, some are pragmatic but some just want to fuck the system.

[–] cowfodder@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Well, they certainly are revolting, I'll give you that.

[–] Atin@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

More that they are generally revolting people.

[–] iltoroargento@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 month ago

It isn't ironic that they are revolting people, though...

[–] Kintarian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

The peasants are revolting... They certainly are!

-Monty Python

[–] FireTower@lemmy.world 55 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The chances of that happening to the average person are close to zero.

That's the whole point. People don't watch the news to hear "dog bites man" they watch it to hear "man bites dog".

No one wants to watch a 2-3 hr long movie about someone's regular Tuesday at the office they want to watch something that doesn't happen everyday like an adventure, the perfect couple meeting, or the world ending.

[–] Kintarian@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Fair enough

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Warhol, Kaufman, et al'd like a word.

[–] MolochAlter@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Neither of those people were ordinary in any way tho.

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[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 33 points 1 month ago (1 children)

To pacify you by convincing you that you could be next, as opposed to you are regularly fucked by the rich.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 month ago

"Momentarily embarrassed millionaires" is the target market, yep.

[–] Electric_Druid@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago (2 children)

People are more likely to accept an inherently flawed economic system if they thing they have any chance of "beating" it. Stories like this, although actually very rare, help reinforce that narrative.

[–] MrMcGasion@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

I have had someone tell me that they'd rather live in an economic system "like we have in America" where people have a chance at rags to riches, than a system "like Germany, where the social safety net means the average person doesn't have a chance at making it big."

If anyone ever tells you wealthy people are intelligent, don't believe them.

[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yep, many also think they're exceptional, and so they've convinced themselves they'll be the exception.

[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 26 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Capitalist propaganda.

"Aspiration" to be more precise, it's one of the ways capitalists convince large segments of the public that they're temporarily embarrassed millionaires, who just need to pull their bootstraps up hard enough, and they will make it, like the people in the programme did (conveniently they never address things like racism, sexism, queerphobia, ableism, and other barriers that many people have to face just to survive, never mind thrive, and the fact that all of these barriers are artificial and created by people who benefit just as much from dividing society up and pitting us against each other, as they do from selling us rags-to-riches bullshit to get us to work harder to make them money).

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[–] 2ugly2live@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Gotta keep that dream alive. Besides, why would I want to tax the rich when I'm this close to being rich myself! /s

[–] hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 1 month ago

First of all, the vast majority of media cares only about crafting and publishing stories that people want to read, instead of stories that people should read. Think about clickbait articles. Their purpose is to get people to read the story and therefore give them money (either by seeing ads, buying a physical magazine/newspaper, or signing up for a paid subscription), as oppised to actually informing the public about things they should know

Second, capitalism needs the working class to think that they can get rich too if they just work hard, and thus people spend their lives working because they've been told that they can get rich. Allow me to illustrate:

[–] angelmountain@feddit.nl 20 points 1 month ago (5 children)

People like to read those stories because it gives them hope it also happens to them. Media print stories that you want to read, that's how they make money.

Other stories people like to read: how to world is going to shit (evolutionairy important to prepare to survive), what someone that's familiar to you did (evolutionary important to be social to work together to survive), stories about how someone else did something stupid (complaining about that toghether gives yoh a sense of belonging) and stories about how a pet cat was retrieved (tickling that instinct to care for others again).

As you can see, media is looking for stories that tickle your most basic insticts and needs, because they know that's what you will be interested in, making you read their stories so they can make more money.

Welcome to capitalism, you are the product.

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[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Isn't that the case with all news? When a self-driving car kills a person it's newsworthy but the million times it doesn't is not. By definition the event needs to be something out of the ordinary for it to spark the interest of most people.

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[–] K1nsey6@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Its the US version of Arbeit macht frei

[–] Kintarian@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Work sets you free. Something like that.

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[–] Grayox@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 month ago

Its Capitalist Propaganda.

[–] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Sensationalism sells.

[–] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Because people will read them?

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[–] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 8 points 1 month ago

Keeps the poors content

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 7 points 1 month ago

Z peasants require copium to stay docile.

[–] OpenStars@discuss.online 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

For-profit media sells whatever makes them the highest profits. (Those who won't, make way to those who will, or remain in obscurity e.g. how many people have even heard of Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios.)

They will sell anything it seems, with little to no regard for facts. Then they leave it to you to determine the lies of omission, while hunting for the real truth, i.e. to do the true work of journalism. But usually unpaid, painstakingly, and again you'll never be able to share that message by virtue of being in conflict with the for-profit sources. Or if you do, who would even understand you, especially among the sheeple who either cannot and/or also will not bother to read anything at all.

Some people like Jon Stewart have railed against this for decades... but he lost, and it's worse than ever before. Adjust your expectations accordingly. This is the world.

[–] Kintarian@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Massive corporations own the media along with the likes of Rupert Murdoch. If you don't dig deeper, you will only believe what they want you to believe. The talking heads on TV are not journalists; they are paid actors reading whatever they are paid to read. Modern news is entertainment no better than the National Enquirer.

[–] OpenStars@discuss.online 2 points 1 month ago

Exactly that. Which ironically doesn't mean that everything that they say is false... but it does mean that everything that they say is suspect.

We need a billionaire to swoop in an save us. Which won't happen, so we need a grass roots effort from the ground up to save us. Which won't happen so we need a spaghett monster or god to save us. Which won't happen bc e.g. the Christian God allows free will hence consequences.. so we need aliens to save us. Which won't happen bc they do not exist - that we can demonstrate.

It is a lot easier to destroy than to create, and it will require enormous efforts to maintain constant vigilance to know things in the future, in this our mis- and worse yet dis-information era.

[–] khaleer@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 month ago

Because people would believe them instead of taking actions against the billionaires.

[–] militaryintelligence@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Work hard for your boss every day and you, too, can be rich! Bootstraps, people.

[–] recursive_recursion@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

By highlighting singular instances of a sharp rapid success story; people can be shown a mirage-like image which encourages others to follow suit.

If by following the formula it works, then there should be an explosion of successful entrepreneurs in the market. This is untrue otherwise the market distribution would look unlike how it currently is (probably more mid class, less low income class, higher top income bracket).

The reality is that most of the time (>60% I'd approximate), replicating "rags-to-riches" strategies does not produce the same successes as the exhibited highlights. Sometimes a person stumbled onto gold, and by putting a spotlight on that instance you're showcasing only the business ventures that happened to pay off, sometimes it's skill, perhaps a combination of both, other times pure RNG🎲.

Ex: Sharktank, from the start you only see a fraction of the people that can even afford to start ventures show up as a contestant, just how many are able to get an investment, and what are the chances that they'd succeed without an investor, publisher, starting funds, etc?

To me "rags to riches" are a prime example of a combination/parallel of a couple of things:

  • Survivorship Bias
  • Focus Group
  • Misdirection Propaganda
    • by repeatedly showcasing exception cases, the perception of common norms is deliberatly changed ("this is how people usually get rich", "Huh maybe I have a shot at getting rich too, maybe I should spend time to replicate their successes and turn it into my own🤔")

If rags to riches worked, I and many others would be millionaires if not billionaires.

Personally I don't trust the systems that these stories are built on and displayed as. I think the shows are entertaining but only that and nothing more.

[–] Kintarian@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I will remember survivorship bias. If hard work led to success, then a poor person working three jobs should be rich. I've noticed that a lot of these stories are closer to "from rich to richer." Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard because his family could support his "hobby." He didn't have to work three jobs to pay rent, but he is set up as a rags-to-riches story, using elbow grease and grit to become the mogul he is.

[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I will remember survivorship bias

The just world fallacy is another one worth remembering, in the context of your post, but also generally.

Also

If hard work led to success, then a poor person working three jobs should be rich.

You got George Monbiot's quote almost exactly word for word:

If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire.”

He didn’t have to work three jobs to pay rent, but he is set up as a rags-to-riches story, using elbow grease and grit to become the mogul he is.

Lastly, you're right, but it's important to remember what he does have, and why - privilege, and lots of it (being a white man from a rich background, with a supportive family to boot? They all put his starting points miles ahead of most others), which he is given by white supremacist patriarchal capitalism, which is why he (and many others, even without the billions, privilege is one hell of a drug) will never work to end those systems and work towards creating a world where everyone has equitable access and opportunity.

[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think other people covered the main points, but when I haven't seen mentioned yet here is the fact that, for the news to catch your attention, it has to be something exceptional. That shouldn't be true, but many publishers believe it. They compete to have what's new or different or exciting.

I blame this mostly on the big media companies, and also partly on consumers who believe that consuming news is a passive activity when in reality it's an active choice. They could go find online websites and create their own RSS feed, for example, and then they wouldn't be stuck listening to drivel. But it does take some work and some awareness.

For example, and I don't want to go into details about specific political parties, think about all of the polls about the election. Those are mostly meaningless. We'll find out exactly what public opinion is on Election Day. It's not that you couldn't have a poll, but if you're posting new polling data every day it's because you're desperate to cover up for the fact that you don't have anything new to say.

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[–] burgersc12@mander.xyz 3 points 1 month ago

It would feel hopeless if they didn't give you some "feel good" every once in a while. Just feels like the orphancrushingmachine sometimes

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