: This is a phenomenon that never fails to amaze me. People on the lower
: end of the pay scale who--against their own best interests--identify
: with the needs of the rich. Yes Ted, it's amazing but this is exactly (and I suspect you know it yourself) where the power of capitalism lies. To legitimise its existance capitalism needs to convince a big majority of population to believe that capital is the glue which holds the whole social structure together constantly trumpet the age old cliche that without capital & rich people the society would fall apart. This is of course total crap that's forced down the throat of people like Mike by the publicity machiniary of the big corporations. This distorted view of the way the world works has blinded a big section of the population to the most obvious realities of life arund them. Look at the way we constantly hear (& Mike repeats it again) that capitalism create jobs - despite the millions upon millions of unemployed that are completely marginalised.
The sad thing is that if capitalist alienation had not grown such deep roots all around us, we would have seen more people prepared to help themselves and their community rather than relying on the state and the big corporations to bail them out and accepting their influence and power over their lives.
As it stands now the average citizen feels completely disempowered and little more than and appendage to capital. At least in this respect we have completed the circle of history and gone back to the era of serfdom! It is in this context that the value of what Steel and Morris and others who are striving for an alternative social organisation becomes fully appreciable.
