Matthew Bracken (@Matt_Bracken)

pagliacci the hated 🌝 @Slatzism What Vivek is actually condemning is that the American working class has the fresh memory of their parents achieving a high standard of living through honest work, and that they hold that as an expectation. Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, etc do not have that memory or expectation. American workers have become fully disillusioned with runaway capitalism, and do not want to sacrifice their bodies or minds for a standard of living far below what their parents enjoyed with less education and skills than they have. They do not want to work 50+ hours per week to barely be able to make ends meet for themselves, let alone for the family they hope to have. They have zero incentive. So what Vivek means when he speaks of "culture" is the culture of insects. What Vivek is describing when he refers to "hyper-competitiveness" are Americans being unable to compete with insect culture. It is an American with the blood memory of a happy family being comfortably provided for on a union mechanic's salary up against a swarm of roaches content to be packed 20 to a pod, eating slop, shitting in a bucket, and doing it all for nothing more than the occasional headpat from their master. For their refusal to accept such a slave-like existence, American workers are being mocked by the insects, who cannot even begin to fathom that there is meaning and value to life beyond a few extra dollars in their bank account, a bit of extra shareholder value, being #1 in some bullshit industry that shouldn’t even exist, etc...