How the Pandemic Laid Bare the Cruelties of Capitalism
APRIL 9, 2021
BY KENN ORPHAN
One thing this pandemic has demonstrated in stark terms is class struggle. Those people deemed essential, though often applauded in public, have been treated as expendable. In truth, they were always treated this way. But this last year has made this struggle visible for anyone paying attention.
The medical staff, grocery clerks, janitors, sanitation workers, transportation services, delivery people, all of them have been the ones on the front lines, not only of potential exposure to a lethal pathogen, but to abuse from privileged customers, clients or patients who feel their rights have somehow been violated for being asked to simply wear a mask. There are countless videos of people (mostly white and middle to upper middle class) berating workers. And this often takes on a racist tone.
Over the past year we have witnessed people throwing groceries at workers, spitting at them, calling them names. In various states, from California to Texas to Florida, there have been mobs that invaded stores like Target or Home Depot without masks and carrying anti-masker and Covid is Hoax signs, even physically attacking other customers and workers. And in one recent instance in British Columbia an older white male customer was asked to wear a mask in a pizza restaurant. He answered angrily: are you f**king Middle Easter or where are you from? Concluding with Im worth $50 million, youre worth zero. He and his companion then went on to assault a teenage customer outside tearing his mask from his face.
How disconnected from reality could one be to think that being asked to wear a mask in a store is a violation of ones rights? And how privileged does one have to be to think dressing down a worker is somehow a noble expression of those supposed rights? And this gets to the crux of the problem: capitalism.
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/04/09/how-the-pandemic-laid-bare-the-cruelties-of-capitalism/
rampartc
(5,216 posts)if they were paid commensurate with their education and value to society, perhaps the parents would not treat them like babysitters.
sanatanadharma
(3,621 posts)$12.00 per hour (?prevailing B/S rates?) per child times hours per year
$12 x 30 students x 6 hour day x 180 day school-year = $388,800 per year.
AwakeAtLast
(14,109 posts)I make $54,000/year with 24 years of experience.
gab13by13
(20,782 posts)what we have in America is crony capitalism.
McKim
(2,412 posts)Thanks for this excellent article. It is important to look at the big picture. Uncontrolled capitalism is hurting so many!!!
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)Been fighting this fight all my life.