The enemy
I recently heard someone say that they couldn't understand how anyone could be opposed to tuition-free higher education. And so many anti-Bernie memes are centered around disdain for so-called "free stuff."
It made me think of a couple of experiences with a co-worker who is kind of a walking embodiment of this "conservative" campaign against "takers."
I was once at a lunch to honor the folks who volunteer for the non-profit where I work. We do get some government funding that goes to general operating support so it is possible that a fraction of a penny of someone's tax dollar went toward some ziti and salad for our volunteers. One of the volunteers was late because she had come from a lunch for folks working with a local Head-start program, which is supported by a slightly larger fraction of a penny of someone's tax dollar. A "conservative" co-worker actually complained that this woman - this woman who volunteers her time with numerous local organizations and community service providers - was getting two free tax-supported lunches in one day. My "conservative" co-worker was absolutely disgusted. It was shocking to me, since, you know, most of my friends and co-workers have always been human beings. I knew that there was a segment of the population full of hatred and bitterness about the fact that a tiny portion of the money they earn is taken in the form of taxes and used to feed and help people. But I'd never seen it live and up close.
Shortly after that, when I was discussing with my boss the possibility of my taking a short leave so that I could camp out at the onset of the OWS movement, this same co-worker came to the fervent defense of corporations, that create jobs and products we use and do so much social good. And I said to her, I think corporations should be allowed to thrive and profit, and create good jobs and provide safe products, but I don't think they should be allowed to purchase our legislative process and be subsidized by tax-payers while they hoard wealth and resources. And she argued that their wealth and power was earned through merit.
Culturally, and especially among so-called conservatives, we have a very twisted idea of merit. My co-worker did not think a local women who dedicates her time to volunteerism, was deserving to be fed if even a piece of a penny to provide that food was from taxpayers. She definitely does not believe that anyone deserves any kind of food or living assistance that is tax-funded. Yet she defends companies that don't pay taxes and take taxpayer money on top of that, because their social importance makes them deserving. What causes this warped point of view?
I think in part it is because conservatives are fear-based and suspicious, and it is easier for them to hate and suspect individual people, who are understood in a very concrete way, than it is to hate and suspect a corporation, which is a more abstract entity.
I also think that we are constantly subjected to messages that are designed to create this warped sense of merit, so that we will become self-hating, and keep ourselves down, and allow ourselves to be exploited.
The sad thing is, my co-worker and I are very unlikely to unite against this oppressive system. Not only because she will not recognize it, but also because I can't stand her. I know that when she sees welfare recipients, and free-lunch-eating volunteers as unworthy people, she is serving the machine. And it follows that when I see her as an unworthy person, that is one of the ways that I serve the machine.
And I see how much easier it is for me to make her, a concrete person, my enemy, than it is for me to make an enemy of the system, even as my every intention is to fight that machine on behalf of myself and all my neighbors.
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Response to rbnyc (Original post)
