The hand-in-hand relationship between wealth and privilege is particularly brought home, in a classic exercise of plutocratic excess, by multi-billionaires vying to put their thumbs on the scales of political outcomes. Multi-billionaires filling the coffers of, and advocating the social and ideological interests of, the far right and the far left compete for the loudest megaphone to sway voters’ opinions of the ‘wisdom’ of candidates’ positions on issues. Multi-billionaire Brobdingnagians vying for more than their share of influence. In the case of voter support, it’s a zero-sum exercise, as the size of the pie is fixed, leaving multi-billionaires to cannibalize each other’s slice. The success of the working class to ultimately cancel out privilege, and to remove the plutocrats’ thumbs on the scale, comes down to how successfully they can filter out, or reduce to noise, all that underwritten messaging. Maybe the consequences aren’t quite as dire as those creatively envisioned in your wonderfully imaginative cartoon, Youngjin, but the people’s daily welfare is nonetheless on the auction block.
The hand-in-hand relationship between wealth and privilege is particularly brought home, in a classic exercise of plutocratic excess, by multi-billionaires vying to put their thumbs on the scales of political outcomes. Multi-billionaires filling the coffers of, and advocating the social and ideological interests of, the far right and the far left compete for the loudest megaphone to sway voters’ opinions of the ‘wisdom’ of candidates’ positions on issues. Multi-billionaire Brobdingnagians vying for more than their share of influence. In the case of voter support, it’s a zero-sum exercise, as the size of the pie is fixed, leaving multi-billionaires to cannibalize each other’s slice. The success of the working class to ultimately cancel out privilege, and to remove the plutocrats’ thumbs on the scale, comes down to how successfully they can filter out, or reduce to noise, all that underwritten messaging. Maybe the consequences aren’t quite as dire as those creatively envisioned in your wonderfully imaginative cartoon, Youngjin, but the people’s daily welfare is nonetheless on the auction block.
ReplyDeleteA really enjoyable cartoon of a flat-rate dystopia. Hard times not only for deontologists...
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