I feel the media intentionally dwells on rags to "riches" stories, such as lottery winners, reality TV show products like X factor, The Apprentice, or people who succeeded against the odds (even though they actually had massive help that could hardly fail).
Is this paranoia and confirmation bias, or are they really pushing a narrative that "everyone will get their lucky break soon".
They are really pushing the narative.
Even Book of Unwritten tales had it as a theme.
No, really?
Same thing with shows like "secret boss"/"undercover boss".
Entertainment based on simple narratives + common cultural narrative
Don't forget punishing the ungrateful proles that complain, not knowing that he's their boss.
It's a fantasy that I've heard come out of the mouths of just about everyone I know, the semi-ironic, self-deprecatory "one day, when I'm rich."
"One day, when I'm rich, I'll pay off my house."
"One day, when I'm rich, I'll tell my boss to take this job and shove it."
"One day, when I'm rich, I'll take time to do the things I really want to do."
And so on, and so on.
...
How semi-ironic.
A lot of your world view flows from whether you honestly believe you and maybe your kids are going to make it.
Or the overwhelming statistical reality that the vagina you pop out of decides your future wealth.
It's obvious. I can't even watch any of those shows anymore. (or any TV for that matter)
Even when they do deal with the more labor and economic related sappy-stories, they still write the script (and it's not like they're unscripted) to make the contenders as well as the audience think that the fault of their economic depression that they're undergoing as an individual had nothing to do with policy changes done in the community which they were raised in.
They're poor because they're lazy and stupid, they have no pensions or healthcare because they're lazy or stupid, they have no opportunity because they don't deserve it… but oh my, here's their big "second chance!", dance like a monkey for a panel of rich assholes and a cheering audience. (as long as you prostrate yourself and tell everyone how it's your own fault, and how thankful you are for this glorious opportunity)
Have you all ever seen Morgan Spurlock's piece on the minimum wage?
This rich muh privileged white dude cuts off his credit cards and limos, goes to find a nice little apartment, and works minimum wage for 30 days. It's absolute shit - without America's insanely high medical bills, he manages to turn a profit. But it's classic bourgie "look how terrible these poor people have it, fellow white aristocrats"
It sounds like it will make for powerful evidence on the days of the aristocrats' tribunals.
anything less than a year is already bullshit and he doesn't even have any real existential fears for himself, his family, friends and collegues
these hypocrits need to be lined up and shot
Another good trope is the one where they characterize people with extremely different lives as having things in common.
"See? We're all humans after all, forget he rules over you, worker"
"Ohh isn't it endearing how the boss man also has petty problems besides not having the permanent axe of debt and unemployment over his neck?"
The funnier by far to me is the whole "entrepreneurship" meme circulating STEM on the internet.
I remember being first exposed to it a few years back in slashdot and hackernews.
The so called " entrepreneurs" and their "startup" business of producing vaporware and hype then cashing off when a corporation dismissively tosses a bunch of money their way to add their "groundbreaking idea" to their hoard,given that the cost o to them is negligible.
The "entrepreneurs" get glorified as pulling themselves from their bootstraps and being "successful businessmen" but the reality of it is even bleaker than normalfaggotry.
The "entrepreneurs" are usually well connected, favor-pulling, bourgeoisie who contract a bunch of friends with whom they share the booty of getting bought thanks to their daddies contacts while the majority of the work gets done by overworked, underpaid,often outsourced workers that see very little if anything of the buyout.Other than getting immediately fired that is.
And the best part is people buy into that shit, they think
"oh! that could be me! He Is just a kid from college and I'm an experienced wage slave! I only need to be more daring!"
"Surely no one would lie to me about the circumstances so that I incur in massive debt!"
And thus we have the "entrepreneur" meme.
The second best part is that this model is touted as a virtue of the free market.
The wonders of the free market , where competition is over ,resources are taken , and your best bet at success is hoping to fool one of the giant corporations that rule over everything into stomping you out of the market with a payout that is pennies for them and a fortune for you.
Thanks user. A good take on entrepreneurship
That's not just in the media, though. Plenty of unis (including mine) were heavily involved with private large companies, and capitalist politicians showing up. Engineering, no less…
Speeches weren't about innovation, they weren't about technology, they were about "and we now hope you join us entrepeneurs and make big bucks!". At unis, in engineering degrees, for regular people (that aren't that class conscious or into politics), taking extra managerial classes and starting a business (i.e switching from engineering, sciences and STEM and suddenly entering into borgy economics game) is not just promoted but seen as a way forward, and an 'upgrade' from just "merely" learning maths, programming and research in general.
It's ridiculous.
YouTube boss: 'Aim to be the next PewDiePie, not the next Tom Cruise'
Shopping is a form of entertainment for poor people.
And not poor people
Jesus fuck I just want someone to drop a few hundred thousand bucks on me to take care of my girlfriend and get her away from her piece of shit parents
I'll give you 100k when I win dragon's den
What's dragons den?
Venture capitalism TV show where proles beg to have their terrible ideas funded.
Sounds like shark tank
Probably same format, or even franchise
Probably involves the same people
It's dat superstructure massaging the base if you know what I mean. Everybody's an entrepreneur, a businessman or woman at heart. The gilded ranks are always open for new luminaries. But only the worthy succeed, just like the porkies up there now…
It's not necessarily conscious.
Stuff needs to be produced, stories needs to be told. Including good stories - which are hard to come by in Capitalist society. If you drop "rags-to-riches" how many "good stories" will be left? Precisely zero: money is the measure of success and current status quo should not be disturbed.
There are very few actual news topics
"rags to riches"
Celebrity births and deaths
A new product - technology marches on
Guilt smoothing for conspicuous consumption
A corporation gets its comeuppance
We did something good in a war, or the enemy did something bad
I'm sure there's a few more, but not many.
Try it for a year at the least while having money taken out for asthma inhalers without which he presumably dies.
fuggin' blacks smashed up shit today
some story of heroic police protecting the populace
the whole point of capitalism is that everyone can get rich, just like everyone can win the lottery.
of course most media supports this while omitting the fact that it isn't your fault if you don't win the lottery.
you gotta have faith, it's karma and all that.
An important part of most lotteries is that some of the profits go to "good causes".
So even when you lose, it's good.
Celeb scandal
An election! look, you're still totally in control of your country! And diebold you voted for Porky again, fancy that
Comical Ali saying his failing company isn't gonna lay people off
Newsmuppet saying they did a few months later and can't be reached for comment, ideally around Christmas for extra Drakan fuck-your-shit points
Nigger/Pedo/Spic/Turrist does Dallas X
Sports/Muh lympics
We briefly mention the other side disagrees before parroting what the Establishment wants us to lol we gave both sides equal coverage
Increasingly-flimsily-veiled showcase of the futility of resisting modern military tech/nationalist cockstroking
Guns r bad (Except when stormtroopers clipdump them into black person, then it's muh Regrettable Incident, with the word being used in much the same way that the Japanese Empire described their war with China as an 'Incident')
Asteroid/Jesus/Mayan Calendar/superbugs totally not grown in a lab somewhere will kill us all, ignore the fact that economic collapse based on the inevitable failure of the capitalist system to maintain perpetual economic growth in a world with finite, poorly-managed material resources will kill us much sooner, or make us envy the dead
Cop who did a bad thing is fired/given probie/paid retirement or vacation THE SYSTEM WORKS GO HOME WE WON
Wrestling Heel or trainwreck politician/celeb/rich anus rattles their cage, either laugh at the stupid insane monkey dancing and capering or have a two-minutes hate at the acceptible target
Stupid monkey celeb finally manages to get self killed/imprisoned/comatose SEE KIDS THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DO X NOW GO CUT YOUR HAIR AND GET A JOB
Acceptable target figurehead/random sacrifice from The Lottery gets comeuppance THE SYSTEM WORKS NO NEED TO REBEL WE MADE THAT BAD PERSON GO AWAY
Maybe we should legalize X idk lets play with ourselves for another few years while nonviolent offenders rot in prisons lol sounds gud
Y has been banned because it threatened Z's profitz your health, which we suddenly pretend to give half a dead moose's last shit about now
Somebody is doing a nice thing EVEN IF THE SYSTEM ISN'T WORKING IT WILL GET BETTER
Something something muh chilluns let's focus on them to an unhealthy-seeming degree
Mayor Idiot is sponsoring the Idiot Initiative, so the city can piss away more money on stupidass boondoggles instead of paving roads or cutting taxes, this one's totally gonna work guise, it's been 20 years since the last one wasn't a fucking trainwreck that cost millions of taxpayer shekels, we're due for a win we just have to all get behind it and piss more money down the hole!
The festival is in town, it's now a family friendly safespace, hot dogs are $20 and pigs will be on every corner with SMGs becaue muh turrism
The snowplows are doing their fucking job this year, sware on me mum
Somebody got shot/It's a bad neighborhood/a party got rowdy at a bar put up cameras and checkpoints
Local bar didn't bribe the pigs or fire marshal sufficiently had a rowdy party SHUT IT THE FUCK DOWN
We have a new plan for further controlling kids that totally won't result in arrests and the little shits going postal or an hero or just flunking and having no future from going to school THX-1138 for a decade, this one will totally work
A local person is buttangry about some overly-specific thing, wow they're an unfuckable bourgie boomer fancy that wow they're calling for No Fun Allowed laws fancy that wow the pigs and Shitty Council say they're going to do something about it fancy that
The Fire Marshall/Chief of Pigs is warning you not do do X this Holiday Season or else if you survive the natually life-ruining consequences of your dumbassedry, he'll make sure to ruin your life financially or in court.
Some kid blames being a spastick jackass on vidya/TV/interbutt/jenkem/DnD/Marilyn Manson/Judas Priest/negro music, let's all jump on the moral panic bandwagon of failure that will tip over and spill our dumbasses out all over the freeway the minute it comes into contact with somebody who unlike the person driving it knows jackshit about the subject
It's X History Month, time to trigger the Right, get wags on the left to quip about segregation and make everybody feel like awkward shit
It's Thanksgiving/Christmas, let's pretend briefly to give a fuck about/acknowledge the existence of the homeless, then after that they're back to being lazy drunkards, rapists and crackheads who should be jailed and possibly enslaved or exterminated lol
Local utility company is jacking up rates
Anybody on the dole needs to be treated like a child and have maximum indignity inflicted on them, here's how a local politician is doing it instead of the lead meds he should be taking
Waterskiing squirrel
body too long that's what your mum said chodemonkey