Between all the #NeverTrump republicans who are now just indistinguishable from mainline democrats and all the Free Speech Liberals who are now cheering the abduction and deportation of grad students for writing op-eds I am actually developing more respect for the intellectual integrity of genuinely heterodox and unpleasantly consistent political contrarians, I think.
Love Blindly and Hate with a Focus
Brett, 28, NC→DC, he/him. Politics, public policy, economics, international relations, philosophy, sociology, and geography. Also: bad music, (found footage) horror movies, urbex, etc.
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You will misunderstand the economic history of white supremacy in America if you’re under the impression that convict labor (the “except as punishment for a crime” bit of the 13th Amendment) was how the plantation economy of the South continued after the official abolition of slavery. It mainly wasn’t. Convict labor was always only a relatively small sector of the Southern economy.
The vast majority of freed slaves became sharecroppers and tenant farmers on white-owned land. This was the real basis of the continuation of the slave-based Southern agrarian economy. And though many of the most egregious elements of slavery were now mostly gone (the whip, the overseers, the legal inability to leave), the basic slave-plantation economy was still intact as these black farm laborers now basically worked for the same “wages” as they had as slaves. Landowners would sell a few basic living essentials like food, clothing, and heating oil to the laborers on credit, and at harvest time, the sharecroppers’ or tenant farmers’ “earnings” from their crop would be used to pay off their debt to the landowner, usually leaving them at zero, or even still in the red, indebted to the landowner. From a financial standpoint, this was hardly any different than slaves working and receiving zero wages besides those same basic living essentials from the slave master.
Forced convict labor existed in all of this, and was used to keep many black people involved in more obvious slavery (complete with the chains, the overseers, and even the whip), but the convict-leasing system and the state-run plantations run by prison labor did not constitute the majority of the Southern economy, neither in terms of the percentage of the population involved nor in economic output.
To this day, prison labor in the US only constitutes a small fraction of the economy, and is not in any way profitable. The companies that use prison labor are able to profit because they don’t have to pay any of the living costs of the prisoners, nor the costs of incarcerating them, as the state pays for all that. The amount of money the state has to spend incarcerating people dwarfs the amount of revenue there is to be gained from exploiting prison labor. It is generally a net loss for the overall economy. Even in cases where the state saves money by using cheap prison labor to replace expensive free labor (like California’s firefighters), this is simply them attempting to recoup some of the cost they spend incarcerating those workers in the first place. Whether the state uses prisoners as firefighters or not, it costs them the same amount of money to lock those people up, it’s a sunk cost. So they figure they might as well try to save some money on their fire-fighting budget by employing prisoners at $2 an hour instead of free labor at $40/hr.
Prison labor cannot in any way be described as the basis of the US economy, and it cannot grow to become one either. It is unproductive. Incarceration loses more revenue than it generates. The prison-industrial complex is a parasitic tumor on the economy. It does not constitute the economic logic of white supremacy. The US carceral system needs to be understood as an apparatus of state terror, not of economic production. Its purpose is to discipline and intimidate, not to produce. Its purpose in the structure of white supremacy in America is not for the exploitation of black labor. If that were its purpose, it does so incredibly inefficiently, spending more money than it earns. Its purpose in the structure of white supremacy is for terrorizing and disciplining the black population, breaking urban black political power, and strengthening rural political representation.
(via argumate)
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I genuinely can’t stand pop psychology I’m not an expert on this stuff but the damage it has done to the general public’s understanding of mental health and psychology must be notable. People with low empathy are evil. NPD is The Abuser Disorder. here’s how your partner is subconsciously manipulating you. OCD is when you like cleaning. If you ask him a question and he looks away for one second he’s lying to you and abusing you. Follow for more dark psychology tips. Letting my intrusive thoughts win and dyeing my hair. I thought this guy was into me I’m so delulu. Anyone who comes to you with their problems is traumadumping and abusive. Anyone who gives you gifts is lovebombing and abusive. Being neurodivergent means Liking Things. Neurotypicals don’t like things. They are empty shells without feelings. Neurodivergent means ADHD or ASD. What, BPD? Schizophrenia?? That’s not very quirky or fun. And that’s what neurodivergent means. That’s just weird. Being mentally ill isn’t an excuse to be weird. Only Evil People manipulate and abuse. There are certain people who Are Evil by nature (people with NPD) and they Will abuse you. Loving someone means it’s impossible to abuse them only Evil People Who Hate You are abusive. Have I mentioned that people with NPD are evil. I really want to drive that home
ALT(via adoriangay)
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Nice allegory. Unfortunately, I have written a counter-allegory where that doesn’t happen
(via averyterrible)
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The folks at Good Work have put together an introductory video for a company I talk about a lot— Palantir, a controversial military contractor which is one of the fastest growing companies on the planet. To whatever extent the United States continues to move towards autocracy, I am telling you now that Palantir will play a major role in it.
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So what we’re saying is that investing in our ventilators now will lay the groudon-work *clicks on powerpoint, next slide is a photo of groudon* for the future.
(via flipchild)
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Anonymous asked:
thoughts on unkillable angel? (ada rooks newest album)
ALL Tails Deaths Animations - Ada Rook
No one gets it
Cringe, but I meant it -
This is just very funny to me.
