Reading Notes

Planned poverty

Jack London. The People of the Abyss.

(continued)

p28. "Not only is it unwise, but it is criminal for the people of the Abyss to marry... There is no place for them in the social fabric, while all the forces of society drive them downward till they perish... If they reproduce, the life is so cheap that perforce it perishes of itself... The world does not need them. There are plenty, far fitter than they, clinging to the steep slope above, and struggling frantically to slide no more."

Induced poverty to control the population numbers. To prevent the poorest from reproducing, and to kill them off by manual labor and inadequate housing, medical care, food, and living conditions... as they produce wealth for the rich to prosper. So there is more wealth at the top, and less people below them to divide up the bounty.

Snowpiercer-style planned society. That teacher with the huge bulging eyes is a perfect caricature of the 'morality' of such a society, indoctrinating children the 'rightness' of their position on the societal train and why it is proper and scientific for people of lower order to mire in destitution.

"The London Abyss is a vast shambles. Year by year, and decade after decade, rural England pours in a flood of vigorous strong life, that not only does not renew itself, but perishes by the third generation... the aged poor and the residuum which compose the 'submerged tenth,' constitute 7.5 percent of the population of London. Which is to say that last year, and yesterday, and to-day, at this very moment, 450,000 of these creatures are dying miserably at the bottom of the social pit."

"Four hundred and fifty thousand is a whole lot of people. The young fireman was only one, and it took him some time to say his little say. I should not like to hear them all talk at once. I wonder if God hears them?"

They don't talk in unison, because their voices are scattered, suppressed, dissuaded by fear, by faith, by reproach, by weakness of will and of body, by ignorance, by personal vices and dysfunctions, and by a simple appealing lie, a shiny carrot dangled before their noses on a string tied to a stick that forever out-paces their greed and desperation. 

That they will one day be king of kings, that liquor and substance abuse will transform their reality, that their children will have the life they can't, that the iron gate of the owner's mansion has a welcome mat at the door, if only one can spend a lifetime tending the gardens, manning the entrance to block one's comrades from entering, that the voice at the door will say, come in, you've had a hard day of labor, come inside to rest and all will be well. That they will sleep in the mansion, while their former friends and allies remain outside. 

Or that one in 292.2 million of the lottery tickets will be a winner. That they will go on a big jet plane to smoke a fag with God, and when the time comes, their faith in the dream will amend the failings of a colossal lie.

Like the signs in the "bargain hunting" poor people's stores, that say "we buy in bulk from department stores, so we can pass the savings to you!" Right, because Macy's buys clothes one at a time, so that's why they're so expensive. Blatantly exploiting ignorance with lies for an intent to profit.

Like the sign hanging in front of the Walmart employee's area, with a stock price and an inspirational message "Tomorrow depends on you!" The stock price of a $485 billion a year revenue corporation with 11,500 sites world-wide has nothing to do with a provincial individual's customer satisfaction. It has to be designed for that not to matter to keep going. It's not a mom and pop store where one disgruntled patron will tell his 4 buddies and you lose half your business in the town. The point is it doesn't matter whether you like it or not, you're going to shop there or the other 19.7 million people per day will, because "People living in households with incomes of less than $30,000 a year give us our highest marks-proving that those who value Wal-Mart most need Wal-Mart's low prices the most." source