Class consciousness- MY ANTI-RACISM!

[R_P_A_S]

amazing how my class consciousness has cured me of silly stereo types, prejudice and any type of racism. Seriously. I can't stress enough how good it feels to be able to identify the real problem(capitalist society, the class struggle, etc.) and be able to think for your self as opposed of being influenced and brainwashed.

STORY TIME!

during my community service routine today I was riding in a van with 3 other guys. our supervisor who is mexican, and a Salvadorian man 30 to 40 years old, and a Guatemalan guy about 24 to 26 years old. Our job was collecting trash and putting new trash bags in the up scale neighborhood of Beverly Hills.

The Salvadorian man was talking about his job to us. "I work for these 2 guys who have 2 rug stores. they also make the rugs there. My job consist of picking up the materials and delivering them to customers as well as helping out in the store." he said. "The owners are assholes. fucking boss, always on our asses and just constantly reminding us of the same shit, while him and his cousin just bullshit around, we do all the work. those fucking Koreans man! I tell ya! they only look out for them selves!"

The man goes on a 10 minute rant on how Koreans are cheap, egoistic and discriminative against latinos(all this based on his personal experiences with his Korean bosses)... The Guatemalan guy sat there and all the sudden he also had a complain about Koreans too!

"Yeah man! I work at a mechanic shop. and you are right! they are cheap! they always want to argue with us at the shop, about the repairs. they got this expensive cars and just because they got money they think we are trying to rob them, not all Latinos steal!"

I sat there quietly and listen to them talk about how "fucked up Koreans are" And then I realized that possibly 2 years ago I would had join in the conversation.
Maybe with a personal story I had about a bad experience with a Korean person. and add to their conclusion that "Koreans only look out for them selves and are cheap". Scary now that I think about it.

They are blind to the fact that IS NOT KOREANS who are assholes, cheap, and only looking out for them selves" It's the upper class, their bosses, their capitalist, etc. etc.

The Salvadorian man was complaining about his bosses, they just happen to be Korean.
They aren't cheap and opportunist because of that. But because they are capitalist and their interest is their business and their profits. not their workers.

The Guatemalan's experience with Koreans was that they were "guys with expensive cars that always complain about the price for the repairs" so with this he concluded, "Koreans are cheap"and the claims that his fellow central american counterpart made only solidify his thinking. Obviously this has nothing with being Korean. He mention these costumers drove expensive cars and complained about the prices for repair being high. When in reality it's just an upper class patron that just doesn't appreciate a worker. simple as that.

;) yay i get it! lol

communism kicks ass!


DO YOU GUYS NOTICE SIMILAR THINGS?

[R_P_A_S]

what do you guys think of this reply i got...


i dunno if i agree with this...

i think you have to remember correlation doesn't equal causation... there are plenty of people with high-paying capital-centered jobs who treat their employees with respect and dignity. v.v. there are plenty of people who live with nothing who view the upper class as motivational fuel... everyone anticipates what they would do with money, they won't turn their backs on people, they'll help their friends, they'll make a real difference, but in actuality, how often does that happen?

poor people do it, rich people do it, and who's to say class has anything to do with money at all? you also assume that the upper class doesn't work hard. korean, mexican, arab, african, if they immigrated, and they're rich now, i'm telling you, they worked hard, at least in most cases. that's not to say though, that people with less don't work hard to have what they have either. there are far too many obstacles in life to ensure every hard worker is going to hit the jackpot. i don't think its fair... but it is what it is.

its more likely that ignorance drove both parties to draw racist conclusions... but then that would just be speculation.

in these cases, you have to look at our surroundings. the media, politics, economics, they all raise hostility amongst races. from immigration law to crime rates and job security, our environment is almost putting the knives in our hands and pushing the blades to peoples' necks.

i hope this wasn't offensive in any way... but you were talking about a personal experience... and i have mine. i have two immigrant parents who didn't speak english for half of their lives and moved here starting out as a busboy and a babysitter. now, one's a consultant, and one is the vice president of a major banking corporation.

i've never seen two people work harder in my life. furthermore, i have never let a day pass where i feel like i didn't work hard for my achievements either. i'm sure you know the feeling. to me, nothing about this is simple... its a paradox, how can something so formulated be so blunt?

if you like reading... which some people just despise... there's a book by phillipe bourgois called "in search of respect."

its amazing how much of that book i already knew... gangs, violence, rape, hardship, drugs, race-relations (or lack there-of), and murder in the projects of inner-cities... but for some reason, every arguement was such that it made my understanding so much clearer. its an amazing book.

[R_P_A_S]

I told this person that I didn't mean all bosses and all upper class costumers were disrespectful and unappreciative of the working class. I know I might of came off that way.

[BreadBros]

Thats a pretty good story. Yep, I've experienced similar things to that/been in the same boat as you.

That reply that someone sent you is kinda confusing. They're talking about how everyone who is upper-class tends to act a certain way, regardless of their origins. That, to me, seems to back up the idea that class is a primary influence on people, above culture/heritage/origin. There may be a lack of mutual understanding because they are unfamiliar with the Marxist connotation of 'class'.

In regards to his comments on immigration, its a common misunderstanding that all immigrants come here in poverty. Most do, but many actually come here with high amounts of capital. Thats true for a lot of South Koreans, Cubans, etc. So just because someone came here as an immigrant and became wealthy doesn't mean they necessarily have some amazing story of success behind them, chances are they just brought capital with them, had connections and set up a business. With that being said, there are also a large number of South Koreans and people of other ethnicities that come here poor. In fact something like 13% (maybe even higher) of all undocumented immigrants in the US are East Asian, name S. Korean, Chinese, and Southeast Asian. Another example of how class cuts across ethnicity and race and an example of why internationalism is so important.

I suppose he should be happy about his parent's success. I'm quite incredulous about a busboy rising up to be senior management for a mutli-national corporation, without an MBA or other formal training? Even if its true though, that type of success is so infinitesimally rare (for every one story like that there are probably literally millions where hard work doesn't equate to anywhere near that kind of success) that it certainly doesn't invalidate any critique of capitalism. That guy has reason to rejoice I suppose...but millions of others have reason to rebel.

[counterblast]

Originally posted by [email protected] 05, 2007 06:25 am
I told this person that I didn't mean all bosses and all upper class costumers were disrespectful and unappreciative of the working class. I know I might of came off that way.
The upperclass IS unmindful of the lowerclasses. There is absolutely no justification for having more than you need; while so many people don't even have food to eat.

[An archist]

You should've talked to them about it, come up with different anecdotes of bosses being assholes (but not being korean). Maybe raise some class consciousness :)

[R_P_A_S]

Originally posted by An [email protected] 05, 2007 11:10 am
You should've talked to them about it, come up with different anecdotes of bosses being assholes (but not being korean). Maybe raise some class consciousness :)
i got more days with those guys. I'll do it in a timely manner.

[R_P_A_S]

Originally posted by counterblast+August 05, 2007 09:55 am--> (counterblast @ August 05, 2007 09:55 am)
[email protected] 05, 2007 06:25 am
I told this person that I didn't mean all bosses and all upper class costumers were disrespectful and unappreciative of the working class. I know I might of came off that way.
The upperclass IS unmindful of the lowerclasses. There is absolutely no justification for having more than you need; while so many people don't even have food to eat. [/b]
oh relax.

my mother cleans houses ok? and there have been numerous times when her bosses GIVE HER MONEY, like when her car broke down, she had to go to the hospital, or for my grandma's funeral.

YES THEY ARE EXPLOITING HER. but they don't treat her like shit and are very generous in times of need.

does this balance out the scare? NO! but it makes my point clearer. Not all Bosses are ruthless bloody capitalist pricks to workers.

keep in mind Bosses might also lack class consciousness and see their role in this society as normal.

so relax

[R_P_A_S]

Originally posted by [email protected] 05, 2007 07:17 am
Thats a pretty good story. Yep, I've experienced similar things to that/been in the same boat as you.

That reply that someone sent you is kinda confusing. They're talking about how everyone who is upper-class tends to act a certain way, regardless of their origins. That, to me, seems to back up the idea that class is a primary influence on people, above culture/heritage/origin. There may be a lack of mutual understanding because they are unfamiliar with the Marxist connotation of 'class'.

In regards to his comments on immigration, its a common misunderstanding that all immigrants come here in poverty. Most do, but many actually come here with high amounts of capital. Thats true for a lot of South Koreans, Cubans, etc. So just because someone came here as an immigrant and became wealthy doesn't mean they necessarily have some amazing story of success behind them, chances are they just brought capital with them, had connections and set up a business. With that being said, there are also a large number of South Koreans and people of other ethnicities that come here poor. In fact something like 13% (maybe even higher) of all undocumented immigrants in the US are East Asian, name S. Korean, Chinese, and Southeast Asian. Another example of how class cuts across ethnicity and race and an example of why internationalism is so important.

I suppose he should be happy about his parent's success. I'm quite incredulous about a busboy rising up to be senior management for a mutli-national corporation, without an MBA or other formal training? Even if its true though, that type of success is so infinitesimally rare (for every one story like that there are probably literally millions where hard work doesn't equate to anywhere near that kind of success) that it certainly doesn't invalidate any critique of capitalism. That guy has reason to rejoice I suppose...but millions of others have reason to rebel.
yeah bro. i read the reply and I was like huh? this person is not making sense...from a marxist point of view at least.

what about the book at he mention at the end? have you read that? aint that writer a marxist? Phillippe Bourgois?

[An archist]

Originally posted by R_P_A_S+August 05, 2007 05:56 pm--> (R_P_A_S @ August 05, 2007 05:56 pm)
An [email protected] 05, 2007 11:10 am
You should've talked to them about it, come up with different anecdotes of bosses being assholes (but not being korean). Maybe raise some class consciousness :)
i got more days with those guys. I'll do it in a timely manner. [/b]
nice

[black magick hustla]

Originally posted by An [email protected] 05, 2007 11:10 am
You should've talked to them about it, come up with different anecdotes of bosses being assholes (but not being korean). Maybe raise some class consciousness :)
Of course there is justification for having more than what we need.

If that was the case your use of internet and alcohol wouldnt be justified.

if anything, "having only what someone needs" is a ruling class argument because its logical conclusion is that a lot of workers in first world nations should be satisfied because they probably have more than they need.

"We have a world of pleasures to win" should be the supreme communist maxim.

[blackstone]

I remember a professor showing this dvd during a seminar.

http://blackhairdvd.com/

It's about how Korean's are locking down the black hair industry and block any others from getting a piece of the action!

In this instance, it's not a capitalist thing, but a Korean capitalist thing.

Interesting.

[RedStarOverChina]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13, 2007 11:09 am
I remember a professor showing this dvd during a seminar.

http://blackhairdvd.com/

It's about how Korean's are locking down the black hair industry and block any others from getting a piece of the action!

In this instance, it's not a capitalist thing, but a Korean capitalist thing.

Interesting.
Before the Koreans it was the Japanese who dominated the industry, you know.

My mom is also in this business (whole saler) and when she began some 8 years ago the whole industry was monopolized by Koreans. The majority of the products were made in Korea, the wholesalers were mostly Koreans and the distributors were also Koreans.


But since then thing have changed. The factories moved to China and whole salers of all ethnicities joined in. Nowadays only the distributors are Koreans.