I was at Robben Island in Capetown a few months ago and the guide there basically said this was Apartheid. Pit groups against each other so they don’t fight against the authority. Race, culture, etc.
Apartheidist regimes make a special point of inventing more racial and ethnic cohorts within the law, so that there is this broad spectrum of oppression - everyone had an opportunity to benefit from the oppression of someone slightly below them, there’s always another stair you can get pushed down if the government doesn’t like you.
Since your status is derived from the apartheidist regime and you’re always standing on someone else’s shoulders, there’s this prevailing fear that you’ll be targeted by the people behind you if the people at the top ever fail.
Tends to work best during periods of economic expansion, because there’s a surplus to spread around. Even the lower tiers of society can feel like life is improving. But once you start running into a recessionary headwind - because you’ve depleted the soil with industrial farming or you’ve mined out the easily accessible precious minerals or malinvestment in education and technology leaves you trailing the rest of the world - the bottom falls out, crime skyrockets, and plutocrats start turning on one another to stay ahead.
Good thing we’re not in a country that’s cracked its head on a glass ceiling.
I was at Robben Island in Capetown a few months ago and the guide there basically said this was Apartheid. Pit groups against each other so they don’t fight against the authority. Race, culture, etc.
I’m just repeating what he said.
Apartheidist regimes make a special point of inventing more racial and ethnic cohorts within the law, so that there is this broad spectrum of oppression - everyone had an opportunity to benefit from the oppression of someone slightly below them, there’s always another stair you can get pushed down if the government doesn’t like you.
Since your status is derived from the apartheidist regime and you’re always standing on someone else’s shoulders, there’s this prevailing fear that you’ll be targeted by the people behind you if the people at the top ever fail.
Tends to work best during periods of economic expansion, because there’s a surplus to spread around. Even the lower tiers of society can feel like life is improving. But once you start running into a recessionary headwind - because you’ve depleted the soil with industrial farming or you’ve mined out the easily accessible precious minerals or malinvestment in education and technology leaves you trailing the rest of the world - the bottom falls out, crime skyrockets, and plutocrats start turning on one another to stay ahead.
Good thing we’re not in a country that’s cracked its head on a glass ceiling.