I did watch the video which you posted and found it very interesting to contemplate just how far this peasant mentality stretches. Could it be that the “set up” now is essentially the same set up as back in those days of the warlords and the peasants. And if this is the case then is it that the structures in place and the values which enforce them are specifically designed to perpetuate this very set up. And if so then is believing itself a core function of this peasant mentality, a psychological means of control. I remember a correspondence on the AFT where Richard kept mentioning something like “this will make more sense once you see what money actually is”. I could never quite get this, because I always believed that money was a currency that was more efficient at trade vs trading physical goods.
But yesterday I started wondering, is “what money actually is” one of the tools that can be used to enforce (in disguise) what is essentially modern day serfdom? That for those warlords money would be an extremely effective tool to keep the peasantry working away for merely crumbs without realising just what is going on. After all if I was to hand over a weeks worth of grain for a few crumbs of bread I could not help but see the blatant exploitation, perhaps eventually leading to a revolt by the peasant masses.
Instead this game of exploitation can be acted out with the peasants approval, the exploitation can happen in disguise and take the form of wages - where crumbs are still being delivered in exchange for the labour provided. Once this system is accepted as normal then many ‘improvements’ within this exploitative system can be achieved by the peasants, creating the illusion that they are actually being benefited. Where it seems to really get weird is that the values which eventually spring up from this system are designed to perpetuate the exploitation and yet the peasants learn to love and fight for… To even die for those very values, to sacrifice themselves and others for ‘freedom’ or for equality etc.