Folk Marxism
Leading up to and during the New York City transit strike, I noticed a common theme the media carried when reporting: oppressed vs. oppressors.
For the union the strike wasn’t just about wages and benefits, it was also about the belief that the MTA should share its surplus with the workers.
This worldview of ‘wealth = oppressor’ is brilliantly defined by Arnold Kling in his essay on Folk Marxism.
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Under folk Marxism, the oppressed class has inherent moral superiority to the oppressor class -- recall the quote which opens this essay. Class membership trumps individual character in determining moral standing. It should be no surprise that this belief could lead to tyranny and wanton murder by government. It should be no surprise that this belief has failed to improve the lot of those regarded as "oppressed." It inverts Martin Luther King's call to judge people by the content of their character. |
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=012206D
To see Folk Marxism in action, check out NewsBusters piece on Good Morning America's class warfare against Dr. William McGuire, head of UnitedHealth Group.