Abby Martin on Identity Politics Being Corporatism | Joe Rogan

Yeah, I think you nailed it when you said the 2016 elections have sort of awakened this reptile brain. Because that's what it seems like. You're seeing so many people that think that there's a war going on. Like a war in this country. Right. Instead of discussing things, they don't want any discussion. They want to shut things down. And that's part of, I think, some of the motivation behind this justification for deplatforming people. Wiping them out. Like, remove them. Get them out. We're at war right now. We have to fix this. We have to get a woman president. We have to get a gay man. We have to get, you know, this kind of shit that you see. They feel like they're in an ideological war. That's why identity politics is so fascinating. Because it's just been adopted by the establishment, by the liberal wing of the establishment, to try to trick people that were somehow a progressive society. That it's all just like corporatism with, you know, under the flag and the banner of social politics and identity politics. And it's completely absurd. I mean, with Barack Obama, we thought that we were in a post-racial society because we had a black president. Right. And we know that that's absolutely a falsehood. So I just think that we're just going down the wrong path here. And neoliberalism has really done a number on this country and the world. And we're going to see kind of more authoritarian fascist policies take root because people are really down and out with how capitalism has morphed. And has strangled basically the economy. It's really disturbing because, you know, you're looking at like left identity politics, but it's under the banner of capitalism. So really, it's just about privatization. Neoliberalism is just about privatization. So it's not about like leftist, you know, socialist politics. And even you look at someone like Bernie Sanders, he's not a socialist. He's a democratic socialist, which means that he just wants social democracy. He's not talking about abolishing private industry. He's not talking about nationalizing anything. He's just talking about having workers have a seat at the table and getting the fair share. So we're just kind of we've gone off the wayside of like rhetoric. And we just have no idea how to talk about these things in like a fair way because things are so heated and ideological and people are just blinded, I think, and don't really understand these issues well enough. And it's really disturbing because we're at a point in our country where we need to have conversations. We don't just want sound bites. But going back to the censorship stuff and the consolidation of corporate media, people don't have the platform. They don't have the voice to get these ideas out there, which is why your show is so important. I mean, having people like me, like Tulsi, I mean, bringing out these concepts and shifting the consciousness is very, very important. Well, I think that when people are hearing the same thing over and over and over again from one side and then an opposite view over and over again from another side, it's very difficult to have an understanding of what the fuck is going on. It's very confusing to most people. And I think they tend to either just give up or they tend to just find whatever side seems to get them the most social credit or the most reasonable perspective in their terms, like whether it's left wing or right wing. And then just support that. Just give in to that and then just have this pattern that they adopt, this conglomeration of opinions they adopt. And then they're so busy with their jobs, they're so busy with their family, they're so busy with their life. And then all this other shit, when you're seeing deregulation, all this other shit you're seeing when the stuff that caused the banking crisis, all this stuff is going on and it's going on without their knowledge. It's all happening underneath the surface. And then something erupts, like the economic collapse of 2007, 2008. And they're like, what the fuck is happening? How'd this happen? I didn't see this coming. And now the economy crashes and then we have to buy out all these fucking banks and then it rebuilds back up and people are still doing the same goddamn thing. They're still working and trying to get ahead and trying to... And then all this is happening behind the scenes and it's so incredibly difficult to pay attention to all of it. Of course. And to really develop a nuanced perspective of what the problems are, how to fix them, and then who is actually going to support a real tangible solution versus who's just saying some Elizabeth Warren type shit to get elected. Well, that's why we need a real mobilization in the streets because there's no person who's going to change this. There's no top down implementation that's really going to revolutionize society and get people living wage and get people healthcare. Even Bernie said, I'm not going to be able to do this. I need you to come out to get my back. But yeah, I mean, there's nowhere in the country that you can live if you're living on minimum wage and actually afford a two bedroom apartment. I mean, that's the reality here. But when we bailed out the banks in 2008, no one had fretted about how we're going to pay for that. I mean, it was just kind of understood. Okay, we're going to pay and give the banks the bailout. What about fucking us? Don't we deserve a bailout? What about the people? Yeah. No. That's too big to fail the banks failed and the people fail. That's unbelievable, man.