August 12, 2021:
"We're intelligent people — not like everybody else." Says the real estate agent who left her car door open in the parking lot in the rain before engaging in this aggressive conversation.
Right there, the exact center of the conjuncture. The no longer discreet outrage of the petty bourgeoisie, who believe the deck is stacked against them in all directions. They hate working people, they hate immigrants, they hate foreigners, they hate the government, and they sincerely believe all these people are in it against them. Where prejudice, stereotype, shallow education, the peculiar version of elitism characteristic of intermediate strata, all conjoin and swirl and merge to form the contour of contemporary history.
This is breathtakingly dangerous. It parallels the arc of the German petty bourgeoisie between the wars, down to the xenophobia and antisemitism and racism. Where nontrivial strata of the working class are themselves entirely bought in.