MidnightPocket [comrade/them]

my point is that even our western nations aren’t strangers to mass manipulation and oppression, at all.

Agreed, it’s my opinion that they actually have always been the best at it.

You’d think that in the modern world, and with our modern technologies, we’d have to work less, not more. Something in the system is broken.

Agreed. My current belief is that the inundation of work for individuals (comprising communities) is the point and therefore by design. When workers are exhausted and strapped for time they become politically inert and easier to predict/control (because they are fucking tired). This theory perhaps also requires sufficient access to conveniences and entertainment, I might add.

This would explain why when working class organizations actually muster the time/effort to propose reducing work hours or controlling rents they are met with fierce opposition by the ruling class. It also explains why the major (controlled) political parties never propose such things as options on ballot initiatives.

When there is no tangible reward for investment, what motivates people to invest into local or shared projects?

Not an anarchist, but I am sympathetic and interested in their theory.

I think the valid concern you are citing here is derivative of the intense amount of rents that are heaped upon individuals. Everyone having to justify their own existence to the monetary system day-in-day-out creates a modern “survival instinct” to outweigh your own (perhaps extended to the immediate family) interests/needs relative to the needs of your community. Any effort that wants to promote more cooperatively-minded people will first need to erode the rents of a society.

Another factor is the length of the work-week. If people have more free time, they will be more generous with their time. So lessening the working hours of the week (this actually would be achieved indirectly by combating/eroding rents) would dovetail nicely with this strategy.

obvious astroturfing