You left out 'divide and conquer'. The oligarchs know enough that, if they can keep us biting at each other's heels, we won't notice that they're stealing our world from us. And it appears to work like a charm.
I see a lot of people as being like those 'pull the string' kid's toys. The kid pulls the string, and the toy says "I love you" or "You're swell". That makes the kid feel all good about himself, but has no basis at all. Once they grow up into an adult, they pull the string on the toy and it says, "Trump is evil," and "There was an insurrection on Jan 6", and "To preserve democracy, we must criminalize our political opponents, just like they do in Venezuela." And the kid, I mean adult, feels all good about himself.
You left out 'divide and conquer'. The oligarchs know enough that, if they can keep us biting at each other's heels, we won't notice that they're stealing our world from us. And it appears to work like a charm.
I see a lot of people as being like those 'pull the string' kid's toys. The kid pulls the string, and the toy says "I love you" or "You're swell". That makes the kid feel all good about himself, but has no basis at all. Once they grow up into an adult, they pull the string on the toy and it says, "Trump is evil," and "There was an insurrection on Jan 6", and "To preserve democracy, we must criminalize our political opponents, just like they do in Venezuela." And the kid, I mean adult, feels all good about himself.