Thread by @JYSexton

So much vital and important information is hidden behind paywalls. This culture of greed not only ensures a commodification of ideas but also intentionally obscures subversive notions from being widely available.

You have to have the resources or credentials.

Not only do writers and thinkers go their entire lives without necessary support, but the marketization also ensures a narrow breadth of ideas that are acceptable to the continuation of the power system.

To get in, you have to be part of that system and less likely to disturb it

In terms of something like a professorship, where you gain access to that information, your career depends largely on writing to others of the professorial class, largely cutting off populations who don’t have the expertise or even time to begin grappling with the ideas.

It’s so tragic that these books and articles and studies are kept away from people. It’s by design, obviously, to perpetuate power dynamics, but the natural and tragic result is sclerotic structures that fail to change. It’s a suicidal cycle and we’re living in the repercussions.

I have a lot of meetings with “thought leaders” who think it’s a miracle I came from an impoverished family and treat them like they must be morons. The tragedy is that my family and people like them are plenty smart and could contribute to all of this. The classism is astounding

I’m able to do what I do, write what I write, put together puzzle pieces because I have the luxury of time and space to sit behind a desk while my relatives break their backs in factories.

Gaining access to this information is revolutionary and we don’t realize that enough.

This current moment is about the stark realization for many white people that the meritocracy was a cruel joke used to uphold power structures.

Like America’s bridges, that notion is crumbling and the consequences are tragic.

As I just said elsewhere, this isn’t about newspapers. It’s about expert information, important voices, books, articles, reports, studies. To gain access means money, connections, institutional relationships and positions.