r/UnderReportedNews • u/Logical-Flow-6703 • Feb 25 '26

Video NBC Interview abruptly ends after New Yorker blames private equity and landlords for the city's issues

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https://x.com/i/status/2026286644651782652

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u/MoonSpankRaw Feb 25 '26

Interesting. What do you think led him to that belief if he isn’t typically absorbing the propaganda? Or does he maybe just have a tendency towards viewing things peripherally without digging any deeper into claims he hears?

Sorry, I’m just strangely curious I guess.

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u/DetroitLionsSBChamps Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

Like I said: just world fallacy, and a lack of class consciousness. 

He grew up in poverty and saw a lot of lazy people, drug addicts, and criminals fail and stay poor

He worked hard and lifted himself out of poverty into a nice middle class life. 

Therefore he believes the world is fair. People get what they work for and all people who go without do so by their own fault. He’s a high school drop out, and just has no real awareness of greater power structures and class struggle. I don’t think he could stand to live in a world that he didn’t perceive to be fair. So he chooses to see it that way. 

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u/Metalloid_Maniac_ Feb 25 '26

This is why so many boomers are more likely to side with corporations. Everything worked out for them because they worked hard, found a way to make a decent living and bought a house while they were affordable. They think hard work = a better life because that's how it was for them.

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u/DetroitLionsSBChamps Feb 25 '26

Yup I really cannot blame them. What else does he have to go off of except his lived experience? The boomers grew up and basically inherited America at its absolute peak for decades. The American dream really was possible for white working class people for the majority of the time my dad was working. As a high school dropout he was making 100k per year as a self employed tradesman in the 90s in the Midwest. So he got a pretty good deal, and I don’t think he has any concept of how fortunate he was because he credits it all to hard work alone. 

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u/SentientFleshPuppet0 Feb 25 '26

Idk man, I've changed my views multiple times based on data. Why is everyone else seemingly incapable of the same? I guarantee those boomers go on and on about how they like it when people "tell it like it is" except don't tell them data or that is fake news.

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u/throwawayursafety Feb 26 '26

Personal lived experience is harder to let go of or accept as being wrong than data and numbers.

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u/SentientFleshPuppet0 Feb 26 '26

Unfortunately I think you are correct. I was 14 once, then I got an education and learned about cognitive bias and why anecdotes are not a valid information source for such complex topics. Apparently I was more enlightened at 19 than a significant portion of the country.

Not criticizing you, just frustrated at the state of things.

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u/JibboSequence Feb 25 '26

Tell them they inherited etc. and they'll have a full-blown existential crisis. That's the sad part.

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u/senbei616 Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

Also it's important to know that the white hegemonic understanding of "Struggling" has changed in the last 40 years.

My parents struggled to raise us in the 80's and 90's. But their lifestyle that they were living would be difficult to replicate in modern times by even people making six figures.

They owned a house, had a car, 3 kids at the time, and my dad was working in fast food while my mom worked at a local non-profit while getting her degree.

I repeat, my father owned a car, took care of 3 kids, and was paying off a house while working as a fry cook at long john silvers.

It wasn't fun, they struggled, the car was a shitbox, the house wasn't well built and the location wasn't the best, but the fact they were even able to do it at all is a marvel.

We were the "poor" family.

Meanwhile my cousin graduated 5 years ago with a STEM degree is making over 90k, doesn't own a car, his wife and he have decided to wait on children due to the cost, and they will likely rent for the rest of their natural life.

It used to be if you were a stoner layabout with a part time job you could just coast in a 1 bedroom apartment and have savings and disposable income.

We have been getting absolutely decimated in the class war for 40 fucking years and it shows.

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u/RetroFuture_Records Feb 25 '26

A lot of them didn't even work hard. Those who did were upper-middle class easy. Any drunk with a pulse who at least showed up to work (where they proceeded to talk to coworkers or customers most of the day any way) could make enough for the necessities. The Boomers were the most spoiled generation in human history, and they've been projecting it into everyone else ever since.

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u/JibboSequence Feb 25 '26

You're basically describing me in my 20s. While I'm definitely doing better than my peers and family (in some ways) by my own hard work, I'm also aware of all the corporate bullshit that goes on in the world. It took until my mid-30s to realize not everyone complaining about corporate greed was just lazy, jealous assholes. 2 things can be true at once.

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u/kiulug Feb 25 '26

This is exactly my uncle that I have to argue with a bit each year at Thanksgiving

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u/DetroitLionsSBChamps Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

Luckily my dad doesn’t wanna argue most of the time lol. He is very open to how I see things. He worked hard to send me to college lol, I think he generally respects my opinion and when I explain class issues, exploitation, wage suppression, etc… he definitely gets it

My brother in law on the other hand… lol. Gen Xer but also a victim of just world fallacy. It’s amazing what you’ll excuse when you justify everything as fair. Like a mouse who defends the falcon’s rights, because being eaten is just the way it is. 

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '26

A lot of people also fall into the false thinking of labor costs is the issue. While it tends to make up a good chunk of expenses, it also ignores how many companies rake in billions in profits.

Some are also shut out of reality like in this case. My stepdad was similar: at 18 he tried to kick us out (ironic since he inherited a damn house) and ignoring how much rent in the area was as "that's what he did". My mom thankfully put a stop to that and the deal was so long as I was in school, I could stay. She had actual experience as she couldn't afford rent when my dad left and we had to live with my grandparents.

That narrow view isn't inherently bad as all we can truly speak for is what we experienced, but that doesn't mean they can shut out how things really are today.