It was announced today that Barbara Ehrenreich died yesterday at the age of 81. It took me by surprise and made me think back on how much I have appreciated her work and learned from her over the decades.
Her 2001 book Nickel and Dimed had a big effect on me, as it did on many others. It was later turned into a play by the Guthrie Theater here in Minneapolis, and I saw that performed.
I've mentioned her a number of times on here. One of my favorites was her description of the greased chute that keeps people in poverty (in contrast to the myth of the meritocratic ladder to success), as described on a Tavis Smiley show I saw one day. The links have rotted from that video, but I transcribed some of what she said.
I found that I have quoted a number of her tweets over some of the recent years. Here are a few of them.
From January 2019:
The appropriate response to other people’s suffering is not empathy. The appropriate response is solidarity. Empathy may feel good and virtuous, but solidarity gets something done.
December 2017:
It’s a lot easier to be a socialist than a Christian. Jesus told people to abandon their families and possessions and follow him. Socialists just want you to work like hell for a just and equitable society. You get to keep your stuff and of course your kids.
And finally, one from early September 2018:
Labor Day wish: Please, no more talk of companies “giving” people jobs. In reality, the gift relationship goes in the opposite direction. Workers give their blood, sweat and tears, sometimes their lives, and in return companies pay them the minimum they can get away with.
As her family said in posting about her death, "She was never much for thoughts and prayers, but you can honor her memory by loving one another, and by fighting like hell."
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