How historically accurate is this pic Veeky Forums?

Shit book
Prepare to be bullied, borgeouise scum

It certainly existed in Eastern Europe too, and probably Japan as well. China is way more debatable.

The idea that social heirachy and feudalism are the same thing is absurd for one. The person who made this probably couldn't explain to you the difference between a serf and a freeman.

the chart also completely ignores that the nature of government, and thus how people and rulers interact is completely different.

Clergy had their own ecclesiastical hierarchy. Royal ministers would be very powerful, far more than the "landed gentry". A vassal is someone granted land and titles in exchange for service to their liege and taxes, it generally refers to the nobility, it is stretching the definition a bit to extend it all the way down to a tenant who merely rents land. The term "officer" in the sense of military officers didn't arise until after the medieval period.

The comparison with "corporate feudalism" seems to be limited to hierarchies, but then hierarchies appear everywhere so it is innocuous. Bernanke was temporarily nominated by an elected official and during his time at the top he was highly scrutinized and had very little leg room, he hardly had the power of a King.

I get the general idea, there are power structures today as there are back then, but the entire thing is a mess and isn't really revelatory. It is like someone just threw it together and based it on "muh big bankers" instead of reading books and putting in some effort.

>Some random CEO is more powerful than the President

What? Who made this?

I think the sentiment comes about through frustration. The worker sees that its landlord, boss and government all belong to the same class, so you're basically indebted to them. At least in my country this is a newly developed phenomenon due to increased house prices and a shift towards neoliberalism.

So basically, yeah I agree with you, but I think it's supposed to be a symbolic more than literal comparison.

>landed gentry
>no nobles
The fuck is this thing saying
Also merchants were barely above serfs

>landed gentry own lots of lands
No that's nobles
Gentry work their farms, or own bellow a county level land and hire farmers

> Justifies feudal life by saying a lack of access to information reinforces faith.

Person who made this has no grasp of history or economics.

>I think it's supposed to be a symbolic more than literal comparison
In other words it's propaganda. It contains little or no factual information and is meant to appeal to emotions to get people on the side of the person who made it.

Mark Zuckerburg is more powerful than any political figure other than Trump. Prove me wrong.

>guys he's really rich and owned a big company, he's obviously super powerful!
I feel like people who say these things are LARPing like they live in a cyberpunk dystopia.

People more powerful than Mark Zuckerberg:

>Angela Merkel
>Teresa May
>Emmanuel Macron
>Pranab Mukherjee
>Vladimir Putin
>Shinzō Abe
>Xi Jinping
>Everybody on the Supreme Court
>etc.

Very inaccurate. Central Bankers, Big Bankers and the corporate elite should be on the left as well.

Also is the graph really implying some scrub explorer is equal to a top bureaucrat of today?

I'd give the graph 3/10. And that's being generous.

I think you underestimate just how much power the modern state has
when states get into conflict with big corporations it almost always ends up with the corporation bullied into submission by the state

very famous example includes Standard Oil being uppity against the US gov

"Ignorance is bliss" isn't just a meme, it's the truth. Mass literacy was a mistake that corrupted people.

>Things are bad, therefore we should never try to improve.
Flawless logic.

Why don't the plebs just stop being bitter cunts and fix their problems instead of waiting for somebody else to come along and (say they will) fix them for them?

what can be done to escape this fate?

It's not like the government can coerce companies into doing whatever they want though. People in the government have no way to send threats to a company without a record of it being kept and used as blackmail.

neither can companies with states though
when push comes to shove the state has all the power and saying a ceo of a random big company has more power than top government officials is just ridiculous

A state is bogged down by bureaucracy though.

Their ignorance wasn't bliss, unexamined faith had a hard time competing with magical folk hexes, werewolves, ghosts, pixies before the scientific method blew it out of the water from the other side.
>cool we got people going to church every day and denouncing anyone who deals with that dark pagan shit that made sense of the world for millenia
>christianity emphasises truth over harmony
>search for truth leads to science
>temporal power of the truth leads to technology (applied science)
>church BTFO

And so is a corporation with middle management, whats your point?

>And so is a corporation with middle managemen
No they aren't. Corporations are extremely top down. Middle Management needs to execute whatever the higher ups tell them.

Does that explain conspiracy theories? They claim to be superheros who want to solve problems but they seem to fixate on their pet theories which makes them useless at doing so.

Take for example the housing bubble. Glass-Steagall was repealed and the maket had not adapted to the rapid changes, ratings agencies stamped the seal of approval on toxic assets and big banks didn't question it. If you are looking for someone to blame you're out of luck. It couldn't even be described as a failure of the system since most countries lacked regulations like Glass-Steagall and never had this problem. I'm sure some real estate agents are price fixing assholes but it doesn't really explain everything.

It's at best a 6/10. All it's essentially doing is describing class stratification using a historically novel perspective.

Feudalism is a social arrangement where workers are legally tied to their plot of land, not allowed to leave without their landlord's permission, and required by law to provide labor to their land-owners on top of being charged rent.

Capitalism is predicated on the free exchange and movement of labor and capital. Calling them the same thing is like comparing a Greek trireme to a Spanish caravel because they're both sea vessels, but in practice one is a reflection of much more sophisticated technology, know-how, and is vastly more energy efficient.

Stop romanticizing the past. If there really was something better about the feudal model then the single largest movement of people in human history would have been going in the direction of the subsistence farms of southern China as people desperately trying to get out of the industrializing areas.

if you want "feudalism" that bad the closest modern parallel you're going to find is prison
>Legally confined, movements tightly controlled, while being largely deprived of information
>overlord wields near unlimited authority over you
>surrounded by lovely illiterates who disdain knowledge and education.
>Have only the bare basic essentials for living.
The only difference is that in prison you'll get flabby from eating so much junk food and empty calories, which the guards are fine with because flabby chunky-butts don't riot. But you'd probably prefer that anyway over the old school model where you spent the other 2/3rds your year teetering on the brink of starvation because you can barely afford scraps of bread.

If a liege broke his feudal contract with 1 vassal he risked insubordination from the rest of his vassals. Feudalism was about making agreements, perhaps tyrannical and exploitative but only concerning understandable things like taxes and military service need to prevent invason, it limited arbitrary abuses. A lord would ask himself whether he wants to piss off his tenants by taking their daughters as concubines or whether he prefers the higher income that comes with peace and stability.

>overlord wields near unlimited authority over you
no

FEUDALISM DIDN'T EXIST

What's with Veeky Forums and people valuing blissful ignorance over knowledge? I see this retarded attitude frequently here.

Doctors and priests don't make up 0.75% of the population.

Yeah, s-someone have a different opinion than me, how one can be so ignorant?

Because its correct.
Knowledge has no value save for its ability to make humans more content.
If it for whatever reason makes someone less content, it is knowledge they would be better off without.

>I'm so dissatisfied with my life that I've romanticised the past as a form of escapism. And since I think this would make me happy, I'm going to assume that it would make EVERYONE happy!

Why is it everyone who has an opinion critical of modernity gets REEEERRR AUTISTIC SCREECHING from liberals?

>neither can companies with states
>what is endless hordes of lobbyists getting paid big dorra to bully representatives into falling in line with the corporation's view

>ratings agencies stamped the seal of approval on toxic assets and big banks didn't question it.
No, it didn't go like that. Ratings agencies write whatever their customer (the big bank) wanted. Otherwise said big bank shopped around until it got its triple A. Ratings agencies rated them triple A in fear of losing business.

>Why is it everyone who has an opinion critical of modernity gets REEEERRR AUTISTIC SCREECHING from liberals?

Because you're not displaying your opinion as an opinion. You're presenting it as fact, and talking down to everyone who disagrees. You obviously aren't looking for a discussion, so we're going to mock you instead.

>Elites get overthrown and change like every generation or two.

No they dont.

Because people in this site are depressed cunts with no will to change their lives, so they'd rather play "what if".

It's really cringeworthy sociological analysis.

Yes, hierarchies are similar.

So fucking what? Doesn't mean living now is the same as living in feudal France.

Because knowledge by itself is inherently worthless. Can you eat knowledge?

>we
You mean you. Again, not everyone shares the same opinion. *tips*

You're right. The exploitation done by the elite is much more insidious and destructive today than in feudal France.

If you don't have knowledge to grow food you're dead.

You need just enough knowledge/instinct to know what foods to eat. Any knowledge beyond that is unnecessary. Does the ant need to think about growing crops?

And the positive elements of society for the common man are also vastly more beneficial today than they were in feudal France.

Society isn't just tyrannical commie.

So knowledge isn't inherently worthless.

Kill yourself.

Ooh, like e.coli infected meat? GMO mutant invasive crops which seeds you can't store because otherwise Monsanto will fuck you in the ass? Endless and incessant bombardment of dumbsit entertainment? Financial instruments that fuck normal people in the ass while the bankers cash in? Housing bubbles? Ever-rising price of food? Stagnant wages? Detoriorating education?

My bad, I forgot a qualifier, knowledge is inherently worthless beyond a basic instinct.

Like I said. Society isn't only shit. You're just paying attention to the shit.

You can also sit on this board shitposting 16 hours a day and collect welfare too and never lift a finger in your life.

What's not shit in today's world? Please don't say "a bloo bloo you can vote!" as if politicians aren't bought out by special interest groups who couldn't give less of a shit who's in charge because money is the best lubricant.

>GMO mutant invasive crops
plz

>What's not shit in today's world?

Compared to feudal France? How about not dying of a dozen different diseases, having calorie-dense foods at your leisure and being able to take a vacation from your job every once in a while to bask in the sun?

I mean, I get that you're resentful and bitter, but how about some nuance.

>Endless and incessant bombardment of dumbsit entertainment?

You have a choice to consume media or not. Fire up Amazon and you can buy every single work of classic literature if you desire. History books and biographies written by fantastic authors. Amazing stories of hope, courage, redemption, love, horror, comedy, suspense, hate, revenge, tragedy, and triumph. It's all there.

Here is the thing. A corporation cannot legally kill you under any circumstances. Anytime you chose to associate with a corporation, it is a purely voluntary transaction. The corporation CANNOT force you to buy their product if you have no interest. Corporations are funded through purely voluntary transactions. Governments are funded by taxation.

Compared to the modern world? How about having healthy family values, the ability to enjoy nature, and being able to have satisfaction in life knowing that the Church has taken care of your spiritual needs?

I mean, I get that you're resentful and bitter, but how about some nuance.

Let's say I hold up a gun to your face and ask for your money. See, I'm not forcing you, you could choose to not hand it over; you'd just die. But you COULD refuse.

I don't have a problem with this, as long as it's your personal choice.

Where is this corporation that is holding a gun to your head? Who are they?

That image is dumb especially so when you remember that prostitutes are trivially and easily available.

This completely falls apart at the top because it stops talking about people and starts talking about entities on the corporate feudalism side.

If you're talking about abstract entities like companies and central banks then it's no longer feudalism. Feudalism is fundamentally personal.

Whoa dude, I can live just a tad longer than my feudal French counterpart because I can eat dozen different addictive prescription pills for my ailments! And I can eat foods that are laced with HFCS and additives that trick my brain into liking it even though its actual nutritional value s garbage! What a fucking great time to be alive!

>not realizing the point that employee is always in a worse negotiating position and in some cases getting laid off can cause an avalanche of shut that falls on the fired employee from myriad of different parts of life

It's not like modern grocery stores always have an organic section you can buy from if you're worried about it.

So what's your alternative?

So what?

The "holding a gun to your head" was figurative. Every person is coerced through necessity to deal with a corporation, either because you need to provide you with basic necessitied or because you need them to provide you cash. Cut one off and you're fucked.

>facecuck being more powerful than any state capable of operating an airforce.

>I have to eat to live
>Therefore the person who sells me food is oppressing me

More like the entity paying you so you can go to another entity to buy your shit is holding the gun. If the entity paying you decides that it ships your production line to India, well tough shit! Shouldn't have entered into a voluntary agreement with them even though every single human needs a source of income to stay alive.

I'm still baffled about what the "gun" is supposed to be in this scenario. It does not appear that anybody is threatening you in this scenario.

Saying that the Federal reserve is the "top of the top" is wrong. While they may technically have infinite money they are indirectly controlled by the government and have the responsibility of ensuring good monetary policy. Their instruments are very limited and they can't pass laws or control the average persons daily life. Janet Yellen's net worth is only 13 million, and she's a professor of economics not a tycoon with unlimited wealth and power.

The true power still lies with those with the capacity to do violence, those being the various governments. The amount of money controlled by capitalists can greatly influence the government due to being a primary source of funding, but I've only need to look at the last century to see instances of those with control over the state overcoming the power of business. Turns out putting your source of funding up against the wall impoverishes the nation and makes you a pariah. Complete military control over a government begets violence because the military is most powerful in times of war. Business is most powerful in times of peace so among the "corporate slave world" you've seen more progress on peace and free trade.

A king and his dukes or a duke and his counts, sure. But the chivalry of the 11th century were notorious for acting like mafia to thier serfs and villians. They had arms, and fortified compounds while thier subjects were disarmed and needed open space to raise A duke with a few castles was often more powerful than his king ; the free companies in France during the 100 yrs war were probably the closest to that, extorting protection money

Not very, since feudalism was based.

just simplistic shit I don't have time for

It would have been wildly inconsistent whether you got a manor lord who was just and honest or corrupt and abusive. It would have varied from township to township.

Feudalism is what you get when you let rural land-owners call all the shots in society. Their highest priority is maintaining extremely tight control over the underclass, believing the morality of the nation to be at stake. In virtually all feudal societies this is a common theme: ancient Sparta was a feudal state which flat out terrorized its underclass into compliance.

Contrarianism. If the normalfag cuck chads and roasties do it then I must do the opposite.

At least back then the people we served looked cool and dressed cool and were white. Now they're faggots.

just kill yourself already then or do something about it

Because to us, you're the one doing the autistic screeching. Veeky Forums isn't suppose to be some history-branded version of /r9k/.

If you live in a Western country, there's nothing stopping you from working out and not being an autistic sperg, in which case you don't need to settle for some "30 yo used slut" or "nagging yenta", even if you are a wage cuck. And if you aren't retarded, you definitely have more social mobility than a serf, who eat the same shit every week.

>what can be done to escape this fate?
Destroy modern technology.
Today's social and demographical order was constructed under influence of technologies. It's incredible artificial and doesnt represent the natural order.
Overcomplicated and entangled way of life is nothing more than by-product of technological slavery in which humanity enrolled itself.

If they have enough land they don´t work shit.

What keeps a freeman from hiring some tenants?

apples and oranges
please dont, just dont

legislation, rights and methods of production are completely different

stop informing yourself from infographs
read a book, listen to a podcast if you are very busy, but for the love of god stop informing yourself from internet tabloids

That prison part is actually describing Soviet socialism. Prisons have libraries and TVs you know.

God has been trying to tell you that knowledge is evil ever since before Eve ate that faggot apple. Look at where it got us.

The details doesn't matter. What is actually, factually the case is that a tiny minority of people live like aristocrats and part of these people condemn the majority to various states of hardship.
One difference with actual feudalism is that there is no one guy at the top that, if he had the skills and was so inclined, could make life better for the majority.

That might have sometimes worked (in very wonky ways) last century, but this century is different. The closeness between big businesses and government of last century look like a joke compared to the closeness that exists today.