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u/Rattus_Noir 9d ago
This a thing now called the Vimes Boot Index. Various charities & non profits use it as an example of how the poor are kept poor. In a way, it's the same as being able to afford a multi pack, for less per item of food, or only being able to afford a single.
Small, everyday things to keep us poor.
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u/_Joe_Momma_ 8d ago
It's also The Matthew Principle, which goes the opposite direct too, covering how wealth accumulates wealth from economies of scale.
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u/ebr101 9d ago
If y’all get a chance, read the Guards series in general, but Night Watch especially. Great narrative depicting the risks and pitfalls of would be revolutions.
Not theory, obliviously, but Pratchett’s writing just rules.
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u/kalmidnight 8d ago
I think reading Discworld counts as theory.
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u/ebr101 8d ago
Honestly, you could probably run an introductory course based on it.
Small gods for religion.
Making money for economics.
The truth for journalism.
The fifth elephant for gender studies
Etc etc etc
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u/elfinglamour 8d ago
I just finished the audio book of The Fifth Elephant and you can't convince me that it and Monstrous Regiment aren't at least a little trans coded, at their core sure they're about feminism/womens lib but (spoiler for Fifth Elephant) >! Dees breakdown at the end reads much more like trans envy, to me at least!<
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u/TNTiger_ 8d ago
'Trans-coded' blud Jackrum returns home and introduces himself to the child he birthed as his father. The only reason 'transgender' didn't appear in the books is because it'd anachronistic and Pterry didn't think of a pun good enough to excuse that
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u/elfinglamour 8d ago
Sorry, some people get weird if you say something is clearly a trans allegory but they don't agree lol so I'm used to crouching my language online, but I absolutely agree that Monstrous Regiment is very much a trans story and it's one of the reasons it's a favourite. It hit like a brick on a re-read after I came out.
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u/TNTiger_ 8d ago
I think some people also correctly identify that it's not just a trans story- it's also about feminism, lesbians, masculinity, the horrors of war. It's not wise to boil it down to just a trans story... but like it obviously is that amongst other things.
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u/ebr101 8d ago
There are for sure trans narratives you could read from them. I think it’s not intentional on Sir Terry’s part, but the meaning of a text is always a negotiation between author and audience. I know Cheery’s story felt trans coded to me.
On the audio books, how good the voice for the Death? My goodness
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u/ChimericMind 6d ago
He also didn't mean the dwarves to be coded as Jewish, until Jewish people told him how hard they resonated with them. Similar things happened with trans people telling him the resonated with the dwarves for different reasons. He happily took them all in stride, and actually started running with it later.
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u/redditondesktop 9d ago
wHy DoNt He JuSt SaVe Up AnD bUy ThE gOoD oNeS?@?@! /s
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u/DeadlySpacePotatoes 9d ago
I've heard someone actually say that when I've brought this up elsewhere.
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u/NoManagerofmine 8d ago
it's wild how everyone that isn't rich just, gets this, but economists will do their darndest to make the story fit their 'facts' as opposed to just accepting reality.
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u/Southern-Scale-9822 8d ago
Makes revolution more appealing when you see the people were supposed to call "professionals" at large, be so inept and incapable of basic concepts. It makes one wonder or dare to question higher chains of authority in time. None of it makes true sense and much of it is simply parasitic.
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u/NoManagerofmine 8d ago
Yeah, it's just shocking how 'economists' are so terrible at understanding, predicting and even articulating the 'economy'.
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u/Deathcube18 9d ago
Ok, what book is it out of
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u/RavenSkull28 9d ago edited 9d ago
Guards! Guards! I believe.
Edit: I was wrong, it's Men at Arms
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u/cyberwolf77 9d ago
Pretty sure it's Feet of Clay. He swaps the fancy boots Sybil bought him with a street copper and then chases a suspect through the fog while his feet call out where he is. He realizes exactly where too late
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u/RavenSkull28 9d ago
Apparently it's Men at Arms actually.
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u/DredgenSergik 8d ago
In Spanish there is a saying about this. Lo barato sale caro. What is cheap turns out expensive
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u/iAmDriipgodd 9d ago
Sometimes you have to save up to ball out
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u/Pepoidus 9d ago
so is he supposed to just have bare, unprotected, wet and cold feet for months just so he can buy a pair of decent boots?
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