With Sincere Apologies to Rats Everywhere

Mickey Z writes, with sincere apologies to rats everywhere, that

It’s truly irksome to watch these people--unaware of how much they have in common--as they battle each other like mortal enemies in the futile effort to get out of the train first. They delude themselves each morning that if they get our first, they’ll make it to the office before anyone else and avoid any risk of being singled out by the powers-that-be (or powers-that-shouldn’t-be, as Amy Goodman so aptly puts its).

My opinion is that this is an example of the atomisation of society that happens under Capitalism. We are set against each other in our daily struggle to earn enough to survive another day. This terror is enforced by the threat of unemployment when the rules are not obeyed. (Whatever the rules happen to be at a particular time is subject to the discretion of management).