death penalty and working class (was: Gentrification)

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 05:14 PM 8/24/99 -0400, Charles B. wrote in reply to:
>ew?
>>>> "Max B. Sawicky" <sawicky at bellatlantic.net> 08/21/99 03:33AM >>>
>as Alex wrote:
>
>> But the death penalty also disproportionately affects minorities and
>the poor, so i dont see how
>> that particular argument holds up.
>
>mbs: Good example.  Minorities overwhelmingly favor capital
>punishment.  In the U.S.  They know that shit and they don't
>care -- they still disagree with you.  But what do they know?
>They haven't read any books.  They don't understand that
>they are just living in myths constructed by and for the
>ruling class.  They just think, when you kill an innocent person,
>you should die.  When you terminate a pregnancy, it means
>more than popping a zit.  The fools!

--- snip 
>A hint on why so many people think against their class interests: the
ruling class very class consciously controls and limits the consciousness
making institutions. But my saying that doesn't get around the problem.

But how is the opposition to DP related to working class interests?  I can
understand that support for DP is an illusory solution to the crime problem
that is of primary concern to working class.  But it does not follow from
that that working class should oppose DP - it merely follows that DP is a
non-issue vis a vis working class interests.

I may add that opposition to DP is an expression of bourgeois
liberal/individualistic ethics vis a vis 'retribution'  - the latter often
attributed to lower classes.  So from the symbol manipulation point of
view, the working class support for DP can also be interepreted as
rejection of elitism.

wojtek