The y/t algorithm recommended something good for a change:





'Why do poorer people love Period Dramas like Downton Abbey, that adore the very Privileged aristocracies that kept their great-grandparents in poverty?

Why do we worship Billionaires despite their clear exploitative behaviours?

This is the psychology of how shows about the British class system became comfort viewing for the people it should enrage. And how we fall in love with the Myths of the Super Rich today.

I love Downton Abbey too.
That's the problem.
In this video I use John Jost's System Justification Theory and Robert Sapolsky's research on the neurobiology of inequality to explain why people at the bottom of a hierarchy so often defend it,
and why a beautiful house full of deferential servants works less like escapism
and more like an anaesthetic.

We get into why "poor but happy" stories make inequality feel fair, how years of low status physically rewire the brain and leave you more risk-averse and more attached to whatever stability exists, and the one hopeful catch: the moment you can name what a story is doing to you, it starts to lose its power. You don't haveto stop watching Downton. Just watch it the way a doctor watches a cigarette advert.'

I still have zero interest in watching the thing, but now have a more generous view of why others might enjoy it.

cheers,
I

PS: 'Barry's economics' seems to be an homage to 'Gary's economics' rather than a piss take:

'Barry's Economics
Description
I'm Barry. I went bankrupt after 17 years as a comedian, spent five years, squatting, sometimes homeless, paralysed, then built Angel Comedy - one of London's most popular and sucessful comedy clubs.
The breakthrough? Unlearning the lie that my poverty was my fault.
Now I use behavioural science and neuroscience to show you the invisible systems that keep people stuck: how poverty traps your psychology & why the current system needs you to blame yourself.
This channel, inspired by Gary's Economics, is an ongoing investigation into how power really works. We're figuring it out together.
New videos every Sunday.
🎤 Angel Comedy (London's free comedy club): angelcomedy.co.uk
📬 Support on Patreon: patreon.com/BarrysEconomics
📺 Gary's Economics (the channel that inspired this one): youtube.com/@garyseconomics
🎭 Barry's Comedy Channel: youtube.com/@mrbarryferns"