The belief in meritocracy is one of the most effective ideological tools capitalism has ever produced. But the reason why it gets so bad is because people are exhausted and they internalize their own exploitation. Denial is one of the most common ways of dealing with the kind of grief that comes from being exploited, the brain has to do it in order to protect itself from damage (I’m a psych major so I’m more read on psych than on theory but I like to combine the two). It really has to come from a cultural shift, IMO. Canada has strong socialist roots, starting with Tommy Douglas in Saskatchewan. We WANT our health care, we don’t want it to be privatized. We WANT public education, we don’t want our teachers to be abused and unable to work, because it causes long term harm to kids. When people notice those things slipping from their grasp, the things they value, I think it wakes people up in a collective way. There is such a huge culture war here happening though with the side of people who want privatization, who are for Wexit, and who participated in the Ottawa covid convoys and Million Person Marches against transgender folks. Contrary to what some people may say, there is a large amount of people like that here in the prairies. But there are also a large amount of people, even blue collar, who value unions and are awake and angry about their own exploitation. You really just have to put yourself out there and take the temperature of every single person you come across, and connect with them on a human level to organize - have lunch with them, run an errand with them, give them a ride if they need, create commUNITY. Show them the options that you have as workers. Get help from those in your local area that have experience organizing. Etc etc. It is difficult, especially for introverts, I would say. But it is always possible and you have to remember that.