Believe it or not, I am not a danger to the public when I leave my house. I know that readers who have never met me might logically conclude that I frequently scream at complete strangers for having bad taste or doing things improperly, or that I dissolve into torrents of profanity at the slightest provocation. Certainly there are people in this world who have better social skills and who enjoy the company of their fellow Americans far more than I do, but it has been a solid couple of weeks since I punched someone for saying hello to me.
That last part is a joke, of course. I could never make it more than a week. *rimshot*
One thing that does make me a little less pleasant is large crowds of strangers. I'm not agoraphobic or afraid of germs or anything like that; it's just that seeing the people who make up this country face-to-face, especially since my move to the Deep South, is a little more than I can process sometimes. Think of it this way: you're on a plane at 35,000 feet. The pilot is absolutely piss drunk. Would you prefer to have the cockpit door pop open accidentally so that you could see the drunken pilot or would you prefer that the door remain closed? I am 100% in favor of the latter. You're in midair. There's nothing that can be done about the situation. The pilot is the only one who can fly the plane and if he's drunk, he's drunk. If I, the passenger, learn that he is drunk it's just going to make me panic for hours until we land. If he's going to drunkenly kill us all I would rather enjoy a peaceful, carefree flight until we plow into the ground in a ball of flame.
This is how I feel about the American public, and specifically the American voter. I don't want to see them because doing so will serve no purpose other than to make me nervous. I don't want to see their Confederate flag bumper stickers, Palin 2012 t-shirts, Left Behind books, and Insane Clown Posse tattoos. I don't want to hear them regurgitating Glenn Beck monologues, talking about what Jesus told them the other day, or punctuating their speech with "done gonna" and "nuh-uhh." In short, I do not enjoy seeing the level of ignorance that we all understand is pervasive in our society. Before you conclude that I am a terrible and misanthropic person, this is no different than the reason that you don't read YouTube comments and the message boards on Free Republic.
I spend most of my time, as do most Americans, segregated by class. I spend all day around people who have high levels of education and undergraduates who, even at their worst, are far more engaged and capable than the Average American. At night, rather than going out I tend to stay at home reading what other reasonably intelligent people have to say about the world.
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I shop at the middle class white liberal grocery store and eat at the appropriately bourgeois restaurants, reviews of which prominently feature the word "ethnic." The people who shop at Wal-Mart and eat at KFC do not cross my path, nor I theirs. Likewise I don't rub shoulders with the haute cuisine and vacation home crowd. We all live in a bubble for the most part.
Alas, people with means travel to celebrate the 4th, going to so-and-so's lake cottage or vacation rental on Hilton Head Island or whatever. I have no means, so I did what all of the other broke-ass people do – I went to the free fireworks in the park. As we enjoyed some fireworks with thousands of my fellow Georgians, I could not help but see our nation's current problems in clearer focus. As much as the good liberal inside all of us wants to sing a Fanfare for the Common Man while lecturing ourselves on the nobility and wisdom of the salt-of-the-earth types who populate this country, seeing them usually just makes me sad. If that means I am a terrible person, I am a terrible person. Toothless hillbillies in pro wrestling t-shirts. A pack of juggalo teenagers. Morbidly obese women in halter tops and jorts. Eighteen year old girls and their three children.
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Sullen, sunburned yokels slapping their children as other sullen, sunburned yokels look on, understanding the impulse and approving of the act. Baggy-panted black kids getting in fistfights. Twitchy, meth-addled white kids picking at their scabs. Mustachioed policemen harassing the former and ignoring the latter.
Accuse me of being a snob or joyously condescending people I think are beneath me if you must. It's not a question of "better" – it's simply that we have nothing in common (Whoops, now I do sound like Patrick Bateman). OK, we don't have any money. And people in the top 1% are actively trying to fuck us. We have that much in common. But sadly, and to my own detriment, I just look at it like a human zoo. It is sad to look at so many people – their infantile beliefs, their complete disinterest in understanding the world around them, their incomprehensible interests – without being able to see any common ground.
So what will we do after crossing paths on July 4th, the day on which we're all supposed to come together based on our shared American-ness? They'll go back to their daytime TV, WWE / UFC videos, Top 40 radio, and storefront churches.
I'll retreat to my organic grocery co-op, $5-per-cup coffee shops, neo-Asian fusion restaurants, and independent film series. We will spend another year separated, understanding nothing about one another, until we baffle one another again next July.
larick says:
To wit … sadly …
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/the_bible_belt_can_never_impro.php
grumpygradstudent says:
Human beings deserve respect, just because they're human beings. It's an old-fashioned ethical principle. (jesus of Nazareth, ~30 AD). It was then, and is now, also a revolutionary one. Much easier to endorse in theory than in practice, as this post eloquently details. I'm not sensing much in the way of respect here. Which is not necessarily wrong universally! Equality is certainly not an obvious, or even a rational, principle to hold, and I can't exactly blame you for not subscribing to it. Few societies have over the course of human history. But it IS one of my ethical principles, and therefore, for me, yes…this attitude is, well…kind of terrible.
I admire the fact that you are at least aware of your elitism and some of the problems with it. And I admire your honesty and your ability to articulate your reasons for your sadness in the face of what appears to be mass mediocrity. But I don't admire the conclusion. These are not cartoon characters. They're real people. They have inner-lives, dreams, fears, strengths, and flaws. And there is more cross-bubble exchange than you account for in your post. These class categories are more complex and malleable than you allow here. Just because a person watches pro-wrestling doesn't mean they don't read the paper.
I suppose I'm saying that if you have to choose between erring on the side of being too accepting of people's flaws or being too much of an asshole, i'd err on the side of being too nice.
beau says:
Ditto for The Land Down Under. We're heading in to ANOTHER federal election dominated by bullshit about 'illegal arrivals' and 'border security'. That makes about four in a row. We're a rock in the middle of an ocean, in case anyone has forgotten. Fewer than 10,000 boat arrivals per decade, a fraction of the ACTUAL illegal immigrants (not refugees) who arrive by plane, but whose skin is the 'right' colour.
Economy? Infrastructure? Health? BORING!
THOSE FRIGGIN DARKIES ON THE BOATS is the big issue that the Australian voting public thinks demands attention.
Who the fuck are these people?
Turkler says:
Bravo. I've been saying it for years. I had my epiphany while reading Nietzsche on an NYC subway…
ts46064 says:
I hate wal-mart people aswell thats why I frequent Meijer, less white trash and less of an ordeal. Its not pretentious like Whole Foods and not filthy like Wal-mart.
On top of the types of people you said I would add dirty hipsters and bonnaroo attendees to the list.
beau says:
Ditto to Ed's post, that is. Not grumpy's wrist-smacking.
ladiesbane says:
@larick: "uninformed credulity" is what children are all about. They spout whatever they soaked up with their mothers' milk (or, if they are rebellious, whatever happens to be 180 degrees from home.) I love scienceblogs.com, but I don't expect breadth of knowledge and depth of experience from youth. The thing is to plant other seeds in their little minds. Some will wake up eventually.
And Ed: I agree that each of us lives in a bubble, but you may have more in common with the NASCAR crowd than you think. Aside from being bilaterally symmetrical and all that, you seem to lack empathy for anyone who is too different from yourself (fat, uneducated, recreationally pharmaceutical, aware of who Royce Gracie is.) Most folks are a mass of their own experiences, seen through the lens of what shaped them. You didn't write about wanting to show them the reason and logic that leads to urbane enlightenment, nor of wanting to know them and understand why they are the way they are; your tone was closer to "don't know, don't care."
Which sounds like the very motto of the people you described. A film negative is the same image with an opposite polarization. You don't come off as snidely superior (a cartoon character name, sorry) so much as just like them — narrowminded. I don't defend juggalos and candidates for Jerry Springer as such; but I do understand that they did not spring fully formed from a neutral limbo, aware of richer alternatives and possessed of judicial capacity to choose their lives over any others.
Chris says:
You may not be able to talk about James Joyce or the Federalist Papers with "common folk", but you can almost always find common ground in sports, females, cars, and work with males (and the international language of love with females, he, he, alright). Some "common folk" are too hillbilly to have a good conversation with or worth it, but many are a lot smarter than first judgment.
ChicagoJo says:
The denizens of the Porter, Texas Wal-mart are just as uncomfortable with me as I am with them.
Jimcat says:
"Baggy-panted black kids getting in fistfights. Twitchy, meth-addled white kids picking at their scabs. Mustachioed policemen harassing the former and ignoring the latter."
If I'm not mistaken, hitting people in public is illegal, and scab-picking is not.
Misterben says:
Bravo, Ed, for acknowledging a very difficult truth about the very real divisions of class and culture in our society. As you said, it's very hard to admit that we can sense these differences. It is much easier to pretend, like grumpygrad above, that just being "nice" makes the differences go away, and solves all the attendant problems.
bb in GA says:
I am sorry that you are sad, Ed.
We could re-write your story and the "hero" could be "one of ours" stuck in alien NYC. Same complaints, same alienation…
A sense of place is really important for many people. I am sorry for all who feel displaced and can't remedy it easily.
The old bumper sticker we used to see regularly:
If U (heart) NY
Delta is Ready when U are
//bb
Hazy Davy says:
Before people misunderstand (and assuming that I don't), I sympathize. Yes, it's misanthropic, but it's empirically developed misanthropy.
And no, it's not as much about geography or economic class, as some seem to be assuming.
Case in point: my family and I went to the East Coast a couple of weeks ago. While there, we went to the key tourist spots: Empire State Building, Ellis & Liberty Island, Katz' deli…
Being surrounded by so much "humanity" in a confined space felt like pressure in my ears. The ferry rides to the Statue of Liberty (and being on the island) were the worst. Masses of people bent on consuming, buying, and advertising…so committed that they seemingly took offense at the fewer "stupid people" actually reading and attempting to have an experience not preceded by "shopping".
But really, you had me just after I said "hello". (Which joke works better? That, or "Is it me you're looking for?")
party with tina says:
Turkler; Neitzsche died alone and insane. He rightly pointed out the differences between certain peoples, "noble" and "common", he even accounts for them both having a place naturally. Recognizing that though, means that you have to understand empathize with all other men. Not to become some selfish, narcissistic, and elitist..
Clearly some people are more endowed with various gifts than others, but that does not make you any more or less likely to suffer emotional problems, break your leg, or be fatally injured. We essentially all have the same lot in life.
I like ed, his writing is very personal, and emotional. but, he allows the troubles of the world get to him too much. His education has made him depressed and bitter, rather than free his mind.
For all the controls that govern society, it is only you who makes the choice to live right. Ultimately one can only make a difference in one's own life. Money and access to our society is NOT what makes your life good, people in the poorest nations are likely happier than every single one of you. If someone cannot help themselves, they can never hope to help another.
duverger's outlaw says:
I kinda agree with grumpygrad; you don't have to personally *like* people or even remotely envisage fraternizing with them to give them equal ethical consideration (which in turn involves trying to understand why they are the way they are or why they think what they think). You just have to take an anthropological view of the entire situation: much easier said than done. But I do applaud your honesty; I have personally felt what you describe above in many situations involving gatherings of people…including extended family (the latter, owing to their relatively better economic situation only inconvenience me with their worldview and choice of music, and since we don't really have common vocabulary even though we apparently speak the same language, conversation, I found out, becomes somewhat difficult). At the same time two of the most interesting conversations I have have had in my life were with a longshoreman and fitter at a factory (though since both were union members, I think we had something in common, even though we came from very different cultures, etc). Of course I'm excluding cab drivers–one of the more interesting sets–here.
Ben says:
I did my tour in the South and headed back North for the exact reason specified: I had nothing in common – politically or socially with those around me.
The dinner table conversation in our home has come up as of late that we might benefit financially by heading southward, as well as be closer to where our families moved. While true, this is the reason I resist that change.
Yes, four years and while in college is probably not the best judge of a culture, but this is what eats at me… I didn't fit in there then and as a result became isolated. Fifteen years later… I'm still not into NASCAR, I'm not against taxation, and I still think that stating christian values while not practicing them makes you worse than refusing to state them… I'm pretty sure I'm in for more of the same…
But, at least we'd have some land and a yard…. Is that social isolation as a result of physical separation better than social acceptance with seriously restricted means?
party with tina says:
Social isolation is always your own fault, you never have to live alone, everywhere you go there are good people. That's a pretty poor excuse, and also Nascar is kinda boring, but whenever you see one of their road tracks, that shit is unbelievable!
It's just those big hippodrome type tracks are cheaper, and places build them because they need some money injected into their systems. Planning and building a road track is fuuuuckkiiiing expensive. Europeans like Velodrome racing more than they like tour de france type stuff… Nascar isn't THAT bad, you just don't like it more on cultural grounds.
Crazy for Urban Planning says:
I concur with Ed's thoughts. I don't get out too often – but when I do I'm just terrified by my fellow countrymen(people).
party with tina says:
check this shit out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCtm1WTFFNw
Velodrome Long race^^
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMksgL4xYnE
Nascar Road Track^^ (this racing rules… so does velodromes, they ride fixed gear bikes, which are single speed and no coasting so if you stop pedaling the wheel doesn't move, super light bikes, super popular in europe, it's a great race too, love the sprints)
Nevada_Libertarian says:
As I read this article, I wasn't sure whether I should cringe in mortification to see my own bourgeois, graduate-degree prejudices laid bare, or wipe away the tears of hysterical laughter. Actually, I was doing a lot of both!
The metaphor of the pilot who is pissed drunk was brilliant. If we're all going down anyway and cannot do anything about it (which I believe is largely the case), pour me another Sapphire and tonic and at least allow me to reach a state of drunken oblivion before we go up in a fireball. Better yet . . . just hand me the bottle.
Zamboni Sam says:
I spend a lot of time at a major american theme park. I'll give you a hint, it starts with at "D" and ends with "Land." What can I say? I like spectacle.
I look around, appreciate the level of detail that went into its construction, the artistry of some of the work, admire the technology that went into the rides, marvel in awe at the sheer scope of the venture. Corporate bullshit or not, the "D" people put on a hell of a show, and I don't apologize for enjoying it.
More days than not, I simply have to put on my emotional blinders to the mass of ignorance and awfulness that surrounds me. I don't see that same level of appreciation, or even that the people around me are CAPABLE of appreciating it. They're there to be plummeted, thrilled, pushed, have sparkly things blown up in their faces, etc. When you can't get people around you to shut the hell up during a music-syncrhonized fireworks show, you know something's broken in the psyche of the populace. Those melodious sounds in the air? Yeah, they're PART OF THE SHOW. But if its subtle and requires attention, the yokels around are just going to go on being loud and obnoxious. They're waiting for the boom boom boom to distract them and thrill them. Better that than be alone with their thoughts, or worse, take a moment to enjoy something that was produced by people with skills and talents that took thought and time to develop.
I'm with Ed on this 100%. We are surrounded by disgusting, nasty, selfish troglodytes, and I wish I saw it getting any better, but it's only getting worse. I'm going back to my bubble now.
Don says:
You're not really saying anything HL Mencken and Mark Twain haven't already said, albeit with less NASCAR. As a young homosexual with a deep distaste for feeling like I was about to get beaten up or worse, I fled the Heartland in 1973 for a succession of coastal elitist bubbles, and I haven't regretted it much since. The bubbles are in fact much larger and more numerous now than they were back then (even the appalling town I fled – Spokane, Washington – a few years ago tried to formally designate a "gay district" in hopes of catching some of that gentrification they'd heard so much about), and I'm grateful for that, but I have never, not once, been under the egalitarian illusion that the urban world of tolerant refugees I live in, with all its "bourgois prejudeces" is somehow a mirror image of the narrow, stupid, and fearful world many of us left. My prejudices are born of knowledge. Theirs are born of ignorance. I respect them, for whatever that's worth, but I also respected the possum I saw drunkenly weaving its way down a driveway once in broad daylight. It was probably not rabid, but it clearly did not want my company.
Andrew R. says:
Ed, this post is refreshingly honest. Of course, it's also an excellent answer to the question of of a) why America doesn't really have a social democratic political movement to speak of, and b) why most of America can't muster much sympathy for adjuncts making $1800 a course.
David says:
David says:
“Nationalism” (and the resulting ties that bind) is a new concept historically (just a few centuries old). Class associations (and DNA relations, of course) are much older and much stronger.
This has become very clear to me over the last decade living as an expat: The first 4 decades of my life were passed in the good ol’ US of A (even defending her against all enemies, foreign and domestic, as a miltary officer), but I have passed the last 13 years living as an expatriate outside the USA. English is not spoken here — but I learned the language quickly (that was part of the “fun” after burning out at mid-life). To my surprise, a decade+ later, I realize that I have much more in common with educated & culturally enlightened “foreigners” than I do with my own uneducated countrymen. Class trumps nationalism.
Further, I share Ed’s disappointment with the great unwashed. Call it elitist if you must, but there is a long history of “people not liking other people” – it’s just that intellectuals articulate it better (shall I quote Sarte?). It is in our DNA to not automatically like and accept other people.
People are tribal, and people are predatory. Put better: people are tribal BECAUSE people are predatory. Primitive man had to work really hard to scratch out a living for himself, to acquire the things to satisfy his basic needs. The people living on the other side of the river shared the same basic needs.
Primitive man could have chosen to form alliances between “his people” and the “other people” to hunt together and gather together and share the women… But primitive man really didn’t trust one another, and found it simpler overall to just cross the river occasionally and “steal” the things he needed — from other members of his species that shared his needs and had therefore invested time and energy in acquiring the things to satisfy those needs. The only people that primitive man could trust were blood relatives – the tribe. The Word “brother” is very powerful in every language – who else can you count on to watch your back?
Republicans understand this – “Keep your hands off my stuff!” “Why does everybody want to get their hands on my stuff?” Republicans really don’t like other people – don’t like ‘em and don’t trust ‘em! It’s in our DNA. Liberals do a better job of hiding it (but even most Liberals who want to save “those wretched souls” tend to “look down on” the people they are trying to save rather than see them as equals they would invite home).
Lennon really WAS a dreamer
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
anotherbozo says:
@Andrew R: …and why adjuncts make only $1800 a course in the first place.
(contempt for liberal arts education, suspicion of social sciences, ignorant smugness, high salaries for coaches draining off the $$ from college budgets, etc.)
Jared says:
In America, unfortunately people are free to be as dumb, worthless, and ignorant as they choose. With freedom comes great responsibility, however most people don't take on any civic responsibility–they are too busy beating their kids, their wife, or their dog. Its the 80/20 rule. You, my friend are in the top 20%, while the unwashed masses who compose of your Jesus-loving WWE worshipping, Big Gulp chugging masses bitch and moan about how the country is being ran without having the slightest idea of how it is ran.
Elder Futhark says:
You… all of you here… realize there are people who, in turn, think you should all be sent to death camps in Wyoming, right? If you're even worth that.
Matt L says:
Sweet Merciful Jesus. Ed, that was depressing. I am not sure your wrong, but that sure is one King-Hell of a downer.
Sure, its all about class and America has no vocabulary for discussion class, as many of the comments amply illustrate.
An aside, I live in a small upper Midwestern city. The best place to shop for bourgeois goodies like Cabot extra sharp cheddar cheese and pistachios is… Walmart.
anotherbozo says:
I think it was George W. S. Trow ("In the Context of No Context") who pointed out that between the individual and the national has fallen…television. Long gone are the middle-sized gatherings that used to make up political bases, local consensus, civic responsibility. Television, even political television, is one sorry substitute, with its "contrasting viewpoints," polls, simplistic bloviation and endless corporate-sponsored euphemism. Even viewer call-ins and instant polls do nothing to lessen the tide of ignorant and isolated parroting of teaparty idiocy. If all politics is local, we no longer have a local, or at least one bigger than the water cooler. And just as corporate TV sponsors and maintains ignorance, it's hard not to trace the smugness and ignorance of the Great Unwashed back to the forces that are happy to keep them that way.
We're caught in a downward spiral, and public events like Forth of July firework displays just make that palpable. I have to think that, were I in a public assembly in Mexico, for example, full of the poor and undernourished obese, I'd be among a more politically savvy (if nonetheless powerless) constituency. The social and political naiveté of the working class in this country is exemplary, I think. And that's worse than the aesthetics of size-40 halter tops, blue hair and NASCAR bumper stickers.
anotherbozo says:
I should add a postscript: that wasteland between the individual and national is what makes the TeaParty movement so schizoid. Are these a group of dissidents who have met and, through debate and discussion, refined a fairly unified point of view? Of course not. They grew up around Faux News and Glenn Beck and put together goofball signs and represent all manner of incoherent cacophony. If they ever tried for a coherent discussion they'd explode.
JohnR says:
I feel your pain – pretty much because I feel more or less the same, except I include mostly the "better classes" who I have mostly irrationally despised since I was forced to attend a fine Private School for the Upper Crust Hitler Jugend. Smart, handsome, well-educated bastards, pretty much all of them. When I go to parents' meetings now at my kids' private schools, I often catch myself dropping into a rather heavily, even cartoonishly, exaggerated Huckleberry Hound drawl and droppin' a butt-load of low-falutin' countryfied talkin' and sech-like if'n I don't watch myself. I also felt much the way you describe when I had to live in central New Jersey for several years, that God-forsaken armpit of the nation inhabited by shrieking harpies and damned souls all trying their level best to kill you with their automotive weapons. I'm not ashamed of my prejudices and biases – you shouldn't be, either. We're only human, after all.
party with tina says:
You guys are all fucking haters. These are just rationalizations to separate some people from yourself. Take their human dignity from them so that they can be detested. It is ignorant, prejudiced, divisive and outrageous. Some might protest, "Our opposition does the same to us." Oh. Yeah, actually, in that case, it's alright. I'd forgotten about that, clearly. Enlightenment, is thus.
Nascar sucks, it's… you know racing, in a big hippodrome type thing, modern man has nothing to do with that shit. Let's get something European into our society for once, fuck the Romans.
Big Gulps; peddled on to those disgusting commoners by the corporations to poison them. And they fall for it, despicable, I surely don't, so fuck them, they deserve it.
Corporations, businessmen who peddle things onto disgusting commoners, equally despicable. Not steve jobs tho', he is an excellent entrepreneur, what a man, Love him. Fuck bill gates, only poor people buy that shit.
Ya know what, I and you all are just better, we're Nietzsche's Super-men. Perhaps we will be given our dues one day. Fuck yeah.
mothra says:
Oh, I'm totally with you, except I don't even like large groups of similarly-minded people (like, say, at an Earth Day fair, where the tootless hillbillies are less likely to gather). The problem with people is, well, that they are people.
Mike says:
I feel ya brother.
"I love crowds, but I hate people."
Why? Because I can't shoot the shit with anyone for an hour or two about meaningless and trivial things and have a few laughs along the way. But, once you scratch beyond the surface you find that most simply want to entertain themselves to death rather than have to think about the affect their actions have on those around them.
Humans on whole are a selfish lot and only when it is clear that self-preservation is dependent upon the achievements of the whole will most of us bother to stop masturbating long enough to lift a finger for our fellow man. Even the majority of religious nutters really only care about their own salvation.
Miracles don't involve divine intervention or super natural powers; they are simply the rare instances when a human being takes the time to think and act beyond their own self interests.
Robert says:
Well, Ed, you certainly lifted one big ol' rock this time, didn't you? Just LOOK at all those wriggling little things that rarely see the light of day.
Elder Futhark, I'm well aware of your point (re: camps in Wyoming). I met a man once who had worn a pink triangle because he had to, not because he wanted to.
I do sympathize with the elitist position, but it also reminds me of Orwell's essay at the end of "Road to Wigan Pier". He was arguing that class distinctions between working class and middle class would always torpedo the class unity that effective socialism requires – so the middle class should just give up and drop their 'aitches'. I'm paraphrasing here. But his descriptions of the unwashed, odoriferous miners and their squalid cottages makes them sound positively adorable, compared to the slouching pithecanthropoids of Ed's screed. For a classless society, we certainly have a class issue in this country.
Brandon says:
"Call it elitist if you must, but there is a long history of “people not liking other people” – it’s just that intellectuals articulate it better (shall I quote Sarte?). It is in our DNA to not automatically like and accept other people."
Well, that sounds like a perfectly justifiable reason to hate! Because the track record of people succumbing to their basest instincts and tribal loyalties is a really stellar one!
party with tina says:
Yes, and Ironically the "upper-class" are the liberals who want a class-less society, and the "lower-class" are them nasty ass republicans.
Twisted_Colour says:
$5 for a coffee?? That is very fucked up.
comrade x says:
Well, there are myriad reasons for the downfall of the American working class, chief among them was the persecution of the Old Left in this country during the Cold War, the appropriation of Class War lingo by the Right, Vietnam, Reagan, union busting, and 30+ years of constant bombardment of TV and its message that in order to be a rebel, you must be a mindless consumer of bullshit and stand up for the Establishment.
Despite that, since I am a prole, ( and you would be surprised at how many of us can count higher than five and read books rather than wipe our butts with them, Ed ) I enjoy the company of the great unwashed. But then, I am an unusually gregarious person.
J. Dryden says:
@ party with tina – I don't think it's "hate," at least not on Ed's part. There's probably a dodecasyllable German word for "the depressing alienation from one's fellow beings due to irreconcilable life paths," but English doesn't have one. It's not a question of 'better' or 'worse'–those are terms that can be applied to behaviors, but not the people who evince them. "Good manners" are 'better' than bad manners, but that doesn't mean that people who have good manners are better than those that don't, as anyone who had the pleasure of interviewing the courtly Hermann Goering can confirm.
So yeah, Ed doesn't like what these people do. Neither do I. But I cock my head a bit at the notion that they are "ignorant." When I teach HUCKLEBERRY FINN, I always note that Jim and Huck aren't ignorant–they have a wealth of folk lore and suchlike information, which appears as ignorance to the 'properly' educated, except that such people tend to be like Tom, who can't tell the difference between real life and the adventure stories he reads. (Tom is clearly a proto-ivory-tower-academic.)
They're not 'ignorant.' They're educated–that is, they know stuff, and plenty of it, but what they know is very, very different from what we consider to be information of value. And because we disapprove of much of what they do–what they say, where they go, what they wear–things both trivial and important–we tend to disapprove of the education that (we assume) led them to do such things.
Is it wrong to be repulsed by such things? I would argue not, assuming that repulsion is as far as it goes. To be angered, to be fearful, to be offended–that's too far for me. But to say, "This is so far from who I am that I want no part of it"? No, that's freedom of choice. We just don't like what they like, and we don't like what they do. No reason why we should, as a result, like them. But so long as it ends there–and of course, there's the question of whether or not it *does* end there, or whether the different camps, in seeking legislation that validates their values, are prompted to fuck up the lives of those who do not share those values–I'm basically OK with being held in disdain by those whom I, in turn, regard with a similar level of disdain. And isn't that–doing as we we would be done by–the Christian ideal?
(Oh, and Nietzsche didn't die alone; he died under the care of his loyal sister, who was struggling to understand her brother's work so that his genius would be preserved by an understanding executor. Regardless, Jesus died a criminal's death after being abandoned by his closest followers–doesn't get more squalid, but so what? Doesn't exactly invalidate the Sermon on the Mount.)
Mari says:
I understand. I spend a lot of time trying to convince myself that the local rednecks are "quaint". Which is pretty much code for my thoughts that they are stupid and I'm pretending that it doesn't bother me.
But dude, you actually like some sports… you can totally pass!
Elder Futhark says:
Robert,
The problem as I see it – brushing aside the obvious: the Randian triumphalism of this entire post (and as I've said before I have to give Ed and some of the commenters credit for maybe actually inculcating an ironic situation rather than assuming that they are all middlebrow stupid, which is only incrementally better than glorified chimp) – is that very few here know what color their triangle is.
How's that for a run-on sentence?
party with tina says:
I think understanding and reconciling your differences with different people is a virtue. So, fundamentally, to me, everything you've said is wrong. I've no problem with this blog post, but a lot of shitty things were said by commentators. Again, you've just come out with a rationale for an elitist mind-set, how are you so sure that it's not actually you who are fucking things up for the rest of humanity? You've essentially redefined a disdain for other people, and not their ideas, as something more palpable to yourself.
Briefly; comparing Jesus and Nietzsche is like comparing Marx and Hitler. Jesus had plenty of followers, he taught an egalitarian message. Nietzsche was socially isolated, quite insane, and had taught a very extreme type of elitism.
karen marie says:
Wow, Tina. You are an incredibly judgmental and ungenerous person. You have gone on at length about what you consider to be Ed's failings, and failings of "commentators."
For someone who considers "understanding and reconciling your differences with different people" to be a virtue, you seem to be falling far short of that ideal. The anger and hostility in your comments is almost palpable.
No one compared Jesus and Nietzsche, except to correct a previous point and illustrate a fallacy. But you, in all your virtue, attempt to turn this thread into a pissing contest.
Hitler?
Apparently you are not familiar with all internet traditions.
Ed? I feel you, brother. What others might see as disdain, I understand as great sadness for the enormous wasted potential of so many millions of people.
David says:
"God is dead."
–Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is dead."
–God
David says:
But more seriously, I think some of the people in this thread are confusing their wish for how people SHOULD BE with the reality of how people ARE.
Ed says:
I think I was frank about the issue here: we really want to tell ourselves that the rednecks and Jerry Springer guests are Quaint, Nice, or "Actually really interesting once you give them a chance" (the judges will also accept "once you overcome your hostility and try talking to them") but, here's the thing:
They're not. I'm sure they think I'm a dick, albeit for much different reasons. Thus there is a wall of separation between us. I don't like them because their belief systems are that of a small child, and not a particularly bright one. They don't like me because I'm a fancy talkin' faggot who don't like fishin'.
Prudence says:
I agree with you, Ed, but the mob will always be with us. To advance ourselves, we must lift them too- by offering them healthcare, education and security. It is their freedom to reject it.
As for Tina, he/she/it needs to put the meth pipe down and quit picking the scabs.
THNRV says:
Views like these are fairly disconcerting, especially when they come from the left. Look at all the ample hay you've baled for our token conservatives' strawmen ("Look, those commies really are elitists! I love the smell of condescension in the morning.").
Are the average (especially Southern) working people generally mis- or uneducated, uncultured and unaware of the socioeconomic forces shaping our reality? Do they consistently act in ways and hold beliefs detrimental to their own class interests? Are they blinded by the myth of the work ethic, the possibility of upward mobility and the outright asininity of laissez-faire economics? Did Marx and Engels not outline the cognitive dissonance inherent to ideology and false consciousness a century and a half ago?
Correcting these ills is the social responsibility of the
THNRV says:
Not sure why that last line is still there or when my train left the tracks.
David says:
This is a very interesting thread, Ed. You have provoked a gamut of responses which suggest different philosophical views of the world.
* Young "Idealists" insist that failure to love all mankind (each and every member) somehow represents HATE. Unfortunately, the only man to truly love each and every member of mankind died on a cross.
* The opposite end of the spectrum from idealist would be "Realist" — recognizing the differences among classes (or for that matter, cultures) without emotion of any kind ("hey, that's just they way those people are — as long as they leave me alone, I'm fine"). The fringe of this group would be the real "Haters."
* And somewhere in the middle is Ed — I see him as an idealist who believes that an advanced species like ours really should have enough of a connection among all members of the species to really give-a-shit about each other in spite of any cultural/class differences, but the sad, sad disappointing truth is… we really don't give a shit about a vast majority of the world's human population. As I would put it more crudely, if they're not part of our tribe… fuck 'em.
Some on the left call this hate. The right says "that's just the way it is." Ed calls it… disappointing and sad.
I agree. I think I share that with you, Ed, because I too was a young Republican who later grew a heart and became a liberal. I voted for Reagan in '80, and even tried to defend Ollie North as a "hero"… Actually, I was more libertarian than republican ("I got mine… You get yours"), but finally reached a breaking point with the republicans when Limbaugh kept telling us over and over why we should hate Clinton. Then, after growing a heart as a result of family crises, the world just didn't look the same anymore…
The bad news is, in spite of hoping for the best and wanting mankind to be better than it truly is, most of the evidence suggests that we suck as a species. We generally don't get along with each other very well. In fact, we really don't like each other much — only the ones we really know, or who are just like us. And all the "wanting it to be otherwise" by the liberals probably won't change that. I think conservatives generally understand this in the womb.
And so sadness and disappointment is the only response if you are an idealist who wants to believe otherwise. As a mid-westerner, Ed, who likes sports and history (and I'm guessing the White Sox?) I imagine the reaction is one of "Say it isn't so, Joe…"
Brandon says:
"I think I was frank about the issue here: we really want to tell ourselves that the rednecks and Jerry Springer guests are Quaint, Nice, or "Actually really interesting once you give them a chance"
No, I don't really think anybody has a problem with anybody mercilessly mocking Jerry Springer guests. I think it's the lumping of anybody who wears a NASCAR shirt or baggy pants into that category that some people are taking issue with. And I haven't read any of the dissenters saying anything about them being "quaint," I think I've just heard a few people talk about them deserving some minimal modicum of respect qua humans, or if not respect, at the very least an understanding of the fact that everybody is to some extent a product of their environment and life situation.
And I guess I don't really understand your insistence that this phenomenon of vapid, mindless entertainment and aversion to intellectualism is somehow uniquely American. Travel around the world and you'll see that the vast majority of people in every country spend the vast majority of their time doing pretty intellectually stultifying activities. I kind of doubt that that will change anytime soon.
Nick says:
I'm with Brandon here. Despite being a college-educated liberal (with the Political Science degree and the $10/hr job in an unrelated field to prove it), I do in some ways identify with the kind of people you refer to. Perhaps it's because I've grown up in Western states all my life, and the culture here is slightly more libertarian (not in the teabagger sense, in the "leave me the fuck alone and I'll do the same for you" sense), although sometimes the laws don't reflect that. Granted, there are divides–particularly in Utah, which has an extremely liberal/progressive capitol city in the middle of an extremely conservative and highly religious state. And there are bigots, obviously. I make no apologies for racists and homophobes, and there are plenty of both in my area code. That said, I've got sympathy for the redneck. It's not about them being "quaint" or having some sort of mystical "country wisdom." It's about not identifying yourself by education level or the cost of the coffee you drink or what country your favorite beer comes from. Sure, it's a bit hippyish to say that "we're all humans, man," but it's nonetheless true. I've got some good friends, and a number of acquaintances, who I don't allow myself to talk politics with. Invariably, we met through non-political circumstances and understood each other as people before we got into anything else. For instance, about three weeks ago I found out that a friend of mine absolutely loves Ayn Rand. He supports much of what the Tea Partiers say. He's your typical rich neo-libertarian Young Republican. But, he's a good guy. He lives well. He's good to people. So who gives a fuck what he reads?
In closing, I've been reminded of this Cracked article while reading the comments. Some of the people here have built shells where they can discuss Orwell's essays and George Trow and the relationship between Nietzsche and religion and everyone will understand and agree, and then, when they run into someone not of that circle, they automatically think "oh, what an ignorant twat" instead of just changing the subject to sports.
http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-century-making-you-miserable.html
Zebbidie says:
why is it that in the US, poor dental health is taken as a sign of social if not moral failure, when it is clearly related to the wealth of your parents? And even self-identified liberals seem to unblinkingly accept a class marker as painfully obvious as an Estuary accent is in the UK.
Even when I think I understand USAians, they always turn out to be thinking in a way I find totally weird.
HoosierPoli says:
I may have located your problem: YOU LIVE IN GEORGIA
anotherbozo says:
@HoosierPoli: That occured to me too, from my perch in NYC. Here big public gatherings are more visibly marked by ethnic diversity, which trumps, I think, the particularly bovine deportment of our home-grown underclass. Recent immigrants may be poor, but not complacent or mentally lazy, and their morale is bankably higher. The American Dream, after all.
Surely Ed would be happier in New York, Connecticut or Massachusetts, where I daresay the overall I.Q. and fat indexes are a bit better, too. But OTOH, Georgia NEEDS ED. So long as he can stand it, that is.
Steve Johnson says:
What a laugh; destroy a country then hate the people for exhibiting the behaviors that your own beliefs encouraged:
"A pack of juggalo teenagers."
Question authority!
"Morbidly obese women in halter tops and jorts."
The USDA food pyramid says eating low fat foods will make you healthy!
(and)
Women should be proud and confident (even if they have no reason to be); modesty is an outdated, evil idea!
"Eighteen year old girls and their three children."
Who are you to judge their lifestyle choices! (Don't you dare shame loose women!)
(and)
He's a Stud, She's a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know
(and)
We have to give money to unwed teenage mothers to ensure that the children can grow up to be the next generation of innovators; after all, being intelligent and hard working aren't matters of genetics so it doesn't matter who gives birth to the next generation.
"Sullen, sunburned yokels slapping their children as other sullen, sunburned yokels look on, understanding the impulse and approving of the act."
Never force people to have impulse control; that would be fascist!
"Baggy-panted black kids getting in fistfights."
The Katrina disaster was Bush's fault! You're not supposed to ever notice bad behavior in black people you raaaaaaaciiiiiist!
"Twitchy, meth-addled white kids picking at their scabs."
Make unions so legally strong (and importing goods so easy) that any employer with a choice goes overseas to manufacture anything; next generation has no hope of doing responsible work.
"Mustachioed policemen harassing the former and ignoring the latter."
…and it all ends with a plea for more of the same. Ignore the reality that blacks are more dangerous than whites! If not, you're a bad bad person.
karen marie says:
Steve Johnson has the cut-and-paste down but is a giant FAIL in reading comprehension.
Duverger's Outlaw says:
Mr. Steve Johnson provides a very good example of what I related earlier when I was talking about the difficulty of relating to my extended family. The amazing leaps of logic, the evocation of an alternative social universe that is perfectly consistent with one's own worldview (kinda reminiscent of birthers and truthers), the barely concealed racism….
Jay M says:
"And people in the top 1% are actively trying to f*** us."
Moreover, even at the top you have the manner born Social Register group and the nouveax riches. The old money group uses various clubs and institutions meant to accumulate vast amounts of social capital (such as boarding schools in Switzerland and England, as well as here in the US). Exclusive Clubs such as the Porcellian, Skull & Bones, and others are meant to reinforce and defend social privilege and to ensure the wealth and power stays within the various top families. The Tennis & Racket Club of New York, Edgartown Yacht Club, and the Maidstone Country Club and others also serve this function. In fact, on Nantucket some people even complain about how new money is taking over the island (they are also taking over Greenwich.)
Additionally, many working class individuals weren't properly reared, so they learn the traits of their parents which would subsequently cripple them in many ways. For instance, they would be more likely to engage in unhealthy habits of consumption, be more susceptible to advertising, and tracked into dangerous lines of work.
I am not as simple minded as to accuse you of elitism, although many would state that you are implicitly so. Rather, you make the reader think to him/herself: " The working class has plenty of problems, but what could be done about it?" Now, I am not what you would call an elitist or classist, but it seems that public education and mass media are largely to blame. The working class, for whom fast foods and planned obsolescence was meant typically lacks the resources and cultural capital to distinguish from excellent and popular. A strong emphasis on the humanities is needed in public schools, with further emphasis on philosophy, especially morals and logic. A greater emphasis on word problems and critical thinking is also needed. Finally, a greater emphasis on linguistic prescription is needed, because too many individuals modify adjectives with adjectives and needlessly end sentences in prepositions.
I do hope that you are aware of the fact some people graduate high schools without ever knowing of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and other historical figures.
Jay M says:
"why is it that in the US, poor dental health is taken as a sign of social if not moral failure, when it is clearly related to the wealth of your parents?"
Although I'm not exactly Nelson Rockefeller I have all of my teeth and they are in excellent condition. I use Tom's of Maine for toothpaste, and the Natural Dentist for mouthwash. You can also purchase similar items at your local health food store, where you can also purchase coal tar soap, carbolic soap, hemp soap, castille soap, ostrich meat, bison burger, buckwheat soba, etc. Additionally, you used to be able to buy Synergy, but unfortunately they are "pasturing" it now so it will not be on the market again anytime soon.
Jay M says:
"I'm with Brandon here. Despite being a college-educated liberal (with the Political Science degree and the $10/hr job in an unrelated field to prove it), I do in some ways identify with the kind of people you refer to."
The last sentence here should read: "I do in some ways identify with the kind of people to whom you refer"
"…who I don't allow myself to talk politics with."
Whom I don't allow myself to talk politics with. "I don't allow myself to talk politics with him."
"Invariably, we met through non-political circumstances and understood each other as people before we got into anything else. For instance, about three weeks ago I found out that a friend of mine absolutely loves Ayn Rand. He supports much of what the Tea Partiers say. He's your typical rich neo-libertarian Young Republican. But, he's a good guy. He lives well. He's good to people. So who gives a fuck what he reads?"
Ayn Rand is an outstanding author; she is correct to state that priority should be given to defending property and individual rights, since the individual is the smallest minority.
JBA says:
Part of the class divide comes from your (and other SWPLs') complete lack of self-awareness. Yes, NASCAR is boring. So is the World Cup. And many of the Jesus-types are hypocrites; by definition, so are the latte and limousine liberals. Morbid obesity may be vulgar, but so is calling a summer house a "vacation home." And having kids in your teens is an awful idea, but so is the "natural childbirth" movement. Palin fans can sometimes be a bit much, but Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank supporters are much denser.
All classes and cultures exhibit traditions, beliefs, and behaviors that look ridiculous from the outside. Some are better than others, but you should realize that a lot of it is a matter of perspective.
Ed says:
Well, if there are two things about which I am passionate it's homebirthing and soccer!
Jay M says:
"An aside, I live in a small upper Midwestern city. The best place to shop for bourgeois goodies like Cabot extra sharp cheddar cheese and pistachios is… Walmart."
You should upgrade to St.Andre's (or any imported from France) brie.
"I hate wal-mart people aswell thats why I frequent Meijer, less white trash and less of an ordeal. Its not pretentious like Whole Foods and not filthy like Wal-mart.
On top of the types of people you said I would add dirty hipsters and bonnaroo attendees to the list."
That is very elitist of you, some people cannot help themselves because of their conditioning and way of life. If you were to factor in statistical considerations you find that there is approximately a 65% chance that I am working class as far as the reader is concerned, because 65% of America is working class. As a consequence you might have unintentionally hurt my feelings. Or, is my vibrancy and realness intimidating?
In all fairness, I do not like or trust Wal-Mart because they sell low-quality goods, for clothing I find that Castaway Clothing, Murray's Toggery, L.L. Bean, Land's End, and Brooks Brothers to be outstanding brands, and as I had previously stated I prefer organic foods.
Also, let's just say there are people in the world who would put both arms on the armrest at an opera, and at black tie parties their bow ties wouldn't be made out of the same materials as their lapels, and this can be attributed more to upbringing than a volitional intent to offend. There is something called unconscious incompetence, and many in the working class demonstrate this as far as decorative (and other) taste go. They do not realize that having a mattress and/or truck on cinderblocks on their lawns informs people that the householder is ignorant and inconsiderate.
Hence, the need for a strong humanities core in the public educational system, so they at least reach the level of conscious competence.
sluggo says:
Sorry. You are banned from making any judgments about style:
http://www.ginandtacos.com/2010/06/11/npf-presidential-beardage/
sluggo says:
And another thing…..hockey fans don't get to pass judgment on Nascar fans….not a whole lot wine and cheese served in the old Chicago Stadium.
sluggo says:
And another thing still……. you sound like Mr. Potter complaining to Jimmy Stewart about garlic eaters and ramble….
Steve Johnson says:
karen marie:
The lower classes were more orderly and better behaved when progressive ideas held less sway. Progressivism produces exactly this sort of disorder; then modern progressives get to hate the people who lead slovenly disordered lives for being slovenly and disordered.
Frankly, this is disgusting.
Duverger's Outlaw
"the barely concealed racism…"
Concealed? Black people have lower average IQs and are more aggressive and impulsive. Social institutions and norms that work for a group that has been exposed to civilization for more generations do not work for a group that is more recently removed from a hunter / gatherer existence. Different environments select for different traits.
If that be racism, my friends, then make the most of it!
But, I have found new converts to my racism.
Steve Johnson says:
BTW, agree with the content of the post.
The average American is intolerable to be around in large numbers.
Paul W. Luscher says:
Do be careful of judging a book by its cover. Many of these people may be ignorant, but that doesn't mean they're stupid. Sometimes, when you talk to them, you find out they're not what you think they are, based on outside appearances.
No, you don't have to love 'em. Many times, I've felt the same way you do about my fellow citizens–particularly as I'm from a part of California heavily populated by transplanted Southerners, who exhibit many of the unattractive characteristics of the "redneck," as they are so proud of defining themselves as. But of lot of them have turned out, on closer aquaintance, to be relatively decent and intelligent people–sometimes even despite their retrograde socio-political ideas…
Mark says:
I can relate to this post. I lived in Baltimore for two years. I had to get out. Now I live in rural, southern VA. I have to get out.
tony says:
You can ignore the dip*hits that don't appreciate your biting wit and sarcasm – that is precisely why we come to this site, and no real other reason.
We all have feelings like that and you have a knack for putting it into lovely , snarky words.
You are an effin genius , and reading your rants is always enjoyable.
It is healthy to vent , and does not make you a bad person in any way , I am sure if one of those "hicks" came up to you and said they needed help or a jump start , you would oblige them.
Whether they would do the same is another matter.
Of course , my original reason to submit a comment was simply this:
"…moved to the deep south"
As they say , "that's your problem – right there!"
If you don't like truck pulls and mud wrestling , you moved to the wrong area of the country.
Keep up the great work!
bb in GA says:
One my buds is a Brother (about 60) originally from Motown. He allows that he loves living here because he finds that people are real clear how they feel about you. If they don't like "your kind" they steer clear and leave you alone. Those that love you aren't afraid to show it ways great and small. He prefers that to what he found up North. Obviously not statistical, but it is testimony time! Brethren and Sistern
//bb
Entomologista says:
Because you can't talk about work or hobbies with women, who are only good for fucking. Cute.
Ex-pat says:
I'm guessing that you didn't do your fireworks viewing at Piedmont Park.
There is one "solution" to the dilemma you've raised; you can move abroad. The problem, however, is that the sort of people that you describe are part and parcel of the human condition. I live in Europe. They are here, too. In fact, some local variant of the type exists everywhere. I remember in college, meeting a dyed-in-the-wool redneck (behaviorally speaking) from Connecticut. I would know, since I'm originally from Georgia. As it happens, I'm kind of fond of rednecks, or at least, some of them. As some of your commenters have pointed out; once you get to know them, you may still not have much in common, but you may discovered that they're actually more decent people than their t-shirts would have led you to believe.
BTW, what are "juggalo teenagers?" I'm not familiar with this expression.
Mark says:
Man, you have a lot of hate for poor white people, don't you? I noticed you threw in the token reference to baggy-pantsed blacks fighting (which you promptly santized by suggesting that white cops were unjustly persecuting them) but the rest of your rant was some very personal, ugly insults of poor white people.
Don't let anyone tell you that you're not a "hater" just like all the white nationalist "nazi" conservatives you disdain…you hate with the best of them.
party with tina says:
Juggalo's are dewds who listen to "FUCKIN' MAGNETS! HOW DO THEY WORK!?" Insane Clown Posse… They always have ecstasy to sell.
also, in response to this whole thread.
maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan;
http://www.playlist.com/searchbeta/tracks#Modest%20Mouse/all/1/240163345
Rycher says:
The obvious solution is to import many muslims. Then you'll get the America you've always wanted.
goddinpotty says:
What THNRV said. Great, now the wingnuts think we are all as snobby as you. You have underminded the revolution with your loose talk. Your penance is to work as a stealth union organizer at a WalMart in Kentucky.
Simon says:
If you look down on working class white Americans, imagine how far you'd stare down your nose at working class Mexicans, and blacks who have less education and considerably lower IQ.
Now I wonder why me saying that will make you defensive, or bother you. Why's it worse to be racist than classist?
What separates you from an early 20th century eugenicist? Only the lies you tell yourself.
Timon says:
Hazy Davy cracks me up. Visited all the tourist sites, and complains about commercialism. That's like being shocked by whores at a whorehouse.
Or mass murder in leftist regimes. When was the last time the good liberals looked at a picture of an aborted baby, to see what's really going on? To see a jumbled heap of flesh that really turns the stomach. Not on broadcasts, not in newspapers, not even in Congress.
So curious. So brave. So smart.
Borepatch says:
Accuse me of being a snob or joyously condescending people I think are beneath me if you must.
OK, you're a snob and a joyously condescending person.
You also seem pretty intolerant of people who are not like you. Celebrate diversity, dude.
Ziggy says:
I shure du wish I wuz sufistacrated to understaind whut this her fellar iz tokin' 'bout.
Shure m happpie that we gots sutch weyze folks tu jedge r 'complishmints n sech.
Fern says:
Educated beyond your level of intelligence, eh???
J Sohn says:
Steve Johnson you are spot on.
Brahms says:
Steve Johnson – you made quick work of this brainwashed stormtrooper. Liberals: You are responsible for the state of this nation. How any liberal could bitch about Mom-only families is beyond me. What an absolute delusional worldview. Liberals must be brainwashed in the truest sense of the word; how else can a person complain about the problems they themselves campaigned for?
Abortion, divorce courts, feminism, gay adoption, female only adoption, sperm donors, surrogates, single female artificial insemination, birth control, welfare, child support, fee for baby adoption, free daycare, subsidized housing, food stamps ——-
And you wonder why blacks have an out of marriage birthrate of 73% (25% in 1950) with whites trying to catch up at 24% – you really can't see the connection?
http://www.cis.org/illegitimate_nation.html
Brahms says:
Bottom line – it is now perfectly OK for an unmarried woman to have a baby – congratulations! Who achieved this state of enlightenment? Well, the bright ones of course. You liberals will defend this right yet complain about the white trash single mom with kids ruining your view – – you irresponsible hypocrites. BTW- these kids are doing a lot more than ruining your view – but you can't be bothered to examine the repercussions of your policies can you?
J says:
You allude to the sort of establishments at which you eat and shop – you even use the term "bourgeois" – only to then cite being "broke-ass" as your reason for attending a public fireworks display. A few paragraphs later you list a few (of the most cliched) places/things you regularly spend money at/on, to wit, "organic grocery co-op, $5-per-cup coffee shops, neo-Asian fusion restaurants, and independent film series". You are allowed a degree of license with the term "broke-ass", obviously someone as smug and condescending as yourself has never experienced anything remotely similar to poverty or real broke-ass-ness. Please don't insult your audience's intelligence. You cannot have it both ways, either you are indeed broke-ass and lying about your lifestyle or you are middle-class and lying about your financial situation, which is insulting to those who are actually poor (whom you hold in such contempt). I think we both know which is the case. If you possessed even the tiniest awareness – let alone understanding – of the world outside your bubble, you would never have written this little neo-liberal manifesto. Who are you to judge your fellow Americans? You are a whining, sheltered brat who revels in his bourgeois scorn for the proletariat. You are a pseudo-intellectual would-be control-freak who can't understand why, if you're so "enlightened", does no one take you seriously(?). You are an ivory-tower liberal statist shill. More than any of this, you are irrelevant to America – contributing nothing, demanding hand-outs, and endeavoring to force your insane agenda on the rest of us. At least your much-derided southern neighbors aren't a serious threat to anyone but their own, whereas you and your ilk pose an existential threat to all of us unenlightened plebs.
Patrick says:
On the bright side, IMO, liberals in red states write much more pointedly and clearly about politics. I feel like my political convictions were much clearer before I moved to a place where the consequences of stupid policy were less present and more abstract.