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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsabout demonizing the blue collar folks
Some people think that the unsuccessful among us are that way because they are either lazy or stupid. This sort of thinking used to be mostly confined to the right wing, and , it is still a major part of right wing thought. However, as people who identify themselves as "liberals" start to move into gentrified neighborhoods, or benefit from outsourcing, they seem to agree, and scream even louder at those they blame. If right wing stupid has ignorance, left wing elites have arrogance. Just take a look at the mayhem that happens to the Afro-American board whenever an AA has any other opinion but "yes, please save us o liberals" or the Unions folks when a bunch of "liberals" join the stone throwing and name calling at the folks that lost jobs to China.
It is not a matter of Americans not being willing to work, or being too lazy to improve their lot. Let's be honest, with the lowest vacation, most overtime, most unreported overtime, least job security, and the sheer work it takes to even score unemployment benefits, the problem is NOT that Americans do not want to work. If Americans were lazy, no one would dare work in places which are just a step above old antebellum plantations. The problem is that our elites do NOT put half the risk and toil that their employees do, and because people are desperate and badly fed, they will accept anything that gives off hope, or it's cheap cousin, revenge. Think of Trump as fast food, it's not what you want to live off, not what you want to feed your kids, but on budgets that make vegetables a luxury, it is something that beats hunger.
If Clinton wants to beat Trump, and she could do so easily, she needs to step away from the Yuppies whose response to food deserts is "why don't they buy organic at whole foods?" and connect to the folks that have to use Hamburger Helper. She can do this, but she needs to continue on the path she started when she FINALLY got Debbie Wasserman Schultz out of the cockpit and started describing herself as a girl whose grandpa was poor.
Demonizing people you think do not want to work will only shovel the people who work for 50-60 hours a week right into Trump's furnace. If you think I am being hard on the left side, I say this: we are the ones that want to sell compassion, respect, reason, logic and genuine efforts to allow people to keep what they have and try to improve. It is high time we started to live up to what we say we believe, even if, especially if, if threatens our ego.
and to sum it up, I end with a bit of an another OP: Some people do not like certain versions, but most leftists know the Three penny opera. It is most famous for a song called "Mack the Knife", but this song states the point very well.
You gentlemen who think you have a mission
To purge us of the seven deadly sins(2)
Should first sort out the basic food position
Then start your preaching, that's where it begins
You lot, who preach restraint and watch your waist as well
Should learn, for once, the way the world is run
However much you twist, or whatever lies that you tell
Food is the first thing, morals follow on(3)
So first make sure that those who are now starving
get proper helpings, when we all start carving
What keeps mankind alive?
What keeps mankind alive? The fact that millions
are daily tortured, stifled, punished, silenced and oppressed
Mankind can keep alive thanks to its brilliance
in keeping its humanity repressed
And for once you must try not to shirk the facts
Mankind is kept alive
by bestial acts!
saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)Union member, coal miner had a shorter version of this great wisdom. He said: "All I need is a job, food on the table and a roof over my head."
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)Last edited Mon Aug 22, 2016, 07:28 PM - Edit history (1)
We all have our flaws and troubles along with our good side and our happy times.
We need to work on ourselves so that we can be the best we an be for others and work for their peace and happyness.
We are more alike than we are different.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)then I expect certain people to "UNITE" whenever people are getting kicked out of jobs and homes. They are sure to show they are different whenever it is someone else thrown into the fire.
JanMichael
(24,881 posts)KMOD
(7,906 posts)build up the poor and the middle class.
The only competition tiny hands can give her in that area is with the racists and the sexists.
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)as a solution to food deserts?
Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)Around Asheville where I live now I've often seen the "food activists" pushing an all or nothing approach where they want the kind of organic, non-gmo, expensive foods they like put into shops in underserved areas. A story ran about a local gas station in a poor area that was expanding its fresh food selection with a donated cooler and in the comments people were complaining that it wasn't local food, wasn't certified organic, and so on.
The biggest problem is these kinds of people arrogantly assume the way they like something is how everyone else should like it.
Response to Lee-Lee (Reply #5)
MichiganVote This message was self-deleted by its author.
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Isn't NC a farm-rich state? Why not support local farmers? Why not invest in one's own community?
Avoiding pesticides and antibiotics, more humane treatment of animals, onsite inspections... why are those bad things? Perhaps there is an "all or nothing" contingent out there, but I'm guessing their numbers are miniscule. And if some "food activists" genuinely believe organic, non-gmo, etc. are better for people, animals, and the planet, is it really "arrogance," or a concern for the greater good?
This is just another swipe at "smug white liberals." Yawn.
Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)It was 1-2 years ago if memory serves me.
I don't have any issue with any of what you posted. The example I was making was where a small conveince store that was the only one within quick walking distance to a lot of disadvantaged people got a cooler and started offering fresh fruits and veggies instead of just frozen processed stuff- and the response from some was not to see it as the positive move it was bug to complain that it wasn't good enough for their standards and bash it for not being all local organic food. Instead of seeing it as a positive move for that community they bashed it for not being 100% perfect to thier ideal.
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)I'd stock it with what we could, then build on it. Kinda like how Obamacare was promoted.
Just think of all the NC local produce though: sweet potatoes, strawberries, watermelon, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, pumpkins, beans, cabbage, tomaters. etc. And honey. Mmm. Moravian Cookies and Cheerwine. Maybe not so healthy, but local!
WillowTree
(5,325 posts).......heard even a marginal Liberal say anything remotely like "why don't they buy organic at whole foods?"? When have you EVER heard Hillary espouse any such attitude?
I don't believe I'm reading this on a Liberal board.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)but those who have attached herself to her, and insist on controlling the direction, even if people like Debbie were running it right into the rocks. Another response pretty much answered your other question.
Response to DonCoquixote (Reply #7)
MichiganVote This message was self-deleted by its author.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)who she wisely did step away from, and she has been doing better in the polls ever since she did. She was one who defended loan sharks, which preyed upon working folk.
sorry if reality has a well known liberal bias
Response to DonCoquixote (Reply #10)
MichiganVote This message was self-deleted by its author.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)which is all she has to be
but:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/debbie-wasserman-schultz-payday-lenders_us_56e1a9d6e4b065e2e3d50764
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-canova/debbie-wasserman-schultz-payday-loans_b_9360186.html
http://www.salon.com/2016/03/01/dnc_chair_debbie_wasserman_schultz_joins_hands_with_gop_in_assault_on_elizabeth_warrens_consumer_protection_agency/
http://www.accuracy.org/release/dnc-head-wasserman-backs-loan-shark-payday-lenders/
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/meet-the-bernie-endorsed-law-professor-trying-to-unseat-the-dnc-chair-20160526
Not that all of this has not been discussed ad masueam, but somehow, I could see where you might have missed this.
In my old days, I would keep throwing blue links while you kept your position, but frankly, I am too busy convincing people Debbie got caught steeping on to still vote for Hillary, which I can tell you is not easy. But now, I can simply use ignore while OI get back to cleaning up after debbie's mistakes, and tryign to get people to vote for DEMOCRAT Tim Canova.
Response to DonCoquixote (Reply #18)
MichiganVote This message was self-deleted by its author.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)is disparaging, you may need to adjust things. The people wrecking her campaign were those that wanted her to backpedal away from the left, and I look forward to seeing hillary shed more skin as she realizes that those who want her to support loan sharks, outsources and gentrifiers are only dead wright.
Response to DonCoquixote (Reply #12)
MichiganVote This message was self-deleted by its author.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Did you mean to post that?
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)who are not seen as successful, who are saying "hey, we blue collar type need some help here." Sadly, some do Demonize them, and lump in many people who are simply screwed with the people who vote for trump, therefore making it very easy for people to go "well, if they do not want me here, I might as well go there."
So no, the post was not blue collar=unsuccessful, it was Arrogant yuppies demonizing blue collar people=unsuccessful. Thanks for asking
DawgHouse
(4,019 posts)I personally don't know of any left-wing liberal "elites" who are dissing blue collar workers or suggesting they shop at Whole Foods. They just aren't that ignorant. JMHO
Response to DawgHouse (Reply #21)
MichiganVote This message was self-deleted by its author.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)1) Yuppies? What decade is this?
2) Being blue collar does NOT mean you aren't successful.
3) Who the hell here has suggested blue collar people don't want to work?
3) As soon as I read "left wing elites" I knew this post was trouble.
I will say this. BLue collar folks have to look at their position honestly. If they think a massive number of manufacturing, steel, or cola mining jobs are EVER coming back, they are fooling themselves.
Only ONE party is actually interested to helping them move on to their next career, instead of falsely promising that all the old jobs will come back.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)I don't know what prompted this, but the Trump voter tends to be higher income.
This myth that working people don't support Hillary is false.
MichiganVote
(21,086 posts)Response to Starry Messenger (Reply #23)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Warpy
(111,222 posts)about what kind of deep shit they'd be in without trash haulers, plumbers, delivery people, restaurant staff, electricians, and all the other people out there who do the real work of the world, some with highly specialized skill sets.
They don't like it much.
Most poor folks out there would jump at a chance for any job that paid them enough to live on. That such jobs are so scarce is one of the things adding to Trump's appeal--they know he'll try to wreck the whole rotten system because he's too dumb to know how it really works. In their case, the devil they know has been killing them for decades and they're willing to chance an obvious devil they don't know.
Both parties had better wake up to this fact
tenderfoot
(8,425 posts)Maybe the listeners should do some waking up as well.
Response to tenderfoot (Reply #29)
MichiganVote This message was self-deleted by its author.
Throd
(7,208 posts)They need people like us to explain to them how ignorant they are. I'm sure the message will be well received.
tenderfoot
(8,425 posts)Then again, there isn't much that can be done about willful ignorance.
So yeah, they are pretty fucking stupid.
Warpy
(111,222 posts)Only the suits in the office have that kind of leisure time.
People who keep the world together are out. Working. Not listening.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)better than I did.
RagAss
(13,832 posts)he gets up in front of packed arenas and says "Crooked Hillary blah blah blah"...and the crowd goes wild. Sometimes I feel like we're bringing a dictionary to a knife fight.
betsuni
(25,442 posts)JI7
(89,244 posts)JI7
(89,244 posts)not sure what she has to do with yuppies.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)that prey on the poor.