2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhite man pathology: inside the fandom of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump
This is a long read, but an incredible insight on some home truths.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/10/white-man-pathology-bernie-sanders-donald-trump
White man pathology: inside the fandom of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump
The border
You feel your whiteness properly at the American border. Most of the time being white is an absence of problems. The police dont bother you so you dont notice the police not bothering you. You get the job so you dont notice not getting it. Your children are not confused with criminals. I live in downtown Toronto, in one of the most liberal neighborhoods in one of the most open cities in the world, where multiculturalism is the dominant civic value and the inert virtue of tolerance is the most prominent inheritance of the British empire, so if you squint you can pretend the ancient categories are dissipating into a haze of enlightenment and intermarriage.
Not at the border.
My sons Guyanese-Canadian teacher and the Muslim Milton scholar I went to high school with and the Sikh writer I squabble about Harold Innis with and my Ishmaeli accountant, we can all be good little Torontonians of the middle class, deflecting the differences we have been trained to respect. But in a car in the carbon monoxide-infused queue waiting to enter Detroit, their beings diverge drastically from mine.
I am white. They are not. They are vulnerable. I am not.
Heres the thing: I like the guards at the American border. Theyre always friendly with me, decent, even enjoyable company. At the booth in between the never-was of Windsor and the has-been of Detroit, the officer I happened to draw had a gruff belly and the mysterious air of intentional inscrutability, like a troll under a bridge in a fairy tale.
Where are you headed? he asked.
Burlington, Iowa.
(more) http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/10/white-man-pathology-bernie-sanders-donald-trump
Alfresco
(1,698 posts)reformist2
(9,841 posts)...it seems like kind of a big deal.
Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)Under 45 is shifting to Bernie in droves.
It will all come down to turnout. If young women turn out, it could make a big difference.
Just my opinion, YMMV.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,403 posts)For people who love to dwell in contradictions, the US is the greatest country in the world: the land of the free built on slavery, the country of law and order where everyone is entitled to a gun, a place of unimpeded progress where they cling to backwardness out of sheer stubbornness. And into this glorious morass, a new contradiction has recently announced itself: the white people, the privileged Americans, the ones who had the least to fear from the powers that be, the ones with the surest paths to brighter futures, the ones who are by every metric one of the most fortunate groups in the history of the world, were starting to dying off in shocking numbers.
The Case and Deaton report, Rising Morbidity and Mortality in Midlife among White Non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st Century, describes an increased death rate for middle-aged American whites comparable to lives lost in the US Aids epidemic. This spike in mortality is unique to white Americans not to be found among other ethnic groups in the United States or any other white population in the developed world, a mysterious plague of despair.
In one way, it was easy to account for all this white American death drug and alcohol poisoning, suicide, and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis according to the report. It was not so easy to account for the accounting. Why were middle-aged white Americans drinking and drugging and shooting themselves to death? The explanations on offer were pre-prepared, fully plugged into confirmation bias: it was the economy or it was demography or it was godlessness or it was religion or it was the breakdown of the family or it was the persistence of antique values or it was the lack of social programs or it was the dependence on social programs.
Case and Deaton call it an epidemic of pain. Fine. What does that mean?
On the I-94, you do find yourself asking: what the fuck is wrong with these people? I mean, aside from the rapid decline of the middle class obviously. And the rise of precarious work and the fact that the basic way of life requires so much sedation that nearly a quarter of all Americans are on psychiatric drugs, and somewhere between 26.4 and 36 million Americans abuse opioids every day. Oh yes, and the mass shootings. There was more than one mass shooting a day. And the white terrorists targeting black churches again. And the regularly released videos showing the police assassinating black people. And the police in question never being indicted, let alone being sent to jail.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/10/white-man-pathology-bernie-sanders-donald-trump
Thanks for the thread, BooScout.
BooScout
(10,406 posts)But since half the article is about Sanders it fits the criteria here and gets seen by more folks.
Uncle Joe
(58,403 posts)white anger, the resulting high white mortality rates as a result, a nice quote from Baldwin as to the ultimate decision that white people; will need to make in regards to black people for their own sake, the differences in culture or identity between Canada and the U.S. his trip from Canada to Iowa, a sizable portion devoted to Trump's rally and about two sentences regarding what Bernie stated.
I also agree with the poster below you cynically changed the title of the piece which wasn't necessary as a slam against Bernie, that was petty.
BooScout
(10,406 posts)Exactly as it appeared. The 'Donald Trump' is in small letters ABOVE the title which was in the larger letters. I suggest you also look at how it is titled in the link. The link certainly doesn't lead with 'DonaldTrump'. Splitting hairs on this one.
Uncle Joe
(58,403 posts)"The white man pathology
On an American road trip, Stephen Marche enters the fray with Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in Iowa and gets a view of the campaign trail from the perspective of his whiteness"
It doesn't mention "fandom." I do see Donald Trump's name first.
Response to Uncle Joe (Reply #17)
BooScout This message was self-deleted by its author.
BooScout
(10,406 posts)I went looking and found that the article was edited by the Guardian after I posted this thread.
An explanation and proof is here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=991054
I hope this clears things up about the title.
Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)One wonders why they changed the title.
BooScout
(10,406 posts)But I better not say, lol
zazen
(2,978 posts)Kneejerk parallelizing, astonishing distortion, and intellectual salad of cultural studies and internet-deep grasp of gender politics. Weird inclusions like insinuation that his wife nags him. Suggesting his hair is the same as Trump's because it "always looks the same" (as if our haircut, being the same from day to day, means it's like Trump's, because his is the same from day to day.)
Pulling out one general invocation by Sanders to people to work together and claiming his entire speech was equally vague (Sanders is usually criticized for how boring he is in his details, and Clinton is always far more vague, but who cares--speeches are always balances of specificity and generalizations.)
Claiming parity with Trump because the women at Sanders rally are like "angry white men." Why does he say this? Because apparently he wants to set up that the Sanders' rally is just the same as the Trump rally he went to.
I can't believe they published this garbage.
"Sanderss speech was much shorter than Trumps. There had already been the music, I guess. I had the impression, as with Trump, that I had traveled many hundreds of miles to look at a mans hair. Bernie Sanderss hair is as much a statement as Trumps. It looks like the hair of a tenured professor whose wife has stopped nagging him to get a haircut because the nagging doesnt work. You couldnt muss Sanders hair. The disorder is just as much an aesthetic as the comb-over. I mean it always looks the same. Somebody is cutting it to droop that way over the ears."
Uncle Joe
(58,403 posts)the results of skyrocketing white mortality.
He doesn't seem to recognize the difference between misdirected anger and righteous anger.
He certainly devotes much more time to Trump's speech and the hair business was just a pollutant to the article.
Having said that I do believe the author made some good points in general regarding the U.S. psyche.
saltpoint
(50,986 posts)to gain power, or consolidate the power they have. Their staff books meetings with high-powered lobbyists, corporate heavy hitters, and various other movers and shakers of the global power structure. The people Ned Beatty's character represented in the film Network.
But Power is an amorphous term. ("It contains multitudes." Events can conspire to turn it on its head -- or reinforce it in its present form. Power is pursued at times to inspire change. Inspiration is used at times to change Power.
Trump heads in the direction of the corporate boardroom. Things are tidy in boardrooms. There is an emphasis on stark necessity and bottom-line profit margins. Refreshments are served to the 1 percent.
Sanders would diminish the role of the corporate boardroom in favor of very progressive initiatives aimed at elevating or restoring citizens' ability to run their own democracy. A living wage, health care for all, and affordable education are imperatives here, topics the (mostly) men in the boardrooms prefer not to discuss.
The Guardian piece is recklessly labeled. An editor ought to have intervened.
Hiraeth
(4,805 posts)On an American road trip, Stephen Marche enters the fray with Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in Iowa and gets a view of the campaign trail from the perspective of his whiteness
there.
fixed the subject line for you.
now trashing thread.
earthside
(6,960 posts)I'm not sure what the point was ...
It is not an endorsement of Hillary Clinton (she is white, very wealthy and privileged).
I guess all white people of all political persuasions are supposed to feel guilty ... just feel guilty.
If Democrats adopt this kind of attitude, the loss in November will be historic.
Uncle Joe
(58,403 posts)Bernie Sanders wants a revolution to overthrow casino capitalism but the problem, or maybe just the first problem, is that the American people love casinos. They cant build them fast enough. On the road from Iowa, I passed at least a dozen, a dozen Fun Cities of various shapes and sizes, enduring various conversations about Trump and Sanders. The highways of Illinois are a unique vision of the workings of human desire a nearly limitless marketplace for addiction and its cure. Strip clubs or fried chicken or gambling or church or rehab or cancer treatment. The I-94 spoke right to the unwounded body the promise of processed sugar and pussy, or salvation from them.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/10/white-man-pathology-bernie-sanders-donald-trump
The article seems to be one of despair more than anything.
earthside
(6,960 posts)All we are going to hear about and talk about from now until Wednesday evening is the Powerball.
Because casinos and gambling are the only symbolic ways that regular folks can see a personal future anymore.
Income inequality has sapped a lot of the spirit out of the American working and middle class.
Of course, this is what Sen. Sanders talks about and campaigns on everyday -- in contrast to the Repuglicans and in contrast to the elitist Mrs. Clinton.
Which is why this nomination process and this election is, indeed, critical for the fate of the nation: we either get back to our genuine small 'd' democratic ideal ... or we are doomed.
Uncle Joe
(58,403 posts)well in bringing up matters of racism, white privilege, white anger, white mortality and U.S. dysfunction but he falls woefully short in analyzing the different messages put forth by the two candidates that he cites and their potential results.
I thought the article was flawed but worth reading.
Hiraeth
(4,805 posts)Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)Hiraeth
(4,805 posts)ticked off.
I think I was trying to say that if HRC was in Iowa she would be speaking to a field of corn with a few upper middle class white women peaking through.
sad, aren't I.
I know it.
Try living in my brain.
mcar
(42,371 posts)Thanks Boo!
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)Camp Clinton is showing every sign of being desperate and vile and the same time.
"It's the issues, stup*d!"
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,711 posts)Thanks for posting.
kath
(10,565 posts)Article.
BooScout
(10,406 posts)After some sleuthing ....I have found that the Guardian changed their title of article on an edit this afternoon. I did nothing more than c&p the title of the article as it appeared at the time I posted this.
For proof I submit the following: https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/40bh7s/white_man_pathology_inside_the_fandom_of_bernie/
http://national.suntimes.com/national-politics/7/72/2413344/white-man-pathology-inside-the-fandom-of-bernie-sanders-and-donald-trump
http://dailyreadlist.com/article/white-man-pathology-inside-the-fandom-of-bernie-s-4
Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)Unless they turn off that ability because they don't like the subject matter or conclusions.
BooScout
(10,406 posts)Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)Makes me wonder why they changed it.
BooScout
(10,406 posts)..but I am not gonna post it...
Sure has given me a headache.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)Takes vapid to a whole new level:
kath
(10,565 posts)Junior high newspaper.
I had the impression, as with Trump, that I had traveled many hundreds of miles to look at a mans hair. Bernie Sanderss hair is as much a statement as Trumps. It looks like the hair of a tenured professor whose wife has stopped nagging him to get a haircut because the nagging doesnt work. You couldnt muss Sanders hair. The disorder is just as much an aesthetic as the comb-over. I mean it always looks the same. Somebody is cutting it to droop that way over the ears.
Jeebus H. Christ on a Trailer Hitch.
Idiocracy indeed.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)Armstead
(47,803 posts)as evidenced by this little tidbit:
"The fundamental difference between the Trump and Sanders crowd was that the Sanders crowd has more money, the natural consequence of the American contradiction machinery: rich white people can afford to think about socialism, the poor can only afford their anger. "
He is a moron on so many levels.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)R B Garr
(16,973 posts)more money than Trump supporters and can afford to muse about socialism.
That has been brought up here many times, along with many other references to Sanders and Trump competing for the angry people attracted to their gimmicky campaigns.
If someone asks you for links to this obvious phenomenon that has saturated the fringe group discussions, you know they can't be serious. This is all over the news and Sanders himself has discussed it.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)I say no, but YMMV.
If you think that we should nominate Clinton "because women would never vote for Republicans", you seriously misread the situation and the lessons of recent elections.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Apparently, the Guardian's writer's haven't been to any recent Sanders rallies.
cali
(114,904 posts)It's elitist.
mmonk
(52,589 posts)they stand for the same things. Should I do a post on the similarities of women who vote for Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton?
enid602
(8,644 posts)Bernie and the Donald do not stand for the same things (for the life of me I can't quite figure out what Trump stands for), but both have campaigns that are essentially cults of personality. I think this parallel is what fascinates the Canadian author.
artislife
(9,497 posts)one_voice
(20,043 posts)AUTOMATED MESSAGE: Results of your Jury Service
Mail Message
On Sun Jan 10, 2016, 02:08 PM an alert was sent on the following post:
White man pathology: inside the fandom of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251990768
REASON FOR ALERT
This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.
ALERTER'S COMMENTS
White man pathology? Lets compare Hillary to Catherine Medici and be fine with that. This is a way to insert the idea that the Bernie supporters here are racist.
You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Sun Jan 10, 2016, 02:19 PM, and the Jury voted 1-6 to LEAVE IT.
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Explanation: Bias among groups is a major factor and major issue in this election. It should be examined and discussed.
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Explanation: It is the title of the Guardian article...
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Explanation: No, I'm not hiding this. If we can discuss Bill's sexcapades then we can certainly discuss a legit article. White privilege is talked about ALL the time on DU. We don't censor it because now your candidate of choice is the topic. Shall we go back and point out all the nasty articles about Hillary? No way am I hiding this. This isn't the Bernie group or Bernie undergound. Leave.
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Explanation: It is an article from The Guardian, which is a left leaning publication. If you were to read the article, you would understand it better. Then you could provide a rebuttal in the thread if you still find it upsetting. You could also send a letter to the editor of the Guardian. You could send an article proposal to the Guardian about the piece you plan to write on Catherine Medici.
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BooScout
(10,406 posts)To whoever alerted on this...you really need to read the article....you know, the one published in the GUARDIAN, pretty much the MOST reputable newspaper in the UK.
TheFarS1de
(1,017 posts)The mass media is no longer considered "reputable" amongst many people . They like a lot of modern politics have been swamped by the identity politic machine and these blatant lies and opinion pieces are now somehow considered gospel . The general population is turning away from traditional news suppliers and are looking for the story/facts themselves . This article is a good example of the "why" people are doing just that .
BooScout
(10,406 posts)So the Guardian Newspaper....is now no longer reputable. I'll make a note of that. Thanks.
cali
(114,904 posts)<snip>
Sanderss speech was much shorter than Trumps. There had already been the music, I guess. I had the impression, as with Trump, that I had traveled many hundreds of miles to look at a mans hair. Bernie Sanderss hair is as much a statement as Trumps. It looks like the hair of a tenured professor whose wife has stopped nagging him to get a haircut because the nagging doesnt work. You couldnt muss Sanders hair. The disorder is just as much an aesthetic as the comb-over. I mean it always looks the same. Somebody is cutting it to droop that way over the ears.
<snip>
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/10/white-man-pathology-bernie-sanders-donald-trump
This is as bad a piece as I've seen posted hear. Not only does it lack insight, it's nasty and when discussing Bernie borders on anti-semitic.
Embarrassing to see praise for it.
BooScout
(10,406 posts)He has a PhD, so he must have done something right to achieve that....as well as that, he writes for Esquire, the cAtlantic, Salon, the Toronto Star, the New York Times and several other publications...and he has written 5 books.
In my opinion it's a good a piece as I have seen posted 'hear' [sic].
cali
(114,904 posts)And many are published, few are worth reading. This gent betrays his ignorance with claims such as declaring that the landscape of the Midwest has never been "romanticized". That's a claim someone with even a passing familiarity with American literature and arts would blush to make. His poorly written, overwrought piece is littered with such assertions.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)And racist too, a lot like Clinton's 2008 primary campaign.
Walk away
(9,494 posts)I have been seeing this for months now and I'm not surprised that the liberal press is starting to report it. I predict we see more Trump/Sanders comparisons in the press. Especially with Sanders having so many republican supporters.
cali
(114,904 posts)Not just the big things but pretentious nonsense like this:
The beauty of the landscape around those towns, for some reason, has never been properly romanticized.
What nonsense. Fitzgerald, Cather and many others did just that.
The piece is thick with nonsensical descriptions and ignorant claims. My guess is this guy has read too much psychobabble and not enough literature.
Armstead
(47,803 posts)Still enmeshed in that Stone Age belief that we should be trying to overcome accidental differences of birth and work towards common goals that enable everyone to live a better life.
And jettisoning our ingrained individual and social prejudices and judgements against those who are Not Us.
I'm even so goddamn hokey to still believe in that Old Fart idea that Unity is Preferable to Separation, and people should be judged on their own merits, and that sexism, racism and other distinctions should be overcome and fought against, instead of perpetuating them with endless versions of the same old "My ethnic and genetic group is better than your ethnic genetic group."
cali
(114,904 posts)that which separates us can feel vast indeed.
goldent
(1,582 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)money."
Damn. Just... damn.
This is one HELL of a read. I am supposed to be taking my children to school right now!! We're running late and it's all because of this damn article!
Armstead
(47,803 posts)"The fundamental difference between the Trump and Sanders crowd was that the Sanders crowd has more money, the natural consequence of the American contradiction machinery: rich white people can afford to think about socialism, the poor can only afford their anger. "
Wrong on so many levels.
BooScout
(10,406 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)The responses to this piece about how horrible and terrible the writing is is kind of weird.
The media has been "dissecting" the black community for 60 years, broadcasting our assorted ills -- both real and imagined -- to the world with almost little input from us in the process. I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with this dissection of white America even if there are parts of the piece that I don't agree with.
cali
(114,904 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)aikoaiko
(34,183 posts)I know its conventional wisdom to make analogies between Trump and his supporters to Sanders and his supporters, the messages are completely different once you get past the desire to make America better.
Stephen Marche admits but doesn't criticize the fact that he will return to Toronto and live the liberal life that Bernie Sanders is trying to help all Americans achieve.
So nice job doing your best to associate Bernie Sanders with Donald Trump, Stephen Marche. Enjoy your single payer health care system and well-funded public services. You didn't do America any favors.
TeddyR
(2,493 posts)As a Hillary supporter, I find articles comparing Sanders to Trump to be both inaccurate and offensive. I really wish Democrats would stop posting lies about the candidates they don't support. The last few months I've seen a lot of posts/comments that belong on World Net Daily, not a progressive website.
yardwork
(61,698 posts)My grandfather grew up in Detroit. I remember that border crossing into Windsor. No passports, no birth certificates, no driver licenses required. Just tell the man where you were born and why you want to visit Canada.
ismnotwasm
(41,998 posts)And there it is.
Cha
(297,516 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Seems to me "white male privilege" would include being paid by a media outlet to have a several thousand word essay published that doesn't end up saying anything and has no point.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)This needs to be seen by everyone.
betsuni
(25,598 posts)mountain grammy
(26,644 posts)Comparing me and my family and friends to Trump supporters.. Enjoy yourself. Have a glass of wine and give a toast to Hillary while thousands of citizens rot in American prisons for the crime of being poor. You're more concerned with bashing us than looking at how the system is grinding people down and spitting them out. Hillary Clinton is more a part of that stinking, corrupt system than you will ever admit.
Yes, I am an angry white woman and I support Bernie Sanders. All American citizens who are sick of the inequality and injustice that's eating us alive must stand together for honest and real change.
djean111
(14,255 posts)And the utter drivel about "of course all women will support Hillary" is so condescending and disgusts me.
BooScout
(10,406 posts)[img][/img]
mountain grammy
(26,644 posts)mmmm, what a surprise!
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Take a look at his rallies, folks.
The diversity is there and any reasonable person can SEE that it's grown over the course of the past three months.
The only people wanting the "BernieBro" thing to be true are Hillary and her minions.