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Yavin4

(35,357 posts)
Wed Jul 15, 2015, 12:10 PM Jul 2015

Thom Hartmann: a perfect example of the tone deafness of White progressives about racism in America



Watch and listen carefully to this exchange between a caller and Thom Hartmann. Thom makes a brilliant and logical argument about single payer health care. He cites examples from other nations. He has facts and figures to back up his argument, and the caller has no comeback to his argument.

After Thom makes his case, at 3:24 of the video, he asks the caller to please identify where Bernie Sanders does not represent middle America. The caller basically agrees with Thom's points, and tries to go into the "who's going to pay for this" argument. Hartmann then goes into comparisons with European democratic socialist nations, and the caller respectfully disagrees. At 4:18, the caller states that "we have a completely different mindset here". Again, Thom cites survey results which shows that a majority of Americans agree with his and Bernie's positions.

Finally at 4:55 of the clip, the caller states that he does not disagree with Bernie, and Thom asks why not vote for him? The caller goes into "big government spending". The clip ends with both men agreeing on getting money out of politics.

White progressives love throwing data at callers like these, and when they overwhelm them with data, they think that they've won the exchange. The truth is, the caller would vote for Bernie's entire agenda except for the fact that he believes that his tax dollars would benefit people from other races. When that caller stated, "we have a completely different mindset here", he's talking about race. Instead of throwing data at this caller, Thom should have probed that caller's position more. Get him out of the open on his prejudices.

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Thom Hartmann: a perfect example of the tone deafness of White progressives about racism in America (Original Post) Yavin4 Jul 2015 OP
Actually maybe more like white racism helping to sabotage economic progressivism in the past few... AZ Progressive Jul 2015 #1
The conversation wasn't about race but economic points (which includes all races). mmonk Jul 2015 #2
Cute anecdote. GeorgeGist Jul 2015 #3
I presented a prime example of the typical opposition to progressive economic policies Yavin4 Jul 2015 #4

AZ Progressive

(3,411 posts)
1. Actually maybe more like white racism helping to sabotage economic progressivism in the past few...
Wed Jul 15, 2015, 01:00 PM
Jul 2015

decades?

"I don't want my tax dollars going to benefit black people! So lets cut welfare!"

mmonk

(52,589 posts)
2. The conversation wasn't about race but economic points (which includes all races).
Wed Jul 15, 2015, 01:35 PM
Jul 2015

I understand you think Thom is too tone deaf to pick up the reasons behind what the caller was saying but to say economic populists on the left don't care about the nation's racial problems or people from different backgrounds even though evidence points otherwise is getting tiresome.

Yavin4

(35,357 posts)
4. I presented a prime example of the typical opposition to progressive economic policies
Wed Jul 15, 2015, 02:12 PM
Jul 2015

That caller, more so than the Koch Bros, more so than Wall Street, more so than Fox News is the biggest obstacle to a progressive agenda, and his opposition is primarily based on race.

Thom Hartmann's inability to get at the truth of his opposition is where White progressives fail.

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