Article /i-know-why-poor-whites-chant-trump-trump-trump/

[easttexaslefty]

"From the era of slavery to the rise of Donald Trump, wealthy elites have relied on the loyalty of poor whites. All Americans deserve better.


I’m just a poor white trash motherfucker. No one cares about me.


I
met the man who said those words while working as a bartender in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas. It was a one-street town in Benton County. It had a beauty parlor, a gas station, and a bar where locals came on Friday nights to shoot the shit over cheap drinks and country music. I arrived in Arkansas by way of another little town in Louisiana, where all but a few local businesses had boarded up when Walmart moved in. In Arkansas, I was struggling to survive. I served drinks in the middle of the afternoon to people described as America’s “white underclass” — in other words, people just like me"

http://www.stirjournal.com/2016/04/01/i-know-why-poor-whites-chant-trump-trump-trump/

[drray23]

1. very interesting article.

Also very long. Takes time to read properly. Of course, the ruling class always has played poor people against each other. It is not specific to the united states either. It worked in europe for centuries.

[easttexaslefty]

2. Very long.

I found it interesting too.

[brush]

4. Yes. No special privileges for white working class over non-white working class

[easttexaslefty]

7. That seemed to be the

point of the article.

[REP]

8. It doesn't, but it's a good way to keep the working class from realizing

their strength if they unite/organize. By reinforcing the idea of white working class as somehow different than other members of the working class, many can be distracted by arguing the finer points of those distinctions rather than uniting. Same thing happens to women (parent/childfree; SAHM/work outside the house, etc) and other groups. Keep them divided and distracted with bullshit so they won't turn on the very few who hold the reins.

[REP]

11. And it's frustratingly difficult to communicate

the message that yes - those differences in customs, traditions, history, etc are both tremendously important; they are the things that help make communities and individuals who they are - and simultaneously unimportant, because none of those differences mean we all don't need food, shelter, clothing, medicine, safety for our families and together, we are all stronger.

I totally get why people like to be identified with their group; after all, my family is Welsh and won't shut up about it. That's probably also why I think acknowledging and honoring those customs, traditions, histories, etc is important; to many people, it's part of who they are. It sometimes seems as though organization efforts are asking for homogenization from everyone, when it's not necessary. We're not all alike exactly but we all want the same things: fair treatment, fair wages, safe workplaces.

Note that I don't consider being a bigot to be a tradition. I think, naïvely perhaps, that some bigots are bigots because that's what they get fed. And some are just idiots.

[pansypoo53219]

5. more reagan divide & conquer.

DON'T BLAME US, blame OTHER POOR PEOPLE. its the MEXICANS this time. and muslims. NOT the 2%. MORE TINKLE DOWN!!!!!

[easttexaslefty]

6. Exactly. n/t