A real good example of why the Democrats lost, and will keep losing
Earlier this month Maine Democrats held a meeting where onetime Democratic state Senate candidate Richard Fochtmann decided to tell a joke.
“Today, you know, I saw a thing, and it said a lot of men — white men — are committing suicide,” he said. “I almost thought, ‘Yeah, great!’”This caused the Democrats in attendance to begin laughing .
“Then I thought about it little more, and I thought maybe I shouldn’t say that out in public,” he concluded.
The Daily Caller reached out to Fochtmann, who wrote the comment off as a joke, though he says that it’s a “good thing” that it won’t be long before America is not a majority-white nation:
EXCLUSIVE Video:@MaineDems speaker celebrates increase in white male suicides; crowd cheers#mepolitics @AnnCoulter @RickyVaughnX1 pic.twitter.com/8wvNPt4TIa
— Maine First Media (@MaineFirstMedia) April 13, 2017
What the fuck is wrong with you, you sociopathic fuck!
Just imagine the spittle-flecked outrage at DKos if he had joked about, say, black women committing suicide.
And yet, Fochtmann only said what many good liberals are thinking.
No level of distress can bring liberals to feel human empathy if the person who is suffering isn't a minority.
Consider this example of how the news media frames this issue.
Unfortunately, in our current cultural environment, a lot of people find it tough to feel sorry for middle-aged white guys. As the Salon piece implies, such men have a branding issue and there will be no telethons or fundraisers to focus on their plight.
While they may be killing themselves at record numbers, it’s hard to reconcile this with the idea that they are somehow unfairly favoured in the workplace, since men –and largely white men – hold 95.6 per cent of all chief executive officer roles at S&P 500 companies.
It’s also hard to draw attention to the plight of middle-class white males without falling into the open arms of the men’s rights movement, a “manosphere” populated by misogynists who blame women and feminism for all of men’s woes.
A branding issue?!? Have you lost your fucking minds?
We aren't talking about male-pattern baldness here.
We can't "draw attention" to a public health epidemic because of political correctness reasons?
Isn't that proof enough that your worldview is bonkers?
One more example.
“I’ve watched white males rule this country from the beginning. The power that this traditional white male used to have is decreasing. We’ve evolved and white males aren’t necessarily at the root of power anymore. Everything from the Oregon military takeover to the abuse people have hurled at our president, I think a lot of that is at play,” she said.
What the fuck are you talking about? What the fuck does presidential politics have to do with suicide? I've got news for you: suicide is an extremely personal thing.
And then, finally, there is liberal smugness himself, Bill Maher.
“Middle-aged American whites are dropping like flies,” Maher said before Jay Leno pretended to collapse next to him to audience laughter. But what is killing the old guard? Drugs, alcohol, suicide and “possibly trying to fit into skinny jeans” the report finds (excluding that last bit).
The findings also include suicide rates for whites are now four times that of black Americans and due to a rise in heroin use among whites, the death rate from it is also up. But, no fear, Maher has some advice, “You’re white! Cheer the fuck up!”
Some asshole liberals like Bill Maher are bending over backwards to deny that there is a problem in the working-class white community.
This is despite the fact that rising mortality rates are scientific proof of distress in a species, genus, or race.
So pretending it doesn't exist is simply anti-fact.
However, most "bleeding-heart" liberals can't be bothered to work up even a smidgen of empathy based on stereotypes that don't even apply.
For instance, one of those articles above mentioned "chief executive officer roles at S&P 500 companies". The study is about working-class whites. Not rich whites.
Conflating those two things seems intentional. As if an honest examination of this public health crisis is not politically possible.
It's not hard to see what is happening here. You just have to be able to view the world outside of liberal identity politics.
For instance, there is the great, unspoken word - class.
The health of middle-aged non-Hispanic white Americans is deteriorating fastest.
The result of these trends, according to a new study, is a widening gap between wealthier and poorer Americans...
The results are stark. In 1980, a 50-year-old man in the wealthiest fifth of the income distribution could expect to live five years longer than a 50-year-old man in the lowest-income group. By 2010, the gap between them had jumped to 12.7 years.
In other words, the poorest fifth of 50-year-old American men can now expect to live just past 76, six months shy of the previous generation. The richest 50-year-olds should make it almost to 89, seven years longer than their parents' generation.
Obviously white CEOs and white blue-collar workers are living very different lives.
What's more that difference is increasing. Only by pretending that class doesn't exist can liberals continue to justify their complete lack of empathy for their fellow human beings.
As for why the condition of working-class whites has deteriorated to crisis levels, that's easy to explain too.
One such study published this week by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce suggests newly created jobs since the recession have been filled almost entirely by highly educated Americans. Of the 11.6 million jobs created between January 2010 and January 2016, 11.5 million went to folks with at least some form of college education.
"By contrast, workers with a high school diploma or less hear about an economic recovery and wonder what people are talking about," the report said. "Of the 7.2 million jobs lost in the recession, 5.6 million were jobs for workers with a high school diploma or less."
The study estimates these workers have recovered only about 1 percent of those jobs over the last six years and have enjoyed virtually "no growth among well-paying jobs with benefits." On net, there are now more than 5.5 million fewer jobs for individuals with a high school education or less than there were in December 2007.
Those workers without a college degree have seen their wages dropped dramatically in the last 35 years.
Some liberals , in order to avoid showing empathy for impoverished whites, will blame the victim for not getting a college degree.
Yet even a bachelor's degree is not a ticket to higher wages. Just a lot of debt.
What is happening here is a story of inequality and class, first and foremost.
That's not to say that race doesn't factor in. It does. Race is a factor, but in a much different way than the mainstream will tell you.
America’s underlying racism has a continuing distorting impact. A majority of the low-wage sector is white, with blacks and Latinos making up the other part, but politicians learned to talk as if the low-wage sector is mostly black because it allowed them to appeal to racial prejudice, which is useful in maintaining support for the structure of the dual economy — and hurting everyone in the low-wage sector. Temin notes that “the desire to preserve the inferior status of blacks has motivated policies against all members of the low-wage sector.”
Temin points out that the presidential race of 2016 both revealed and amplified the anger of the low-wage sector at this increasing imbalance. Low-wage whites who had been largely invisible in public policy until recently came out of their quiet despair to be heard. Unfortunately, present trends are not only continuing, but also accelerating their problems, freezing the dual economy into place.
Democrats have ignored the distress in the working-class white community. Democrats have rationalized it. Democrats have even justified it.
What Democrats haven't done is actually care about roughly a third of the population of America.
And then they wonder why whites rarely vote for Democrats, and why they keep losing.
Comments
One word.
Despair.
Well done, gjohnsit.
Well done.
So true, every bit.
There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties.. This...is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.--John Adams
Both sides do it
Reminds me of the GOP attitude towards minorities: they don't vote for us so who gives a crap about them. That's very cynical, inhumane and self-fulfilling attitude; is it any wonder why the political class is so poorly regarded?
both sides.... of the Möbius strip
Both sides.... of the Möbius strip. There is only one political party in this country any more. It sells through two brands, but the differences are trivial and insignificant.
Cynical, inhumane and self-fulfilling attitudes. And only one real political party.
We'd be better off with a decent absolute monarch than with this kind of so-called "democratic republic".
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides Correct!
Correct!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Even worse
Markos seems to enjoy the thought of coal miners dying of black lung while going bankrupt.They'll do as there betters tell them next time.
absolute monarch
They did what their "betters" told them; that's why they're dying of black lung while going bankrupt.
And I did specify a decent absolute monarch. Markos Moulitsas does not qualify; the remarks you cite prove it.
p.s. I notice that Markos has little or nothing to say about those dying of white lung disease. That's probably because he doesn't want to try to spell words like "mesothelioma" or "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis"....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
I wasn't arguing with you. n/t
I knew that!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
dividing the working class
I get what the essay is saying completely, and agree with it. There is an amazing interview with Matt Bruenig on the Benjamin Dixon show that makes parallel points about the Democrats' total heartless attitude towards poor whites. It makes the point that "poor whites" are basically the only segment of the working class that Democrats are allowed to openly despise. All the more interesting is (African American) Benjamin Dixon's response—in short, he agrees completely and even adds a few juicy details. See here: https://youtu.be/Jf2049Nb9NI
But I want to just say, in the spirit of constructive criticism, that the OP gets something wrong. And it does so in a way that risks subtly pitting working-class whites and minorities against one another, and even inadvertently giving the fake-ass corporate Democrats (a.k.a. liberals) more credit than they deserve. It's just a small part of the article, and is mostly just about word-choice.
The problem with this statement is that it incorrectly assumes liberals actually feel empathy for minorities. They don't. At least they don't feel any empathy for working-class minorities. Liberals genuinely abhor public expressions of racism—but that's about the extent of it. Openly racist talk violates their sense of propriety, as well it should. But when it comes to things like lead in water, harsh sentencing, attacks on public schools, police brutality, housing foreclosures (which disproportionately effected African Americans), a jobless recovery (which, again, has disproportionately affected African Americans, the Democrats do fuck all. More often than not, they're the ones pushing this shit.
So what we really have is a Democratic party that only pretends to feel empathy for minorities. They still hate the working class, and they still hate the majority of African Americans who weren't their classmates at Harvard. Democrats hate both the working class and the majority of non-whites. And they especially hate the non-white working class—even more than they hate the white working class. But they aren't allowed to say it. They can only openly express their hate of the white working class.
Actually, the Benjamin Dixon–Matt Bruenig interview makes a lot of these points better than I have.
I was thinking about that this morning
When someone mentions cops shooting black men to a conservative, they say "Look at black-on-black violence". As if that has anything to do with the subject.
It's no different from liberals saying "white male CEOs" when the subject is hardship in the white working-class. Totally unrelated stereotype.
Both sides are being subtly racist, but only liberals pretend to own the topic.
I was thinking about this very thing as Obummer's face
was plastered all over MSM this morning. The prodigal son has returned apparently. I found this fawning disgusting as he presided over a great deal of this "change". Great post Gjohnsit.
O.k. When is the next meeting for the revolution?
-FuturePassed on Sunday, November 25, 2018 10:22 p.m.
Obama's still an amateur.
He only got $400K for his speech. Good ol' Bill Clinton pulls down $500K when he gives a speech to the Russians.
The Obamas did pretty well on their book deal.
How many copies do they have to sell to break even on this ?
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
"They" don't give a damn
if they sell one book, lose their $60 Mil. It's all about getting the signing.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
I watch alot of
fox news because that is what my Dad watches (it's on while I'm doing chores).
So, the word there is that the democrats are leaderless, so BO has to fill the vacuum. Ugh - please make BO, who helped to destroy the dem party, go far, far away.
But they also think it's hilarious that Tom Perez is getting booed, so I'm on the same page as them on that issue.
dfarrah
My mother was forbidden to have it on
when I came over and she learned very quickly that if she didn't turn if off I would simply rail back at it. Now the sick irony is I'd be laughing right along with you and her on a lot of it. I'm still not sure I could remain silent, and I know I could not hear that out of El Rushbo and ever truly laugh, but I hear you.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Yeah, and as I've mentioned
before (but nobody seems to believe me), there is quite a bit of overlap on the opinions held between the righties on the conservative news channels and lefties.
dfarrah
gjohnsit, as always,
thank you for all that you do to keep our awareness focused on such things as this. I say this at the same time that I know that the American people are very aware of it because it's happening in their own families. It's the mainstream media that are acting as if it weren't true.
or worse....
Or worse, as if it ought to be true.
Disgusting!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Yes,
you're so right. That is the point that gjohnsit is making, that the mainstream media are not denying that it's happening, but that they're happy that it's happening. They're making jokes about it because it's a way they can criticize white males who are in despair, and laugh at their families who mourn, because those working class men and their families didn't get good enough jobs. They didn't achieve well being, therefore, however they died, it's funny.
And yes, many, many of those white males
are probably Repugnants, and sadly, they too bought into identity politics as their solution. Really, I guess, the PTB probably do think this is a good thing, but I'm sure they don't just mean white males but an early death for any "takers" out there they can name. And if "we" can call them all worthless, racist deplorables, so much the better!
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
I'm right square in that demographic.
I'm a middle aged white guy dealing with a painful chronic disease who hasn't gone a day without the notion of blowing my brains out. There is this constant notion bouncing around in my head that I'm a failure and offer no value as a person and should take myself out. I'm worth more dead than alive. I'm seeing a therapist about it and am trying to keep my head up but all I see in the future is a huge dark stormy sea in front of me. I live every day in fear my disability benefits will be reduced or taken away. I fear my health insurance will stop paying for my meds. I see how generational promises like Social Security are in peril. I'm not looking for any sympathy. I'm just saying I know how it is while I wake every single day trying to cling to hope.
The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.
I hope you know
that in this community you are with people who believe you, who have been, or have family members who have been in your condition, and who hope you stay with yourself in your hopes. What you have said here so eloquently does help other people and raises consciousness for so many more individuals and families.
It's hard to live with the pain.
I know. I'm an old guy that can barely mow the lawn anymore. I'm going to call a plumber to drain my water heater because it's difficult to get on my knees to do it (and damn near impossible to get up again!). The thought of Death isn't frightening any more, but it does fill me with regret. You don't really want to die, either. You just want the pain to stop.
Last Spring I got out of the hospital after an operation and just sat in the back yard, enjoying the breeze and the flowers. I thought "being alive is good". Most people don't understand how I could think any different, but I think you understand.
Try some wine or good beer instead of illegal drugs or prescription opioids. Sit in your back yard or a public park. Being alive is good. Most of all seek out the company of people like yourself and help sustain each other.
You are NOT a failure because you have no money! You are only a failure if you are a miserable old coot who never has a kind word for anybody. Does your family hate you? (Discount teenagers - they are crazy from hormones. It will pass.) Do your co-workers hate you? I'm sure you have something to give and share, if only a sympathetic ear to family, friends and co-workers. If you kill yourself you will give only pain to those you leave behind.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
No one is worthless
Try some weed. Seriously.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
I wish my Mom could have had it.
While she was dying of cancer. I guess the Feds were afraid she would graduate to Heroin and start mainlining in her coffin.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
I have to say, I'm a 55 year old white female
and while I'm not disabled, still have a decent job that pays well, very well comparatively, have saved some money, I think about just what I would do if it all comes apart. On paper my finances look solid, again comparatively, but all it would take is one major illness and I'd be wiped out. And then there's always that lovely thought of a banking meltdown and just what might happen then. If they take SS away I can manage, for a while, but not for very long. Even I contemplate it and I look at that as a measure of just how precarious our rich owners have made ALL of us feel.
I empathize with you here and it makes me so damned angry that anyone of us should have to feel this way. Why in hell should any of us pay taxes to live like this?! So a bunch of thieves can tell us how worthless WE are? So they can score laughs at our expense while living in splendor? God I hate them today.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
I hear you and agree 100%.
I'm a 61 year old white guy. No health insurance, because I'm too rich to be poor enough to get affordable Obamacare but too poor to be rich enough to afford the $12,000 per year out of pocket expense that the one and only available Obamacare plan did offer.
My health care plan if I get a serious disease is suicide if a quick, relatively painless death from the disease is not in the cards.
@SparkyGump There's days suicide
There's days suicide looks logical. Those are bad days.
I hope you continue to win the fight daily. Message me if you feel the need, but know that if I don't immediately respond, it's probably because I spend a lot of time offline. I will get back within 24 hours, though.
God, I'm lame as support!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Me too but female, always Head of Household
I was 21 when my dad died, three years after my mom, so from then on was the only one scraping by to stay alive. Forget college, forget ever moving back home, forget sober siblings, just forget everything that everyone else expects from the world, put head down and keep pedaling. I never married money, two other people married my inheritance too, of which there is none left, doesn't matter. Point is I can empathize with the guys, I think.
If anyone looked at my link to Joe Tuck from Alvarado Street, please notice how he walks, and then look at the cement floor and do that math for a lifetime on your own joints. The other baker (Joe was a baker, in addition to CEO), had both hips replaced during my time there. It was his second operation, and because I was a worker-owner got first hand experience on both sides of Workers Comp Insurance. What a mess.
Every good factory job I ever had in California got outsourced, to Mexico or China. So fuck Ds and the Clintons forever, that's what I say. Here's the star of The West Wing ripping Bill a new one, thanks Hollywood. Please disregard the docu itself, too much xenophobia. But the WTO reminded me of the Seattle protests, 1999. Solidarity.
Bill Clinton Shoehorns China Into the WTO
Thank you.
Your comments have been a help to me. My wife was recently diagnosed with a dangerous disease that, if she is to live, will require a transplant. Even though she can barely walk from the house to the car they say she's several years away from being eligible for a transplant. We read on the web that in some cases they wait so long that a patient has to be air lifted to a city where it can be done. Right now as a government employee I have what Obama calls a Cadillac health insurance plan for millionaires. By the time my wife gets the transplant, assuming it's approved, our insurance will be much less good. How can her chances of surviving be better years from now than they are right now?
There are certainly people I love I would leave in great pain, but the thought that I'll nurse her as long as she's alive then find a painless way to join her crosses my mind regularly. We have no children. I can't even envision life without her.
But reading these comments has, at least for the moment, changed my perspective. However much it hurts I will not let them win. I'm going to set my computer up so that when I log on it will open with the message "The bastards won't win today!"
No matter how much I hurt I can find others to help. Maybe it will bring me a measure of peace.
Also have FEHB
I HATE that Cadillac plan BS. EVERYONE in the USA should have our plan. Because they don't, the neolibs want to take away from us instead of extending it to all.
When I was young, everyone that worked for a big or medium sized company had decent health insurance. Until Greed became good.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
This is what we get for decades of 'benign' neglect.
And while some will get angry at the wrong people, especially the predominantly white 'manosphere' or the 'anti-racist is anti-white'types, at the end of the day, it's a class issue as you point out. Of course, we can't expect lily-white assholes like Bill Maher and their token others to tell people the truth because they're paid large sums of money not to.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
The "coalition of the ascendant" ...
That is why Democrats remain smug and self-satisfied even as they lose election after election at all levels of government and that is why they celebrate the deaths of those deplorable straight, white males. From the yellow book:
Of course, for this to work you have to assume that young people and minorities are unable to discern their class interests or that they will vote against those interests because "where else are they gonna' go".
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
"Bloody knuckles"
Now I can go back without gagging: Kamala Harris gets star treatment and no protests at her town hall
Someone must have stuffed her pockets full of cash. We've come too far? Who is the "we" she speaks of? Too far with affordable housing? Too far with living wages? Too far with the crumbling school system? Access to clean water? My tap is like bleach, but the beer factory in town can afford filters, so public/private water system! Friggin' costs just keep going up now. The only thing "fixed" is incomes, constantly lowered by inflation. No thanks.
Fixed a couple of typos in the quote, rather than (sic) them. Can't wait to see what Jimmy Dore might say about that town hall meeting. Woo. I already posted about Harris becoming the next Obama, the "talk" began immediately around local papers and stuff. Also I am noticing Indivisible has invaded every single Bernie space within my proximity, that stinks a lot like Clinton Obama to me. P.U.
The only blood on her knuckles
is from desperately hanging on to her losing party and the million's she's "entitled to" after leaving office. And hey, if she needs to shed a little blood punching a hippie, she's all in for that I am sure. As long as it's a white male hippie.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
@lizzyh7 Oh, she can punch a
Oh, she can punch a white female hippie, as long as said white female didn't vote Hillary.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
If I were a minority--and I guess I sort of am--
I may be so strange that I don't even register as a minority; not many people spare much thought for bisexual polyamorous people. But anyway, if I were a minority that got noticed and had political significance, I would stay the hell away from that "compassion" you're talking about.
I told my friend Dan the other day that LGBT people used to be outlaws, and now we're fashion accessories for DC politicians. At about the level of a flag lapel pin.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
LOL
That's clever. And true.
The LGBT community is to Democrats what labor unions used to be.
what labor unions used to be
Except that at a maximum of 15% of the population, the LGBT aren't in a position to be able to deliver elections.
Back in the day, the labor movement -- labor unions and those who wish they were in them -- could and did deliver elections, reliably.
It really is about "the (working-class) economy, stupid"! Forever!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides The day I need
The day I need Hillary Clinton's help I probably will kill myself. If I were on fire, I wouldn't take a glass of water from her, because I'd expect it to be Everclear.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
toluene
Toluene. Expect it to be toluene.
Her Heinous wouldn't offer you anything as comforting as Everclear....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides I pitched Than a
I pitched Than a fat one....and he knocked it right out of the park!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The fact I'm in that demographic...
is one of the reasons I'm determined to never commit suicide.
Bisexual Polyamorous? Clearly he was overcompensating and was trying to commit suicide already!
So, if I ever do, just saying it now, it was not me who shot myself 32 times in the back while falling down a flight of stairs onto a pile of improperly stored knives.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@detroitmechworks God fucking dammit.
God fucking dammit. Yes, of course, all those freaks end up killing themselves.
My reaction:
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
smart kitty!
This cat chooses non-porous surfaces to yakk on! Smart kitty!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Can't wait for them to figure out that a lot of the people
killing themselves are in my generation.
Can't wait till they start laughing about Gen X killing itself off. Fun times.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Well, there's another reason for this.
We can't "draw attention" to a public health epidemic because of political correctness reasons?
They're providing a frame for an inconvenient trend before it gets so out of control that they have to notice it. This is called getting out in front of a story. If they actually discussed why there's a massive spike in suicide, the narrative would go in directions highly inconvenient for these fucks, and the bigger fucks they work for.
They need a frame of "But it's white men, so who the fuck cares! Ha ha! It's funny! Feel the schadenfreude!"
I wonder what the numbers are on white middle-aged women. Or is this one of those times we don't exist? It's so hard to keep track.
Here's something I found:
http://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2016/11/03/rising_death_...
A tidbit:
“White women between 25 and 55 have been dying at accelerating rates over the past decade, a spike in mortality not seen since the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s,” Saslow wrote. “According to recent studies of death certificates, the trend is worse for women in the center of the United States, worse still in rural areas, and worst of all for those in the lower middle class. Drug and alcohol overdose rates for working-age white women have quadrupled. Suicides are up by as much as 50 percent.”
So remind me again; these people are feminists who object to Donald Trump because he's so dangerous to women, right?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Suicide is a white male thing
link
Plus American Indian, which liberals don't talk about much either.
@gjohnsit A 50% increase in
A 50% increase in white middle-aged women killing themselves is a significant uptick, regardless of the fact that men generally succeed at suicide at a far greater rate than women do (more often, women try and fail. Historically has seemed to have something to do with women not using firearms to kill themselves as much).
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Their entire game, near as I can figure...
... is to guide the titanic down under the waves and to distract the passengers with variations of deck chair arrangements which are more aesthetically appealing from an identity politics standpoint.
"See look! We're all gonna drown but blacks will be drowning equally with whites. Now that's progress!"
You cannot sell me to the plutocrats and then tell me you are, in any way whatsoever, aiding me. You can't make that pitch with any group either. So no, you can't be "for women" if you are selling women to the plutocrats.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Thanks for this essay.
I'm glad you called out the blatant misuse of statistics. It was a bullshit claim to state that "95.6 per cent of all chief executive officer roles at S&P 500 companies are white men" when the topic was middle-class white men. Not a single one of that 95.6% is middle-class.
@edg And look at how they
And look at how, without hesitation, they completely erased the white women who are killing themselves. And they're the ones claiming to be feminists. But those deplorable white women just get folded right into the deplorable white men.
I'm not saying this because I consider white men's lives to be worth less than white women's; just pointing out the amazing hypocrisy.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
A Dashiki With a Pink Boa, Sombrero and a Veil. And Wear the
rubies & emeralds. Diamonds would be tacky.
Or a shot of the Democrats Closet with the same fashion props.
I think a minority as "Democratic Fashion Accessory" meme has long, long legs. Talking about striking the heart of the matter. Good show!
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
@k9disc Thank you!
Thank you!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Richard Fochtmann made a funny
I have been doing standup for nearly half a century. Yep, that is all I have been doing, mostly gallows humor (or humour if you prefer) and a lot of puns, love me some puns. My stage was the front of the classroom in 50 minute sets and the teaching lab rooms for the more extended material.
Most of my material would not be acceptable today. But, we always had fun in class. I suppose I will need to change my ways as I continue into the future.
Seriously, the modern world is not what I had envisioned, back in the day.
Identity politics is a tool
It distracts people so that they don't perceive their real enemy which is the capitalist system (and the corporate bosses and their lackeys that run it). It is also incredibly corrosive, making enemies of people who desperately need to get along with each other so that we can have a reasonable shot at having decent lives. It is also disgustingly racist and sexist.
We Got More Tickets in the "Lottery" Apparently.
Kind of like how all black people are great athletes or how Asian people are all smart.
All white men have the opportunity to bust their way into the corporate boardroom, regardless of their social caste. That they didn't do with all their structurally racist advantages means it is their own fault. It's a fine example of how the meritocracy is incompatible with solidarity.
Pretty sad state of affairs. Shuffling madness... Charlie stole the handle and the train it won't stop going it couldn't slow down.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNCT6pA5I9A]
I think the lyrics are a pretty good fit:
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
This is a very important piece gjonsit.
More important than you think.
As I commented a few days ago, that I was personally going to engage some of the right wing sites in an effort to focus on what we all have in common, and not on those issues that we disagree, this subject effects both camps. My interactions with them (primarily at Breitbart) have revealed that most of them are middleaged white males who are very bitter and feel like they have been left behind, despite their perceived "side" winning most government offices. They till resent, greatly, the perception that those others are getting something for nothing while they toil for every scrap. Your disparaging of "liberals" plays right into their hatred of them, And they see liberals as far leftists. Labeling is confusing but important. We here at c99% see liberals as the DNC, or the Clinton crowd. We call ourselves progessives. They don't distinguish between the two.
This essay, from here, would go a long way in creating a different perception of what a true progressive is.
I don't know how to repost an essay, such as yours, using an android platform, but this important piece absolutely needs to be reposted there.
If I've discovered anything while engaging these people, is that they not only dispise the globalists powers that be and strongly reject the nepotism going on in the White House right now, but also having a keen sense of betrayal of the everyday working man, like themselves.
Many of them are high school grads and are being left behind, even in rural areas of America.
This would be a great opportunity to show them there is a difference between us progressives and liberals, but more importantly, there is much common ground between progressives and nationalists, which is what they seem to be morphing into, rejecting conservatism as a label that represents them.
This essay could move minds. In a profound way. Something that is sorely needed.
I will continue to engage these folks, as I HAVE found sane people there, just greatly misinformed. And some are truly good people. Sorting through the ugly is the hardest part.
Peace
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
White working-class is already aware that liberals
hate them, and would laugh at their deaths.
What they may not know is that real progressives feel very different, and are disgusted by liberals on this issue.
Usually the topic discussion ends there. There's already plenty of meat on the bone.
With this essay I tried to take the discussion to the next level, and be more helpful at getting to the root of the problem.
It would be nice if some of your conservative friends did read this.
@earthling1 Some people on Twitter
Some people on Twitter were surprised to find I was on the left. they would say "An honest liberal! Stick around, your voice will be needed."
I get the feeling some of them think that we're all like Hillary and Bill, a horrible irony.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I have a problem with the word "liberal"
It tends to stick in my throat like a piece of rotting fruit.
I can't really say the word so much as spit it out.
"Liberal" is what a Clinton is.
If someone called me a "liberal" I would feel it necessary to correct them.
I prefer "leftist". Or better yet "socialist".
I too have a problem with the label Liberal
Certainly, those on the right spit the word out with a hatred beyond description. They too would laugh at a liberal's death.
These are not my friends, but people that I am engaging there. None of them, so far, have attacked me as a "libtard" or other vulgar label, and they have plenty of them. I try to keep my interactions in the form of questions. For instance, one thread started out claiming there was 59 million dollars in missiles fired at Syria and was parroted down thread a number of times. I simply asked: Wasn't it 59 missiles fired at a cost of $89 million? The next day, in another thread, I would find that they did the research and self corrected themselves.
By engaging this way I can glean from them positions that I agree with.
It's amazing that some of their positions are the same as my own. You just have to separate the hate and read between the lines.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
There is so much propaganda today
you have to be twice as smart and informed as the person you are engaging with AND you must have the patience of a saint.
But if you can do that it's possible to reach people and help them discover that working people have a lot more in common than not.
@gjohnsit I don't consider
I don't consider myself a liberal anymore. But I had the problem of having an outdated handle. Remember I was SouthernLiberalinMD at TOP? I was LiberalinMD on Twitter. So, of course, they thought I was a liberal. Understandable mistake. I could have changed to being RadicalinFL but I would have lost all my followers, if I understand Twitter correctly (maybe I don't).
Anyway, I don't go on Twitter anymore, I don't consider myself a liberal anymore either, but right wing people tend to consider everybody from Hillary to people left of me "liberal" or "socialist." Sometimes I have the argument, sometimes I don't...given that Glen Greenwald uses the word "liberal" interchangeably with the word "Democrat," and that's Glen Greenwald, who's a pretty good truthteller...well, sometimes I just don't bother.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
There are definitely the brainwashed on the "liberal" side ...
... who need the same kind of engagement. What would be really hard would be to get the two brainwashed sides to engage each other. Maybe we're best positioned to be the facilitators and deprogrammers.
Beware the bullshit factories.
I am trying just that
But first, we must know our opposition, I won't call them the enemy, because many are not. There is much misunderstanding on all sides. Some do respond to reason.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
earthling1, Al From of the DLC coined the term "progressive,"
in regards to what (former) DLCers, or corporatist Dems, call themselves--including Bill and Hill. In the video, From even defined what he meant by 'progressive.'
A couple of years ago, I posted the clip; if I can locate it again, I'll post it at EB.
BTW, they did this to distinguish themselves from Chomsky and Zinn types--real lefties.
Mollie
"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures--they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive."--Gilda Radner
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
@Unabashed Liberal That's disgusting,
That's disgusting, given that progressives were a real thing in the early twentieth century. Their movement being used by the likes of Al From must have had them spinning in their graves.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
My grandmother committed suicide
my mom's mom, and so did my cousin, on the paternal side. Taking advantage while we are talking taboos, I wonder if anyone saw this essay at NakedCapitalism? In Praise of Melancholia.
After all the years of unsuccessful therapies, I started to wonder why isn't suicide considered an option for chronic depressives? What could be more depressing than never getting hired again, after a certain age? Is it a mental illness or just the economy, stupid? I actually had a "therapist" say at the end of one session years ago, "sounds like you just need a good job." Duh! WTF!? I needed three "good jobs" by then. Anyway I took all the drugs I was told to take, until I just couldn't take any more. So they punted me to County Mental Health which is absolute barrel bottom, with a referral for Electroconvulsive Therapy. I still sometimes consider it, but what if they slip or fuck up? It's happened to me in surgery before, so I hesitate to go and get my brain zapped, just to see if that will work. I'm trying to psychologically prepare for forced treatment, because it's Trump why not. Nope, FTS.
When my aunt died, I inherited this book which my mom had gifted to her at some point in their lives. On the cover was a hand-written note "See page 78", wonder where the cynicism comes from? Here's page 78:
Symptoms, they are only symptoms, those are my saving thoughts. And I have a plan, but never talk about it, there's no point.
Thanks
@eyo I've been in the place
I've been in the place where I'd have tried just about anything to turn down the volume on the depression. But letting a bunch of doctors do electroshock to your brain? well, I guess I'd heard too many stories.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
A lot of our self esteem depends so much on
others. And when the national mood is so negative it rubs off on all of us. And that is one of the problems we face as a species right now imo. Keeping our possibilities in the positive is important not just to us individually but collectively as well. Those of us who are survivors have learned how to put the best spin on the worst of times. We owe it to ourselves and others to keep doing it.
For instance, we know that little rays of sunshine come when we least expect it. We knew Donny tiny hands was gonna be the worst of the worst going in and he has exceeded our expectations in that regard so far. But people are becoming aware and awake. Sure they may not know all that they should know but who does? And now we don't have to hollar when a whisper will do.
glitterscale
More about age as another contributory factor of early death
Just some more about age to great essay. Age not as in "old age" but age as in the ability to find work once the capitalist system throws an experienced worker away with job transfers of various sorts. The US is effectively creating a world that resembles Aldus Huxleys Brave New World. Our society is creating its own systems of euthanasia (Senicide or geronticide) such as increasing the age of Social Security retirement and permanently preventing older workers from getting livable wage jobs.
How is one to live when a person laid in their 50's cannot find a job to live off until they can get SS payments? High tech has an HR cottage industry whose job is to justify and convince people that older workers lack the necessary technical qualifications and thus not hirable, nor trainable, and thus expendable.
(On the point about not being current. Such bullshit. iPhone apps have as their base language Objective C which was created in the early 80's, and which itself used concepts from languages around at that time. I read where the software driving the F-35 is written in C++. If you are a hardware designer you will be using Verilog or C with various libraries. Java and Javascript still power many websites and applications. Sometimes there will be leaps as when Verilog appeared, or when Cobol disappeared. Is Fortran still around? There ain't nothing new about the top 10 languages used for web development--https://www.cleverism.com/programming-languages-web-development/)
And so what happens is that the party of the people ignores the problems of discrimination of older white workers because they are white, but this is an issue which also effects women and people of color, and thus ignored also because many of the most visible people being laid off are older, white workers who have been thought of as no different than the high paid white CEO.
Of course, Obama and the other neoliberals say re-training is the answer. Bullshit. The training is for jobs which don't exist, or simply will not go to an older worker regardless of their new class diploma.
One more example
Could It Be Time To Deny White Men The Franchise?
Jim Crow for whites...for justice?