What was going on? Had decades of sucking down so much high-fructose corn syrup not only made Americans incredibly obese, but also messed with white brain chemistry to the point that some sort of tipping point had occurred?
Not a bad theory, but no, there's a simpler explanation, with two parts: For the first time in their lives, baby boomers are hard up against it economically, and white boy is becoming outnumbered and it's got his bowels chilled with fear.
"In an age of diminished resources, the United States may be heading for an intensifying confrontation between the gray and the brown," writes Ronald Brownstein in his July National Journal article, "The Gray and the Brown: The Generational Mismatch." That's a polite and understated way of saying that older white folks are losing their shit as they're being replaced by young brown and black kids while the economy is in the crapper.
I REALLY enjoyed this Stephen Thrasher article! It is humorous, irreverent, and absolutely dead on in its description of what is really driving the aging white American demographic crazy.
It is fairly long (Almost FIVE internet pages in all!), and I know that many of us world wide web users have the attention span of a hummingbird on speed, but please take the time to read the entire article as it does a very good job of explaining the fundamental reasons behind all of the sudden concern about deficit spending, socialist agendas, and border control.
I imagine that most of you will not be terribly surprised by the revelations, but I think you will still find it to be an enjoyable read. (And hey you Palin-bots, you need to read it too so that you can finally understand why you are so freaking pissed off all of the time! You're welcome.)
This is totally OT, and you don't need to post it. Just writing to ask that you/someone please highlight this editorial from the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. Even they are apalled at the violence of SP's supporters.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2010/10/03/opinion/editorials/doc4ca56f1fc4fc5146719429.txt
So happy to see this as I saw it yesterday in our little town of Ridgway Colorado in the grocery store. We have some very forward thinking people here! When will the rest of the country wake up?
ReplyDeleteanyone who doesn't want to read this article (well worth the read) can just read the comments, which more than prove the point the author is making.
ReplyDelete- kellygrrrl
Great article! I think it is right on the pulse point
ReplyDeleteI had to go back 3 times to finish it. I'm over 60 so I don't know about hummingbird syndrome. I think it is more like early dementia syndrome.
ReplyDeleteAs one who never believes in collective guilt, I agree with the commenter on the article that stated it's not 'white America' that's lost its mind -- it's ignorant redneck America. So true.
ReplyDeleteI did like how the author made the point about trying to imagine then-presidential candidate Obama sending out the emails Carl Paladino had or having a 'love child,' and just how unimaginable that scenario would have been. Paladino has double standards and a strange new normal to thank for still being in the game -- much like that idiot Sarah Palin. I often try to imagine a black or brown woman having just one of the issues Sarah Palin has presented with getting one tenth of the leeway she has. It wouldn't happen.
I think Sen. Jay Billington Bulworth said it best: "All we need is a voluntary, free spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction." Huh? "Everybody just gotta keep fuckin' everybody til they're all the same color."
ReplyDeleteChristopher Hitchens on White Fright: Glenn Beck's rally was large, vague, moist, and undirected—the Waterworld of white self-pity.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.slate.com/id/2265515/
igettit2,
ReplyDeleteWhat Sarah's fans need is a 'librul' they can target and their sparks spread like wild fires. Was the Frontiersman actually checking court records or did someone give them a heads up for them to break a favorable story to prove Sarah is a victim?
The Mat-Su Frontiersman is so proud to have the breaking news story about Sarah and Kristen, WOW! they got the scoop on a 20-day restraining order for a kid that had been investigated by the U.S. Capitol Police and Secret Service. "Agents have visited Christy’s home and spent hours talking to him on more than one occasion." How did Sarah stay so far out of the loop? Do her handlers have no touch with reality? If the restraining order was to get attention for poor Sarah's fear of stalkers they were a success. We can again see how her crazies react to her and attack anyone they think must be a liberal.
Sarah Palin is the new Karl Rove. It works for Bristol Palin, too. Does anyone believe Nachogate was not Rovian?
The article is right on the money about white insanity but I think he missed the mark by pointing to the Boomer generation (1967-1946; 43-64 years old). Was this a lazy attempt at comedic effect or does he really believe they're the insane ones?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great article. Reading it, however, had my "other voice" constantly thinking: Most people are not going to have a CLUE what all these references mean.
ReplyDeleteNormally, most of them would be going over MY head, too. Its only recently that I have taken the time to look and listen to all the silly "news" stories that are mentioned in the piece.
One of the insane things I've picked up on, now that I'm paying attention, is how quickly the common man's mindset can be manipulated into thinking there is a good reason to give whatever money you may have, to the already very rich people.
I know a few of these OVERLY rich people, who you'd THINK would be content with personal net worths of several million dollars. Oddly, they are NOT: they are aware that a large number of middle class people who still have jobs, have socked away a few thousand dollars, in 401Ks and so forth...and THEY WANT IT.
They believe that common schlubs do not even know how to appreciate money, so it is rightfully THEIRS.
And their laughter over how easily they can fool the dummies into GIVING it to them, can be heard, if you turn off Fox TV for a moment, and listen hard.
Warning people of this, falls on deaf ears. They are so heavily convinced their opinions (which are formed by listening to Rush, Glenn, Sarah, and other stooges for the ruling class) are sound, that no new information is sought, nor accepted.
Wow, Beck sold less than 10% of tickets for NJ event
ReplyDeleteOctober 03, 2010 12:40 pm ET by Eric Boehlert
This, on the same weekend he appears on the cover of the New York Times Sunday magazine, and again we're told he's a hugely important and influential figure in American politics today.
From the Asbury Park Press [emphasis added]:
A crowd of about 700 people, comprised mostly of Tea Party supporters, gathered at Six Flags Great Adventure on Saturday to help kick off conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck's "Restoring America'' tour.
And the kicker:
Although the crowd was well short of the 8,000 capacity for the arena, there was a large contingent of conservative media in attendance.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201010030002
Watch before they take it down....to funny, too true!!
ReplyDeleteWhen Donald Duck met Glenn Beck - Boing Boing
www.boingboing.net
Will Shetterley sez, "This is a re-imagined Donald Duck cartoon remix constructed from dozens of classic Walt Disney cartoons from the 1930s to 1960s. Donald's life is turned upside-down by the current economic crisis and he finds himself unemployed and falling behind on his house payments.
kellygrrrl. Did I say something stupid?? I did read the article yesterday and I think it is insightful and something everyone should read. All I did was comment. Geez!
ReplyDeleteGryphen:
ReplyDeletecan u post this pl?thanks
Sarah Palin's defence of Alaskan mine threatens Canadian fish
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/869640--sarah-palin-s-defence-of-alaskan-mine-threatens-canadian-fish
Definitely think this article described the Tea Party perfectly, but the fact is, millions of whites voted for Obama, continue to support him, and will make the same effort again in 2012. "White aging America" is just too broad a brush in my view.
ReplyDeleteAnnie, I don't think Kellygrrrl's comment was directed at you or anyone else here. I assume that it was in response to Gryphen's words about how, when it comes to the internet, attention spans are short so people might now be able to make it through a 4+ page online article. :)
ReplyDeleteSomething I've never understood is why can I who lived the first 18 years of my life under segregation not find it in my heart to hate anyone, but there are others who would take one look at me, draw all kinds of inaccurate conclusions, and hate me on sight? It would seem that if anyone were to be entitled to hate anyone, it would be me. None of the whites who would hate me on sight ever went through what I have gone through in my life. It doesn't seem that the whites who exhibit this type of behavior and call themselves Christians are reading the same Bible that I am reading.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what is wrong with these people that would make them hate their fellow citizens for no reason?
I have worked for everything I have. I have never been unemployed. I mind my own business. I am open and receptive to everyone. I have never lived in the ghetto. I have had health insurance my entire life. Neither myself nor my parents have ever been welfare recipients. I raised my child to respect others and educate herself. She has a college degree. I pose no threat to these people and would do nothing to hurt them. There is nothing that they have that I want to "take" from them. I have never looked upon my vote for Obama as being different than all of the votes I cast for presidential candidates before 2008. I'm a retired high school teacher, for gosh sakes! I am more similar to them than I am different from them!
Did I ask what their problem is?
I have not heard one person on the left even attempt to use race as an issue to win elections, yet, all I hear is that the people on the left are racists. I never even think of what race I am until someone on the right brings it to my attention. Most of the time I'm just Margie.
There is definitely something seriously wrong with these folks.
But as I stood around, I had a young man stop by and talk to me for a second. He said he was in the military, and that he was "incognito" because the unspoken understanding was that his fellow servicemembers probably do not appreciate our side of the aisle the way they do the others.
ReplyDeleteHe spoke for a minute on being there, and then he pointed at my Taliban sign, and he said this:
Yeah, man, you know, I think you're absolutely right. I've met [the Taliban], and they are exactly alike.
I was a little stunned, so I asked him if he had gone overseas and served. He said he had in fact fought in Afghanistan, and the similarities could not be denied.
My brother and I thanked him for his service and he walked off.
****
What does that say about the state of the Republican Party these days?
A young man, in the military, who has actually engaged in combat with the actual Taliban in Afghanistan told me that my sign was appropriate because the groups were alike.
To have a member of the US Armed Forces tell me that he had fought the Taliban and that my sign was on the mark...speaks volumes to me.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/10/3/907376/-10.2.10GOP-as-American-TalibanConfirmed!
annie -- I was talking about the comment section at the VV piece, not here
ReplyDelete- kellygrrrl
It is scary...and I think to lump it all as just "redneck white Americans' is selling the problem short. I have seen my fair share of Rednecks. I think the Tea Party attitude includes more than just the redneck population. This article was disturbing on so many levels but only as far as it accurately depicts what is happening in our world today.
ReplyDeleteMy seventh grader came home this week explaining that one of his teachers has been suspended. It seems the teacher was more than a little upset that a child in her class did not do his homework. In front of her class of 12 year old students, she chastised the child saying, "What's the matter? Too busy picking cotton?"
My head is still spinning. To think that in this day and age someone would dare to utter such a thing...and knowing it was a teacher speaking to a child makes my blood boil that much more. That kind of hate runs deep and it fuels the fires beneath the Tea Party movement.
It's time to get some fire hoses out.
-Libby