In search of the American man

2017-09-19T17:32:00+00:00

TL/DR - the Basket of Deplorables tack having run into some (temporary) difficulties, they're back to their What's the Matter with Kansas tack.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hot-takes-are-written-by-the-winners/

Have you heard much recently about the white working class? If not, then you haven't been paying attention to the pundits, a profession currently obsessed with divining their motives, parsing their logic, and blaming them for the sorry state of politics in the Western world.

And why not? The white working class is responsible for Donald Trump - just look at how he cleaned up in Appalachia during the primaries! They, or at least people like them, gave us Brexit, which caused even American media folk to convulse in despair, partly because this overseas event is somehow an indicator that Trump can win.

We think to ourselves: what will these idiots do next? What do they really want? How much of it is their fault? How much of it is ours?

Is drug addiction to blame? The decline of family and religion? Or what about neoliberalism, the retreat of the welfare state and the return of rapacious capitalism? Maybe they're just racist. Maybe it's a mix of all this, a bouillabaisse of grievances both real and imagined that just might spell the end of the global projects so beloved by elites.

Regardless, the white working class has captured the imagination of journalists, who have come to talk about them like colonial administrators would talk about a primitive inland tribe that interferes with the construction of a jungle railway: They must be pacified until history kills them off.

Just about all the mainstream punditry concerning the white working class, from the left and the right, fits this description. The elites (and if you write for a living, you're a damn elite) all seem to be talking about a people who seem vaguely alien. There's an anthropological quality to it, like when the New York Times' David Brooks pledges to leave New York more often, living among the natives in order to better understand their dysfunction.

The reporters and pundits cloistered along the coasts look upon the white working class with a mix of fascination and disdain. The tribe's beliefs, savage as they are, can be excused somewhat ("you know, free trade sure did kill a lot of their jobs") or simply mocked ("these jerks don't realize how good they've got it"). In either case, it's easy to see we are all writing about people we can't fully empathize with.

Imnotmrabut · 2017-09-19T18:55:07+00:00

In search of the American man

I believe he was last seen cowering in a coffee bar in Chippenham. Well, that's what Germain Greer claims.

Why I hitchhiked the Rust Belt in search of the American man - The state of American masculinity is in flux as blue-collar jobs vanish.

I do find it odd how American "Femininity" seems to be unaffected by change. Does that mean it has always been hardwired to be as nutty as the present day feminuts? P¬))

Title	In search of the American man
Author	xenocidaltendencies
Upvotes	5
Comments	2
Date	September 19, 2017 5:22 PM UTC (8 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/714j13/in_search_of_the_american_man/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/in-search-of-the-american-man.914143 https://theredarchive.com/post/914143

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