The shame of stupidity

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The shame of stupidity

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2018 Feb 19, 10:49am 10,334 views 45 comments

“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.

Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”

― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Perhaps it is only Republican shame and Democratic hubris which separate our political parties. Our school system from the beginning inculcates embarrassment and self-doubt in the "dumber" students, who may or may not actually be dumb, but in any case start out with the disadvantage of shame repeatedly imprinted on their fragile egos as small children: they are not as good as the better students.

Academic achievement is a strong predictor of financial success, but conversely, the financial success of your parents means that you will very likely enjoy academic success. Grades get you money, but money buys grades, if only through better teachers, better facilities, and parents who know the system. The Ivy League, the high church of academic and financial success, wants desperately to believe it is a meritocracy when it most obviously is not. Being a "legacy" candidate (your family attended the school) dramatically increases your chance of admissions. And so Ivy League schools desperately fall over themselves to admit a certain number of highly visible poor blacks to "prove" that they are not closed elitist institutions which serve mostly to maintain the power of those that already have power. But they are, they know it, and it gnaws at them. The gnawing worry that they do not deserve their position compels them to despise those that they beat in the rigged contest of life in America - mainly the white working classes, who have little value as tokens of equality because as members of the majority, they blend in and are just not as visible when boosted into the ranks of the elite. They fear that the white working classes will one day call an end to the charade, and so they label those classes with the worst things they can think of: racist, Nazi, but most of all stupid. These proclamations of hatred for the white working class are also known as "virtue signaling". Their calls for gun control, at a primal level, are simply a reflection of their fear that the majority will see how badly they've been scammed and physically threaten to revolt. Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris. ("It is human nature to hate those whom we have injured.")

The elitists have nothing to worry about in America though, since the national motto is "If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?" Meaning that the poor will continue to blame themselves, and not the elite.

So we have insecurity on both sides, where those who are losing from globalization secretly blame themselves for the closing of the factory where they worked, thinking that it was just because they are their co-workers were not as good as the Chinese, when the primary cause was actually that the Ivy League-educated executives of the company that owned the factory wanted to get big bonuses for reducing the cost of labor by moving production to a place with more desperate workers and no pollution laws.

All political dialogue is only a stream of rationalizations intended to make one's self feel better about his insecurities ("Did I really deserve to go to that university through my own merit?" vs "Why don't I ever seem to do well in school? Am I stupid?"). This stream of rationalizations is not capable of convincing anyone of anything, because at some primal level we all know that it's about belonging to a group that tells you you are a valued member and not a piece of shit.

It is ironic that the Democratic Party, historically the party of the workers, has become a tool of the elite to maintain their own righteous but wobbly sense of self-worth, while the Republican Party, historically the party of the elite, now represents the working poor.

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17 bob2356 2018 Feb 20, 12:26pm

someone else says

It's true that leftist oligarchs who own the media did elect Trump, but not intentionally.

Care to name all the leftist oligarchs that own the media? Start with Murdoch.

MisdemeanorRebel 2018 Feb 20, 12:36pm

bob2356 says

Care to name all the leftist oligarchs that own the media? Start with Murdoch.

How about the Salzburgers, Carlos Slim, Jeff "We need Free Trade, Illegals, but I now tag my warehouse workers and regulate their bathroom trip to the milisecond" Bezos

Remember Ted Turner? He is the second largest private landowner in the USA.

A Brown Graduate, by the way.

NuttBoxer 2018 Feb 20, 3:27pm

Patrick says

It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor

I think he was being theoretical without cause. Try sleeping outside, or finding a place that will allow you to use their bathroom, or just sitting down somewhere, but do it looking dirty, and you'll find out very quickly that you're breaking the law. Because no one is allowed to do these things in America? No. Because no one poor is allowed to do these things in America.

Al_Sharpton_for_President 2018 Feb 20, 8:31pm

Consider the plight of the poor non-colored person who aspires for higher education. Gets squeezed by wealthy legacies, and also colored people with inferior qualifications who may in fact be from wealthier background.

lostand confused 2018 Feb 20, 8:40pm

willywonka says

Consider the plight of the poor non-colored person who aspires for higher education. Gets squeezed by wealthy legacies, and also colored people with inferior qualifications who may in fact be from wealthier background

And then told he has white privilege .

Patrick 2018 Feb 20, 8:56pm

lostand confused says

And then told he has white privilege .

And told he has white privilege while the death rates for whites is increasing, and dramatically so for poor whites:

23 anonymous 2018 Feb 21, 1:02am

Does your deleting my posts have anything to do with the title of this thread ?

24 anonymous 2018 Feb 21, 1:02am

Patrick says

while the Republican Party, historically the party of the elite, now represents the working poor.

So there are people that actually think this ? C'mon, Really ?

(two comments I made this morning about this were deleted)

I can only assume that it's because of some kind of weird political correctness. Trumpian political correctness. You know the kind.

I'll ask again. Tell me one policy republicans have followed through on for the working poor. I get it that they need the votes of working poor, but that's not the point.

CBOEtrader 2018 Feb 21, 3:10am

anon_08dee says

Tell me one policy republicans have followed through on for the working poor.

TPP, the wall, tax cuts... the entire MAGA vision is helping the working poor. Even Trumps anti PC tweets are adored by most working poor who are the victims of the "white privilege" SJW racism as well as by a lot of POC who are tired of the low exoectations of soft racism.

Trump is what the democrats used to be back in the 60's.

26 anonymous 2018 Feb 21, 5:11am

CBOEtrader says

anon_08dee says
Tell me one policy republicans have followed through on for the working poor.

TPP, the wall, tax cuts... the entire MAGA vision is helping the working poor. Even Trumps anti PC tweets are adored by most working poor who are the victims of the "white privilege" SJW racism as well as by a lot of POC who are tired of the low exoectations of soft racism.

Trump is what the democrats used to be back in the 60's.

I’m starting to think people actually believe this. WOW

CBOEtrader 2018 Feb 21, 5:36am

errc says

I’m starting to think people actually believe this. WOW

I'm glad we agree. We'll redpill that CNN brainwashing out of you yet :)

28 anonymous 2018 Feb 21, 7:35am

CBOEtrader says

TPP, the wall, tax cuts... the entire MAGA vision is helping the working poor.

TPP ? This one is complicated, and can be marketed as pro worker, based on the idea that TPP was too pro china. I don't by it. The only legit criticism of TPP is that it was not done in a transparent public way.

The wall ? Well obviously undocumented workers aren't part of the "working poor." But they are the poorest American workers. Sure, get rid of undocumented workers and pay more for picking crops, construction, nannies etc. I'm sure those costs will trickle up to raise wages for the working middle class.

Tax cuts ? Hahaha. This is going to be a nightmare for the deficit.

THe entire MAGA vision ? It's a bunch of nonsense. Campaign rhetoric, and for too many it means "make America white again." Not going to happen.

29 anonymous 2018 Feb 21, 7:36am

CBOEtrader says

Trump is what the democrats used to be back in the 60's.

I don't recall any Democrat in the 1960s being in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy, abandoning all environmental regulation, rolling back bank and Wall St. regulations, increasing military spending to ridiculous levels.

Can you remind me which Dems you think he resembles?

Patrick 2018 Feb 21, 8:30am

CBOEtrader says

anon_08dee says
Tell me one policy republicans have followed through on for the working poor.

TPP, the wall, tax cuts... the entire MAGA vision is helping the working poor. Even Trumps anti PC tweets are adored by most working poor who are the victims of the "white privilege" SJW racism as well as by a lot of POC who are tired of the low exoectations of soft racism.

Trump is what the democrats used to be back in the 60's.

Absolutely. The theme of his presidency is helping the working poor of all races, especially poor whites who are reviled by the SJW racists. And he really seems to mean it.

Trump is the best Democratic president we've had in decades.

Goran_K 2018 Feb 21, 8:37am

rando says

Absolutely. The theme of his presidency is helping the working poor of all races, especially poor whites who are reviled by the SJW racists. And he really seems to mean it.

Trump is the best Democratic president we've had in decades.

I've been saying this since Trump was on the campaign. He's NOT a Republican. He's not even all that conservative, he donated to Kamala Harris's campaign for fucks sake. Just look at his daughter Ivanka, read what she writes or says. Does she seem right leaning?

People watch too much CNN/MSNBC, and believe the BS. They don't care for facts, they just want to be force fed their narrative.

MisdemeanorRebel 2018 Feb 21, 8:46am

anon_8f378 says

I don't recall any Democrat in the 1960s being in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy

JFK pushed to cut taxes in his 1963 State of the Union Address, it was considered and rejected later that year, and then an amended version passed Congress after his death. LBJ signed it in February 1964.. The Wealthiest got a double digit percentage tax cut.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_Act_of_1964

Unemployment fell while revenue actually increased in 1964-1965.

Patrick 2018 Feb 21, 8:52am

Goran_K says

People watch too much CNN/MSNBC, and believe the BS. They don't care for facts, they just want to be force fed their narrative.

I'm getting a handle on the psychology a little bit more, and it really is an example of the Latin phrase: Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris. ("It is human nature to hate those whom we have injured.")

The masses of working poor have been trampled by the Ivy League SJW globalist crowd to the degree that they are literally dying in large numbers because their jobs were exported and cheap obedient illegal scab labor was imported, with opioids liberally sprinkled in. And then they are called "privileged" while they are dying, to add the ultimate insult to the ultimate injury.

The SJW crowd has some dim realization that they are to a large degree responsible for the mass murder of the working classes, and they are afraid that their own bad karma is coming back to bite them in the form of Donald Trump. So they are afraid, and fear is pretty much the same thing as hate.

The gun control debate is fundamentally driven by this low level argument, covered up by rationalizations:

SJW: They are going to figure out that we are the ones killing them with our globalist policies. We have to disarm them all, now!
Working class: Ain't gonna happen.

Goran_K 2018 Feb 21, 8:55am

rando says

SJW: They are going to figure out that we are the ones killing them with our globalist policies. We have to disarm them all, now!
Working class: Ain't gonna happen.

This can't end well. I really hope it doesn't happen in my lifetime (or my kids lifetimes), but there will be a backlash, and bodies are going to drop.

MisdemeanorRebel 2018 Feb 21, 9:07am

someone else says

The masses of working poor have been trampled by the Ivy League SJW globalist crowd to the degree that they are literally dying in large numbers because their jobs were exported and cheap obedient illegal scab labor was imported, with opioids liberally sprinkled in. And then they are called "privileged" while they are dying, to add the ultimate insult to the ultimate injury.

Great Post

Their willingness to heap love upon non-native poor people is probably an attempt at compensation.

NDrLoR 2018 Feb 21, 9:07am

TwoScoopsPlissken says

Unemployment fell while revenue actually increased in 1964-1965.

And inflation was practically zero or close to it in the mid-60's until Great Society spending took off in 1966. 1970's horrendous by comparison 6.2% sent Nixon into a panic from which came wage and price controls sometime in 1971. They worked so poorly that Phase II was implemented to no avail. They were removed in 1973 and with the OPEC oil embargo in October, 1974 was set to experience double digit inflation every month, setting the stage for the rest of the 70's.

37 anonymous 2018 Feb 21, 9:11am

TwoScoopsPlissken says

FK pushed to cut taxes in his 1963 State of the Union Address, it was considered and rejected later that year, and then an amended version passed Congress after his death. LBJ signed it in February 1964.. The Wealthiest got a double digit percentage tax cut.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_Act_of_1964

Unemployment fell while revenue actually increased in 1964-1965.

lol--tax rates were 20% - 91% before the cut, and 14% - 65% after.

I don't think that is at all analogous to what Trump passed.

Patrick 2018 Feb 21, 9:13am

And the SJW crowd is funded by billionaires for the simple reason that all SJW policies are all directly in line with getting yet more money and power for billionaires. Billionaires need to divide working people by race, drive down the native birth rate with feminism, and aggressively promote "diversity" of immigrants to weaken all form of civic engagement:

https://www.amren.com/news/2007/07/a_diversity_div/

The only thing more powerful than a billionaire is a national government. So billionaires want to weaken national governments and promote globalism. In this way, they win the battle of capital against labor.

MisdemeanorRebel 2018 Feb 21, 9:17am

anon_8f378 says

lol--tax rates were 20% - 91% before the cut, and 14% - 65% after.

Your assertion was no Democrats wanted to cut taxes in the 60s:

anon_8f378 says
I don't recall any Democrat in the 1960s being in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy

The Fact is: The Democratic Congress passed tax cuts, and a Democratic President signed them. Therefore, you were just flat wrong.

As for the top rate being cut from 91% to 65% isn't a big deal?! That's a massive cut!

40 mell 2018 Feb 21, 9:22am

someone else says

Trump is the best Democratic president we've had in decades.

Nice quote! That will drive some cognitive dissonance forced by logic into the resisters and make their heads explode lol

Bd6r 2018 Feb 21, 11:00am

Patrick says

And the SJW crowd is funded by billionaires for the simple reason that all SJW policies are all directly in line with getting yet more money and power for billionaires. Billionaires need to divide working people by race, drive down the native birth rate with feminism, and aggressively promote "diversity" of immigrants to weaken all form of civic engagement:

Another way of saying this is that "they" (meaning billionaires/state functionaries) want to control everything, and this is done via SJW ideas. An individual these days is controlled via private monopolies and insane, micromanaging state rules. One's kids can't walk around unsupervised any more...can't talk without fear of being fired...no honest discussion of anything...etc etc etc. The end outcome is Soviet Union collapsing - they tried to micromanage/control everything.

CBOEtrader 2018 Feb 21, 11:39am

anon_8f378 says

I don't think that is at all analogous to what Trump passed.

The world today isnt analogous of the world 55 years ago. The concept is the same. Any income tax cuts will be "for the wealthy". "Tax cuts for the wealthy" is a simple minded propaganda line designed to keep the peasants in line.

JFK today would be in favor of Trump's platform. So would WC. Yeah, some D's such as Obama and Carter would disagree. So IMO the successful D presidents of the past are more akin to Trump than Reagan/Bush/Jr.

Trump is the champion of middle america that the democrats once were.

43 anonymous 2018 Feb 21, 12:34pm

When did people get so off kilter that democrat is synonymous with SJWs ?

I know a lot of democrats and can only think of one that's a little aligned with SJW thinking.

44 anonymous 2018 Feb 21, 12:34pm

drB6 says

Patrick says
And the SJW crowd is funded by billionaires

To suggest that George Soros funds SJWs is worse than saying the Koch brothers fund right wing fascists.

This is hardly SJWs (for the most part. Unless you're deep in the brietbart, Fox bubble.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/business/george-soros-open-society-foundations.html

45 mell 2018 Feb 21, 1:41pm

anon_9f75b says

To suggest that George Soros funds SJWs is worse than saying the Koch brothers fund right wing fascists.

No, it's exactly what Soros does. The eastern European governments are coming after him. The Koch brothers do not fund fascist, but mainly libertarian ideas. No need to make up things.

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The shame of stupidity

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