Poor White Republicans

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

LP:
> It's fear and frustration.  Frustration at not having more, 
> and fear at having 
> it taken away.  Wojtek, it is true that what is poor in the 
> U.S. is well off 
> in Nigeria or Bangla Desh or Colombia, but we in the U.S. do 
> not use the 
> average Nigerian as the standard of reference.  Our standard 
> of reference is 
> the professional white two-income urban U.S. family.  Not the 
> median such 
> family, but probably the 80th percentile of the professional 
> white two-income 
> urban family distribution.  That's our reference group.

I understand the reference group thing - after all, I have a PhD is
sociology.  What I do not understand is the intensity and prevalence of
hatred and bigotry in this country.

For the past few years I spent some time in Africa, inlcuding South
Africa, with the terrible  hisotry of racism.  I just cannot imagine
what the Blacks must have felt seeing the suburban  "garden of Edens"
around, say, Jo'burg in which the whites lived.  It must have been their
"reference group" at lest for some.  What I find surprising was the
level of civility with witch South Africans talked about their country
and apertheid.  The closest thing  to vengence I encountered was the
resentment shown by a cab driver in Cape Town when he explained verious
vestiges of seggregation 9e'g separet walkways to the RR station).  Why
they can South Africans be so civil, even given their history, and
people in this country cannot?

Wojtek