Liza
> From: kelley at pulpculture.org
> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 08:56:29 -0500
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Radical Left Critique Of Nation Article
>
> At 10:49 PM 11/25/03 -0800, joanna bujes wrote:
>> Why do I never see stuff like this in radical papers? No one can bother to
>> crunch the numbers? Anything short of total revolution is useless? What?
>
> At the booster club meeting, I had the joy of listening to parents gripe
> about having to send "their" money to the entire county under a school
> funding centralization scheme that is supposedly also designed to mitigate
> segregation. You know what their tax rate is? 1%
>
> You don't know how hard it was for me to shut my mouth.
>
> The job of the booster club, we were informed, was to raise money for the
> extras we NEED under the new funding centralization plan. There are two
> reasons why we need to raise money for team sneaks (at $150 a piece; they
> fell apart after a week), warm up suits, practice suits, etc. 1]. It's
> about team spirit and solidarity. If you look good on the court, you'll
> play good. You'll play even better if you're looking waaaaay better than
> those "other" teams that don't have warm up jerseys and must provide their
> own sneak. Besides, we shouldn't have to deny ourself and wear hairshirts
> just because we have money, honey! 2]. Those extras will entice the more
> talented kids from the poorer schools.
>
> I was livid.
>
> I don't know how they're going to dupe next year's potential recruits. Once
> everyone hears about the rampant racism, no self-respecting kid will want
> to attend that school. The other day, they showed a film about slavery and
> Jim Crow. Three students whooped it up when they showed footage of blacks
> being beaten bloody, their heads cracked open against the curb. "Beat that
> n-word!" they shouted. Heee Hooo. How funny! Now, they were a minority, but
> the overt racism runs rampant. That such a racist incident was tolerated,
> that no one spoke up--I spent the night literally nauseated.
>
> These people have the _nerve_ to resent the talent that "those other" kids
> have. Like, somehow, it isn't fair that poor kids play better. Which means
> they don't even understand why poorer kids play better. It's not just about
> physical capacity, but drive. You don't get drive living in a world where
> you have plenty of choices, almost all of them leading to a college
> education and a professional career and none of them requiring that you
> practice for hours 'til your body's a sweaty pulp or keep running suicides
> up the court on a bruised ankle because this is your ONLY ticket out. Why
> do any of that unless you feel that you _have_ to? Not surprisingly, the
> talent pool shrivels up pretty quickly among more well-to-do kids.
>
> And, even if you got rid of the overt racism (fat chance), the poorer kids
> will still have to deal with the ratcheted up consumption juggernaut: buy,
> buy, buy; more, more, more; now, now, now. Anyone who doesn't live like
> they do is judged morally inferior.
>
> It't the parochial lack of recognition that anyone lives differently than
> they do. I feel extremely sorry for the people still living in their old
> neighborhoods, but sending their kids to this school. No one has considered
> that these folks have different lives. They do not have four cars in the
> family. They don't have one spouse at home. They don't have jobs that
> enable them to run out in the middle of the day to pick up Tyrone.
>
> These parents have 2 hrs. added on to their daily commute, just so their
> kid can make practices twice a day. Not one person in that booster club
> meeting thought about the fact that maybe defraying their transportation
> costs -- or heaven forbid, giving them a ride home themselves--might be
> worthwhile. Fuck, you can buy Sammy a car, why not buy Juan a car. _I'd_
> buy Juan a car before I ever thought about replacing my 13 y.o. beast.
>
> Rilly. I sat there becoming increasingly steamed listening to them boo hoo,
> make snide comments about the poorer schools, and whine about how it just
> wasn't fair that they were getting a free ride on _their_ money.
>
> We're talking the kind of $ where, I crap you negative, the kids go to
> church and get sponsorships for a fund raiser at $5 and $10 bucks a pop for
> a shoot-a-thon. IOW, without blinking an eyelash, they were shelling out a
> $400 - $800. Individual kids brought in thousands of dollars each. (By
> contrast, in our neighborhood, people were signing up for .20 - .25 cents a
> shot! The median household income for people 35-55 is 90k -- over 3 times
> the median household income of my old neighborhood, slightly more than
> twice that of my current neighborhood.
>
> Not too long ago, we had a discussion about disparities in income and
> wealth. Someone at LBO said that she's not so concerned about these huge
> disparities since at least people have enough money to buy a $120 - $150k
> home. She was concerned that some people have _no_ housing. It's not that
> some people buy $450 minolos, but that some people can't afford any shoes.
>
> Like Joanna, I don't get it. Ok, so Juan's family can afford a 6 y.o.
> mini-wagon and maybe another car. Why does Juan have to be completely
> immiserated for it to register on the lefty richter scale? In the name of
> what? Not challenging or criticizing the consumption juggernaut? In the
> name of not sounding "resentful" or "jealous"? In the name of not inciting
> feelings of "guilt"? Oh piss off.
>
> I get the idea that you're supposed to fight for the revo, that forking
> over money to the state-based social welfare is just empowering the state,
> yadda yadda. But, the fact is, this disparity is what helps drive the
> system. It greases the wheels. It is what makes it all natural, normal, and
> unquestionable. Hegemony pizza, as we used to say in grad school!
>
> The parochial sense of entitlement and snobbery exacerbates the problem.
> There is a continual upping the ante, where the consumption standard is the
> finest boutiques and department stores. Those who shop at Target or Penny's
> or MallWart are just morally inferior, members of the great unwashed who
> must be kept out by erecting 9 ft brick walls, guard shacks, and private
> security patrols. Because, dog knows, it wouldn't do to let "those" people
> get access to your private ball fields or, heck, swim at the YMCA located
> in the depths of your gated community since we all know people who make
> $145,000 a year need their own flippin' YMCA! Christian Association, my
> furry ass.
>
> Even in countries like Sweden, people try to get out of paying their taxes
> with bartering schemes. They, too, resent giving "their" money to "those"
> people. They, too, don't see how _they_ benefit. Just as these people don't
> see how they would never ever be able to buy private school tuition for
> _both_ Caitlyn and Troy for a mere $3000/yr. Even if they tripled their tax
> rate, they couldn't send their kids to private school for $9k a year.
>
> I guess making sure that everyone in a putative democracy receives a decent
> education is highway fuckin' robbery. And I guess paying a lousy, say, $20k
> income tax and school tax/year would just be unfathomable because, hey!,
> Troy might have to drive a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder instead of a 2003
> Cadillac Escalade. Oh the tragedy, the pain!
>
> Kelley
>
>
>
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