[lbo-talk] Left wing loathing for the working class (Was Re: Zizek on normalization of torture)

[John Thornton]

andie nachgeborenen wrote:
> There seems to be a whole lot of left wing arrogance
> and condescension going around. You guys really hate
> the working class, don't you? There _are_ really
> privileged Americans, and most of them are white, but
> they are not anywhere near 35% of the population, and
> they are far too sophisticated to listen to Rush or
> watch Faux. Those people think that Rush-Faux are
> crude and vulgar. They read the NYT, the WSJ, the FT,
> watch CNN, and listen to NPR because they think
> commercials are crass. The 20 million or so in Rush's
> audience (more like 10% of Americans, btw) and the
> however many millions who watch Faux may be bigots,
> but they sure as shoot ain't privileged. They work for
> lowish wages and live on the edge of Chapter 7, not in
> a bubble of happy privilege. You can annoy them if you
> want, but maybe it would be better if you tried to
> organize them. That would really annoy the ones who
> are really living in that privileged bubble.

Privilege is relative.
A job at UPS, as an insurance agent, or even at AutoZone looks fairly 
privileged to those living on a reservation with no job prospects.
White privilege is quite real. The bubble is bigger than you seem to 
suggest. Being on the edge of Chapter 7 does not exclude one.
If you think less than 35% of Americans are privileged from the 
perspective of the bottom 35% you are quite mistaken.
If you think less than 35% of Americans are privileged from the 
perspective of 50% of the worlds population you are delusional.

That stated, too many whites vote against their own self interests but 
this doesn't make me hate them. It does confuse the hell out of me however.
I have no idea how to reach them. In almost all one on one conversations 
it's pretty easy to get them to admit to very progressive ideas.
How to get them to act on them is beyond me.

John Thornton