Regarding the second footnote, there’s a lesson here for a particular contrarian pundit who recently equated being a registered Democrat to being progressive.
Well said,John Stoehr. And why should people be surprised at classism in the USA. It's been here from the beginning. White Europeans considered themselves better than the native peoples who had lived here for thousands of years. And they considered themselves better than Africans they kidnapped and brought here to serve white masters. White people from Europe who were considered by upper class Europeans to be of lower classes continued in those lower classes when they arrived here often as indentured servants. And one thing that came to mind as I reflected on your excellent piece is that song: "Deutchland, Deutchland, uber alles".
There is no greater illustration of Calvinism than the power to control our government wielded by the obscenely rich. In America, as in the very beginning, there will always be The Elect and The Damned. The only difference in the modern way of Calvinistic thinking is that a person can become obscenely rich and not born into it. Then, these obscenely rich morph into The Elect and view the common working men and women are just pawns.
I think much of the white resentment and anger spring from this dynamic, but the scaffolding of these powerful feelings is discontent with the status of NOT being obscenely rich. Wanting to identify with the OR means they will listen to the likes of Donny Deutsch. Or all the personalities at Fox News.
The aspiration of being obscenely rich overrides the identity of working class. How many of those charged with the January Issurection were obscenely rich? They were the pawns then and many are still being manipulated like pawns.
Being ordered back to work was to be expected. That doesn't mean it's right, healthy, or showing foresight.
Thank you for putting into words what I have been feeling for years about Deutsch in particular and many white male pundits in general. I have ongoing arguments with loved ones about this guy, and now I have your essay as ammunition. I usually say I am more interested in the opinion of the grocery checker at my local Ralphs than I am in the opinion of Donnie Deutsch. He has absolutely nothing to recommend him except his exceptional white male privilege.
Totally agree and much the same when I saw Donny Deutsch's comments on a Twitter post. Compare the benefits European workers gets compared to our American workers - including unionized workers. Add to that American workers are tethered to a job with family health insurance whereas European workers need not worry about that if they change jobs or start their own business. American workers are fucking heroes and the elite - Republican or Democrat - had better understand that.
Among other things I find difficult in even taking Deutsch seriously is (as you described in your piece) he received as an inheritance most of what he is supposedly famous for having created. “Branding Guru”
In addition, he evinces contempt for working people as such—not as co-harborers of white grievances, or as fellow travelers among male chauvinists—but as workers. Workers appreciate the flexibility, where possible, of being empowered to do their best work which sometimes occurs with greater regularity, from home. For people with many kinds of disabilities, their disabilities can be better managed at home than in the standard workplace. For many people of color, being able to focus on their tasks without feeling the need to prove their social and cultural acceptability on a daily basis frees them to be their most productive. This newly acquired awareness by workers not only of their value, but their ability to do more and thus to demand more from any employer is indeed a sign of strength, not weakness as he suggested.
As the corporate class eliminated defined pensions and invented the 401k, did they ever consider they were untethering their workforce? Probably not, but nothing would have stopped them. They thought they were being clever (cheap).
It's really rich (no pun intended) that a guy who's led a soft life not having to struggle working at a crappy job for garbage wages would lecture others for wanting to minimize dealing with that kind of mess. If he's a Democrat, that class-based arrogance does no favors of attracting voters anywhere on the political spectrum because he totally radiates insufferable elitism that Democrats are accused of.
As you say, the real problem is the acceptance of such ahole spew as fairly normal and, of course, putting on air. I assume there was no push back from his interviewer, just nodding in agreement.
Regarding the second footnote, there’s a lesson here for a particular contrarian pundit who recently equated being a registered Democrat to being progressive.
Well said,John Stoehr. And why should people be surprised at classism in the USA. It's been here from the beginning. White Europeans considered themselves better than the native peoples who had lived here for thousands of years. And they considered themselves better than Africans they kidnapped and brought here to serve white masters. White people from Europe who were considered by upper class Europeans to be of lower classes continued in those lower classes when they arrived here often as indentured servants. And one thing that came to mind as I reflected on your excellent piece is that song: "Deutchland, Deutchland, uber alles".
"The very obscenely rich have the highest contempt for normal people working for a living."
That's NOT a lie!
There is no greater illustration of Calvinism than the power to control our government wielded by the obscenely rich. In America, as in the very beginning, there will always be The Elect and The Damned. The only difference in the modern way of Calvinistic thinking is that a person can become obscenely rich and not born into it. Then, these obscenely rich morph into The Elect and view the common working men and women are just pawns.
I think much of the white resentment and anger spring from this dynamic, but the scaffolding of these powerful feelings is discontent with the status of NOT being obscenely rich. Wanting to identify with the OR means they will listen to the likes of Donny Deutsch. Or all the personalities at Fox News.
The aspiration of being obscenely rich overrides the identity of working class. How many of those charged with the January Issurection were obscenely rich? They were the pawns then and many are still being manipulated like pawns.
Being ordered back to work was to be expected. That doesn't mean it's right, healthy, or showing foresight.
Thank you for putting into words what I have been feeling for years about Deutsch in particular and many white male pundits in general. I have ongoing arguments with loved ones about this guy, and now I have your essay as ammunition. I usually say I am more interested in the opinion of the grocery checker at my local Ralphs than I am in the opinion of Donnie Deutsch. He has absolutely nothing to recommend him except his exceptional white male privilege.
Totally agree and much the same when I saw Donny Deutsch's comments on a Twitter post. Compare the benefits European workers gets compared to our American workers - including unionized workers. Add to that American workers are tethered to a job with family health insurance whereas European workers need not worry about that if they change jobs or start their own business. American workers are fucking heroes and the elite - Republican or Democrat - had better understand that.
Among other things I find difficult in even taking Deutsch seriously is (as you described in your piece) he received as an inheritance most of what he is supposedly famous for having created. “Branding Guru”
In addition, he evinces contempt for working people as such—not as co-harborers of white grievances, or as fellow travelers among male chauvinists—but as workers. Workers appreciate the flexibility, where possible, of being empowered to do their best work which sometimes occurs with greater regularity, from home. For people with many kinds of disabilities, their disabilities can be better managed at home than in the standard workplace. For many people of color, being able to focus on their tasks without feeling the need to prove their social and cultural acceptability on a daily basis frees them to be their most productive. This newly acquired awareness by workers not only of their value, but their ability to do more and thus to demand more from any employer is indeed a sign of strength, not weakness as he suggested.
As the corporate class eliminated defined pensions and invented the 401k, did they ever consider they were untethering their workforce? Probably not, but nothing would have stopped them. They thought they were being clever (cheap).
Loved the piece today! And this thread. Thanks for venting, John!!
It's really rich (no pun intended) that a guy who's led a soft life not having to struggle working at a crappy job for garbage wages would lecture others for wanting to minimize dealing with that kind of mess. If he's a Democrat, that class-based arrogance does no favors of attracting voters anywhere on the political spectrum because he totally radiates insufferable elitism that Democrats are accused of.
As you say, the real problem is the acceptance of such ahole spew as fairly normal and, of course, putting on air. I assume there was no push back from his interviewer, just nodding in agreement.
Hmm. The Very Obscenely Rich, the VOR. Yeah, because then the VOR-techs are a sub-category. :)