Part Two of a Few. One reader asked about why the American public was so divided on this. Part of that involves an indoctrination process — the media has not done a good job covering the issue; it’s been a propaganda war.
The best coverage I saw was on the Daily Show. I agree that Olbermann and Maddow could have done a lot better breaking down the issue, though I saw a riveting special comment by Keith that blew the doors off of the issue. I’ll see if I can find it; I am sure it’s on his website: it was the one about visiting his father in the hospital.
Is anyone familiar with the old Bob Dylan song, “Only Pawn in their Game”? Here’s the song on Lala.com (you get one play) and here’s the page on Bob’s site (you get part of the song and the authorized lyrics). Here’s the germane part, which describes the class warfare created by conning poor white folk into thinking they have it better than poor black folk, to the detriment of both:
A South politician preaches to the poor white man,
“You got more than the blacks, don’t complain.
You’re better than them, you been born with white skin,” they explain.
And the Negro’s name
Is used it is plain
For the politician’s gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game.
During the 2008 campaign the Republicans were raising hell about this idea that Obama was going to “spread the wealth around.” It really worked quite well, as far as it went: it was a fabulous fear tactic among the white poor. One day I heard my friend Dominick (of Dominick’s Cafe) talking to one of his older, conservative relatives who was upset about this. She was angry that the wealth was going to get spread around. He said to her: “Louise, you work in a hospital. You make $12 an hour. What are you worried about?” We both knew what it was.
This issue was one of Dominick’s favorite talking points during the campaign. He was astonished that anyone would fall for such bullshit.