I’m feeling a tad under the weather, so here’s some stuff to tide you over.
And what do the phrases “under the weather” and “tide you over” really mean? They make no sense.
Well, anyhoo — couple of big anniversaries this week. Tomorrow is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. That’s seven score and ten years ago if you want to be formal about it.
And, of course, Friday is the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination. Get ready for a Kennedy Assassination Truther Festival.
A couple of articles — see “America’s angriest white men: Up close with racism, rage and Southern supremacy” by Michael Kimmel. It’s mostly what you all already know, but the author makes one point that is intriguing —
In the United States, class is often a proxy for race. When politicians speak of the “urban poor,†we know it’s a code for black people. When they talk about “welfare queens,†we know the race of that woman driving the late-model Cadillac. In polite society, racism remains hidden behind a screen spelled CLASS.
On the extreme Right, by contrast, race is a proxy for class. Among the white supremacists, when they speak of race consciousness, defending white people, protesting for equal rights for white people, they actually don’t mean all white people. They don’t mean Wall Street bankers and lawyers, though they are pretty much entirely white and male. They don’t mean white male doctors, or lawyers, or architects, or even engineers. They don’t mean the legions of young white hipster guys, or computer geeks flocking to the Silicon Valley, or the legions of white preppies in their boat shoes and seersucker jackets “interning†at white-shoe law firms in major cities. Not at all. They mean middle-and working-class white people. Race consciousness is actually class consciousness without actually having to “see†class. “Race blindness†leads working-class people to turn right; if they did see class, they’d turn left and make common cause with different races in the same economic class.
Finally, see “How We Got Obamacare to Work.” In short, states have shown us that the ACA works just fine if right-wing nutjobs just get out of the way and let it work.
‘“Race blindness†leads working-class people to turn right; if they did see class, they’d turn left and make common cause with different races in the same economic class.’
The only thing I’d clarify about what he wrote, is that they don’t lead themselves to the right.
They are led there by the rich and powerful, by wedge issues.
And beyond just race, the rich and powerful use misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, and/or religion – singly, and if and when needed, in combinations.
The route to Fascism in the USA, is through angry white males.
“Tide you over” refers to a ship waiting for the tide to rise and carry it over the bar into a harbor. “As an exuberant mounting flood shall tide us over the difficulties of our career.”
And, continuing with the nautical theme, “under the weather” originally referred to seasickness getting worse when the sea was stormy.
The Myths of ObamaCare’s ‘Failure’:
Maha, the link to “How we got ObamaCare to Work” throws a page not found error. Would love to read it.
“racism remains hidden behind a screen spelled CLASS”
Truer words were never spoken. Almost every racist I know never uses the N-word, they do not trot out the old stereo-types, yet they are just as if not more racist than the previous generation. It is just vaguely hidden if you know what to look for. The real danger here is most of these folks have convinced themselves that they are not racist, no bad behavior here, why I don’t need to change!
Let us not forget that Saturday, November 23rd is the 50th anniversary of the BBC’s first broadcast of Doctor Who.
Priorities, people!
LBJ got away clean. 🙂
Hummm, George Zimmerman arrested today for pointing a shotgun at his girlfriend. Apparently there are many “problems,” and just one solution, in George’s tiny little mind.
And what do the phrases “under the weather†and “tide you over†really mean? They make no sense.
They mean exactly what you intended then to mean. I had no problem understanding what you meant. As far as being under the weather.. maybe you need a hair of the dog that bit you.. 🙂
joanr16…Congratulation are in order for Georgie Z.. He’s going to be a dad by way of his new girlfriend.. Isn’t that swell!
What’s a “tad”?
Great explanation for under the weather and tide you over.
Swami, LBJ might have gotten away clean, but he didn’t get out of here alive.
As for Zimmerman, I wonder what his supporters are saying now. And he’s breeding. And another woman granted him entrance? Wtf?
I confess, we women can be infinitely stupid about the men we choose. When I think about the choices I made way back when I want to kick myself.
Re the Gettysburg Address – the last paragraph of the reading assignment,
“The genius of the address thus lay not in its language or in its brevity (virtues though these were), but in the new birth it gave to those who had become discouraged and wearied by democracy’s follies, and in the reminder that democracy’s survival rested ultimately in the hands of citizens who saw something in democracy worth dying for. We could use that reminder again today.”
We have a democracy, right? We have elections, so we have a democracy. Not really. When the vast majority of federal candidates from both parties have to sell out to get elected, the slender fraction in Congress with any integrity can’t possibly muster enough votes to change they system of legal graft that the Congress is married to. The graft prevents any progress on any issue where the special interests have a financial stake.
The Gettysburg Address is not dead history. “Government of the people, by the people and for the people” is dead in the United States, at least at the federal level. On this point, the majority does agree.. and this is the first problem that must be solved before any other major problem can be solved.
maha,
And ‘I confess, we men can be infinitely stupid about the women we choose. When I think about the choices I made way back when I want to kick myself.’