The Rising Fuss

Part of what's coming back around is racism, which is really just another manifestation of the kind of class-bashing that's gone on in this country from the beginning.  (the whole concept of Racial Difference was invented in the Antebellum South as a handy mechanism for keeping poor white trash separate from the blackfolk, which helped keep everybody focused on something other than how they were all slaves to the interests of the landowners in one way or another)

And we're seeing it blossom all over again with this continuing beat-down of working stiffs who put in longer hours (and soon maybe, longer than the usual 50 years on the job), who are being made to feel they're just not worthy of anything but the meagering crumbs left over when the Executive Committee's done with their latest circle jerk - oops, I mean spreadsheet reviews that indicate there's another 3/10ths of a penny per share in dividends to squeeze out of the labor force.

Melissa Harris-Perry:

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Something else that keeps popping into my head:  Take a good look at a few movies from the 1970s sometime, and pay a little attention to the background they were filmed against. Try The Taking Of Pelham 123 or Harry And Tonto - movies that weren't just trying to show the blight, but were supposedly showing "The Real America" at the time.  Any of it look familiar?

The underlying point is to keep us thinking, "Things are kinda shitty, and it seems like I'm gettin' fucked over pretty bad, but maybe it's partly my own fault because I'm not working hard enough or I'm not smart enough, or I wasn't prescient enough to see what was coming; but hey - at least I ain't black".

I dunno - maybe I see threads and connections that aren't really there.  Maybe I'm just being paranoid.  But I don't think it's unreasonable to expect people who play politics at any level of any real consequence to know enough to look for ways to consolidate their own positions and to try to keep their opposition from uniting against them.

Besides, I may be a little paranoid but that doesn't mean nobody's out to get me.