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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'Dying of whiteness'
TANA GANEVA
21 FEB 2019 AT 13:01 ET
Early in his book, Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing Americas Heartland, physician and social scientist Jonathan M. Metzl introduces a Tennessee man named Trevor. Trevor is 41 and dying of liver disease. He lives in a low-income housing facility and he doesnt have health insurance.
Had Trevor lived a simple thirty-nine minute drive away in neighboring Kentucky, he might have topped the list of candidates for expensive medications called polymerase inhibitors, a life-saving liver transplant, or other forms of treatment and support, Metzl writes. But Tennessee officials repeatedly blocked efforts to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
But Trevor is not mad at the states elected officials. Aint no way I would ever support Obamacare or sign up for it, he tells Metzl. I would rather die. When Metzl prods him about why hed choose death over affordable health care, Trevors answer is telling. We dont need any more government in our lives. And in any case, no way I want my tax dollars paying for Mexicans or welfare queens.
Over the course of almost a decade, Metzl crunched mortality statistics and spoke with people in the South and Midwest. He sought to find out howand whymany low-and-mid income white Americans embrace values and back politicians who institute policies that are literally killing them, from lack of health care to gun de-regulations to shoddy infrastructure. Metzl shows that from a public health perspective, the dogma propagated by Republicans is literally toxic to a majority of their constituents.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/02/dying-whiteness-trump-gop-tapped-white-americas-suicidal-crusade-maintain-white-supremacy/
Guilded Lilly
(5,591 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,693 posts)Darwin strikes again.
Aristus
(66,366 posts)If, by their stupid, self-destructive beliefs and actions, they take themselves out of the polluted voting pool, the better for the rest of us.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)What a piece of shit.
Years of RW hate radio and faux news have greatly contributed to this kind of toxic mindset.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,653 posts)Otherwise, they can take their stupid, self-destructive beliefs and actions to the grave.
uponit7771
(90,339 posts)muntrv
(14,505 posts)shanti
(21,675 posts)the stupid, it burns.
wcast
(595 posts)"We dont need any more government in our lives. And in any case, no way I want my tax dollars paying for Mexicans or welfare queens.
Most of these people are not politically aware, they are not disgusted by Trump as they have no clue of the day to day workings of government, politics in general, or the news. All they know is the government is against them and for minorities. This has been pounded into them for decades.
This is what some Democrats, especially those who pretend to be Centrist, (read corporatists), don't want to understand. Democrats already have a winning strategy. Reach out to base, propose solutions to problems that affect everyone, and we will continue to win elections like we did in 2018.
Progressive positions are mainstream positions, no matter what the media or others say.
leftieNanner
(15,100 posts)And he doesn't seem to understand that the real "welfare queens" more than likely look a lot like him. Them and major corporation like Walmart, GE, Amazon... who do not pay their fair share of taxes and by underpaying their workers, they foist the cost of their livelihoods (SNAP and Medicaid) onto the taxpayers.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)or sign up for it, he tells Metzl. I would rather die.
Um, by all means, please proceed then. Make some space on the planet for those that are not total douche bags.
java108
(129 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)has much money to pay for anything.
That's not really the point, though. This is a perversion of that ability we have to sacrifice for a noble purpose. He seems to genuinely believe he is doing the right thing by sacrificing his life for the greater good.
Stupid? Yeah, but something we have to deal with-- understand how it happens and how to redirect this instinct.
Mosby
(16,311 posts)It's the GOP and hate radio that are truly at fault here, I'm not going to condemn a dying man because he was brainwashed.
People are not born racists, they are conditioned to be that way.
genxlib
(5,526 posts)These kinds of stories usually have someone in his position complaining about the Government not being there for him when he needs it.
At least he is willing to ride his deadly attitude to the grave.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,693 posts)it's his concern that the government will be there for those people.
genxlib
(5,526 posts)There are millions of people out there who don't want the Government to be helpful for that reason.
However, they almost always change their tune when they need help. Like it is often stated on this website, conservatives lack compassion until something effects them directly.
This guy didn't go down that road.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,693 posts)If you can convince the lowest white man hes better than the best colored man, he wont notice youre picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and hell empty his pockets for you.
alwaysinasnit
(5,066 posts)irisblue
(32,974 posts)Martin Eden
(12,867 posts)^^TRUTH^^
crazytown
(7,277 posts)And he did. And all those future GOP votes died with him. A pity he coildnt have found a nice fatal traffic accident when he was 17.
The Mouth
(3,150 posts)"Strangers in Their Own Land"
Addresses the same questions, although with a more narrow focus, specifically environmental and in the Lake Charles region of Louisiana, but the fact of people voting against their own health and well being is the same.
https://smile.amazon.com/Strangers-Their-Own-Land-Mourning/dp/1620973499/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1551121181&sr=8-1&keywords=strangers+in+their+own+land+by+arlie+russell+hochschild
CaptYossarian
(6,448 posts)Firestorm49
(4,035 posts)GeoWilliam750
(2,522 posts)I am not completely sure why people do.
ismnotwasm
(41,980 posts)oasis
(49,386 posts)Duppers
(28,120 posts)👍
GeoWilliam750
(2,522 posts)We cannot change him, no.
Yet, he is substantially a product of his self-destructive environment, in the same way as people growing up in broken inner cities
Some few profit from the ignorance of those such as Trevor, and those few will not change their ways. Ever has it been thus, and decent people bury their children for the benefit of those few