Meet the new hate, same as the old hate....
Right-wing rhetoric seems to have reached new heights of xenophobia. But is that true? An expert explains
Why is this resurgence of the “old hate” happening now?
We’re going through a historic shift in this country. We were on an incredible run of prosperity in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, thanks to the New Deal social compact, thanks to big unions, thanks to very strong regulation – thanks to all the things that Glenn Beck’s followers think are the most evil things in the world. Fairly unskilled, uneducated people were able to earn a good living, and send their children to college. And that’s changed. Income inequality is growing. If you look at American history, the bottom has dropped out of rural people’s lives every five years, but there used to also be a manufacturing class that made a decent living. There used to be a route for people that weren’t well educated to make a decent living. There isn’t anymore. There’s a lot of anxiety about our individual positions in our society, and our country’s position in the world. If you’re not educated to be able to understand it, and you’re trapped in a disadvantaged life, you might become really, really angry.
So these resurgences of hatred, and conspiratorial narratives, are related to a basic type of class-consciousness – a stripped-down awareness of unfairness.
Yes. It’s an old stereotype (it’s also a true stereotype) that rich Southerners drove wedges between poor whites and poor blacks so that they wouldn’t see that they were all in the same place. That’s very connected to the anger people have today. One of the most infuriating things about Obama to people is that he walks into the White House like he belongs there. But their anger is not really about him. It’s about them: their place in the world. Because he does belong there. But their kids will never go there, because they’re poor and feel they’re without open avenues.
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/04/inside_the_new_hate/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
An excellent article about the rise of hate groups from the underground to todays presidential elections.
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opposition.
How can anyone govern on issues for which no compromise is possible?
Perhaps people could just mind their own business but no, there are always a few extremist who want to dictate how their opponents must act and to rub salt in open wounds, make their opponents pay taxes to finance enforcing laws they bitterly oppose.
