The detestable 'logic' of Elitism

[TahitiNut]

From another logic-deprived Reichbot newspaper, we have yet again the beat of the drum counting out the cadence of oppression and entitlement. According to the 'logic' of the Indianapolis Star, slavery must've been OK since many made it out through the Underground Railroad, the Holocaust wasn't so bad because many survived, and those who decry segregation and discrimination are mere cry-babies.

In an editorial today regarding Ray Charles, they say ...

The life Charles lived proves that one can overcome desperate financial straits and disabilities with high expectations, hard work and a willingness to take risks. Such an idea is heresy for many Americans, who think the impoverished are condemned to misery. That many of the poor manage to join the middle class, if not achieve fame and fortune, rarely factors into such thinking.

I fear that the fevered brain of anyone who'd commit such arrogant, elitist vomit to print is beyond salvage. As the wealthy elitists complain they're taxed too highly even as the labors of low and middle class enrich them and the taxes on such labors are used to subsidize their greed, we have this total moral cripple spewing this puke.

With all the unemployed, why does this scribe escape tar and feathers?

:puke: :puke: :puke:

[salib]

1. Just a reflection of the massive pyramid scheme that is Capitalism

Someone wins the lottery, and these people say "see, people can get a piece of the pie and be rich." So a few carefully chosen examples white-wash the fact that to have a pyramid nearly all need to be at or near the bottom.

[TahitiNut]

4. As it's taxed as ordinary income instead of capital gains, too.

Even lottery winners don't get the tax deals given to inheritors (0%) or captial gains beneficiaries (18%).

[Iris]

13. Worse, no one will admit that the pie is rotten.

[loudsue]

2. Somebody needs to send them a copy of "Nickled & Dimed"...

Ooops! Silly me! repukes don't READ!!! :wtf:

You're correct: They'll never get it....their brains can't reach that far.

:kick::kick:

[kentuck]

3. True....

Surely if one can escape the 'hood, then everyone should be able to escape? If Kobe can be a star in the NBA, then surely everyone has that "opportunity"...All you need to do is apply yourself.

And, if there are no jobs where you live, then why don't you move where there are jobs? Don't worry about what you will eat or where you will live or sleep. It's a catch-22, that poverty.

[Cleita]

5. I fought this same argument from a feminist point of view over the

years. The "logic" says that women who are qualified will rise to the top in management and salaries if they are superior to everyone else. Some women have in the past and they are our some of our role models today. What is unsaid is that men don't have to struggle as hard or be as superior to enjoy the same status and money. Yeah, you're right with the :puke:

[Hoping4Change]

6. Destestable is right. Eyeballing the rag, I noticed that a

36 year incumbent Repuke got booted out of office because of voting irregularities and the courts denied him a new election. The sucker lost by 46 votes.

[Another Bill C.]

7. And then there's the question:

Where would the money come from if everyone "applied himself" and became wealthy?

There is a limited supply of money and if that limit is increased enough so that everyone can become wealthy, the money becomes worthless.

[TahitiNut]

12. (Hmmm...) There a HUGE difference between a GINI Index of 42+ ...

... and a GINI Index of 20-25.

[bacchant]

8. And of course everyone has Ray Charles' talent, don't they.

It's moronic to try to advance this idea using rich sports and media minorities. All men are not created equal.

[DemExpat]

9. It's all context!

A story about Ray Charles and how he made it could be very inspiring for many people...

but coming from THIS mouth and THIS rag, it is pure rationalization for Rightwing policy...and very disrespectful to the man who just died.


:puke: :puke: :puke:

DemEx

[TahitiNut]

11. Yes. Just another example of reichwing necrophilia.

:puke:

[Robin Hood]

10. moral cripple.

I like that. It pretty well describes the whole GOP, a party of moral cripples.

[Eloriel]

14. This is a form of tokenism

The following is from one of the best books on racism, homophobia and sexism I've ever seen: Suzanne Pharr's Homophobia, A Weapon of Sexism:

People will gain their human rights, justice, and inclusion through group effort, not through isolated individual work. However, those who hold power oppose group oranizing efforts and use many strategies to destroy such efforts: invalidation, minimization, intimidation, infiltration, etc.

Two of the more subtle ways that society blocks solidarity within groups from ever occurring are the tactis of assimilation and tokenism. There are extraordinary pressures for members of any "minority" group to assimilate, to drop one's own culture and differences and become a mirror of the dominant culture. This process requires turning one's back on one's past and on one's people....

A note from me: this explains why any and all appeals to "drop the use of hyphenated-American" terminology must be resisted. It's an effort to "disappear" the subject of racism and discrimination, as well as an effort to curb self-identification and thus solidarity with one's own. I heartily reciommend it for ANYone concerned about these issues for its clarity of analysis and succinct, concrete explanations of the dynamics of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. Back to the excerpt:

Assimilation is a first requirement of those who are chosen as tokens in the workplace of the dominant culture. "She's a Jew but she doesn't act like a Jew." "He's black but he's just like us." Tokenism is the method of limited access that gives false hope to those left behind and blames them for "not making it." "If these two or three black women or disabled people can make it, then what is wrong with you that you can't? Tokenism is a form of co-optation. It takes the brithest and best of the most assimilated, rewards them with position and money 9though rarely genuine ladership and pwoer), adn then uses them as a model of what is necessary to succeed, even though there are often no more openings for others who may follow their model.

The tokenized person receives pressure from both sides. From those in power there is the pressure to be separate from one's group (race, for instance) while also acting as a representative of the entire group...The tokenized person is expected to become a team player which means that identifying racist activity within the organization or workin on behalf of one's community is seen as disloyalty. The pressure from one's community, on the other hand, is to fight for that community's concenrs, in other words, to work from the inside. Of course, it is virtually impossible to work from the inside because the tokenized person is isolated and lacks support. It is a "no win" situation, filled with frustration and alienation.

At the very heart of this strategy, which gets played out at every level of society, is an individualized approach to success. The example of Horatio Lger and the notion of "pulling oneself up by the bootstraps" still lives. Daily news reports do not show successful organizing efforts; in fact, the media minimize and even undeniably successful ones as was the case with the reporting of the 1988 Gay and Lesbian March on Washington. the media reported the march to have 200,000 in attendance when it was announced by Jesse Jackson from the stage that police and march organizers were reporting over 500,000 there. Instead of reporting group efforts, the media concentrates on "human interest" stories, following the lead of people such as Ronald Reagan who give accounts of individuals who beat the odds and succeed. They become "models" for others in their circumstances to follow. But what good are models when closed systems do not permit general success?

No link because this is from the book itself. Again, highly recommended.

Now, of course, Ray Charles does not fit the standard "token" described here (since he wasn't hired or appointed in some organization), but his example is still being used in the identical way described.

[TahitiNut]

15. Entertainment and Sports are, themselves, tokenized gulags.

The vast inequity in compensation in these areas of endeavor is legend. These are realms in which the hundreds of thousands strive for virtually no compensation and a very, very few "hit the jackpot" and become wealthy. Thinking it might be equitable according to talent in other than politics ignores such appallingly mediocre luminaries as Reagan, Griffin, King, Ventura, etc.

[Ms. Clio]

16. "That many of the poor manage to join the middle class

if not achieve fame and fortune, rarely factors into such thinking."

That's because it's not "many" of the poor who do manage that--what stats does this clown use to support this astounding assertion?

Sure, there are always exceptions to every rule. Sometimess shit for brains know it alls pulling it out of their asses write editorials, too.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

17. Big Tobacco also says 'if one can quit, then it's not addictive to all.'

Tobacco also uses tokenism to deny its culpability for peddling a deadly product just because a few can quit.

By the way, I work with African American performers who have sung at the Bush* White House and an NAACP US military tribute dinner who tell me that they are going to play along with The Man and 'change from within.'

Right.

One singer told me that he talked to Eartha Kitt about whether to go to the White House when invited and she recounted her experience of going and speaking out against policies. She was shown the door mighty quickly and couldn't get work for a long time as a result. The singer I work with said he didn't have the choice to refuse to go to the White House.

Also, they consider it a revolutionary act to just get paid in the white man's world and principles be damned. They acquiesce to being human credentials to dictators and they get their paychecks. Everyone gets what they want. It gives me the creeps.

I've had to refuse to do some of their shows because of the sponsor and they've told me that I'm free choose because I'm white.
Many interesting discussions, I can assure you.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. Here's one that makes right wingers' heads explode

"We'll know that racism is dead in America when a mediocre black person has the same chance of success as a mediocre white person."

Jesse Jackson has used this phrase, although I don't think it's original with him, it's hard to refute. In other words, it doesn't matter that Oprah Winfrey or Michael Jordan are multimillionaires. What matters is whether two people of the same average intelligence and ability, one black and one white, have the same chance to achieve a comfortable standard of living.

A thought experiment that Michael Parenti uses with white students is to ask them how much someone would have to pay them before they'd consent to change their race to African-American. They typically name a high price, a million or two, and when asked why, they start talking about the additional obstacles that people of color face.

[Hubert Flottz]

19. Ask him this!

With GW Bush scoring a whopping 25 points out of a hundred on his military tests how far could he have gotten in Ray Charles's shoes?

[TahitiNut]

20. DimSon would've been dead in Viet Nam.

He'd never get to Yale. He'd never get at the front of the TANG line, let alone be commissioned or allowed to take the flight training tests.

[Hubert Flottz]

22. 25 points Bush should have been OCS!

(On the city streets!) Because he was brain dead from killing brain cells with drugs and booze! Bush is a lifelong walking disaster! If his family hadn't been rich he wouldn't have amounted to a hill of shit! The old money KKKlans are the REAL inbreds!

[KittyWampus]

21. Those Who Enjoy Material Comfort Need To Reach Out

to those who need a helping hand out of poverty.

But I have heard Far Right commentators saying "there is no poverty" in the U.S.

Maybe it's a lack of feeling connected to each other?