The right-winger in my family (a reflection of the Republican candidates)

[Capitalocracy]

So my wife's aunt's husband (aka, her uncle, of course) is a hard right-winger. And he's pretty well-to-do, although he came by it honestly. He's maybe 1%, maybe more like 2%, but up there, which has a lot to do with his right-wing political views... he's of the mistaken impression that everyone could do what he did (come up from nothing and become rich) and anyone who doesn't is obviously lazy.

Anyway, he likes to talk about politics at every opportunity... and on the rare occasion that he sees me (we live in different countries), he usually makes a point to talk U.S. politics with me, me being from the U.S. and a vocal and politically involved lefty. He sees it as an opportunity to debate. Me, I try to keep the topic centered around family stuff... as a matter of fact, he's gotten into nasty fights with other members of my wife's family over politics, something I want to avoid.

So the last time I saw him was when the Tea Party was in full-swing and looking like this massive national (astroturf) movement, and despite my attempts to keep the political talk to a minimum, he insisted on talking about politics and we had a long discussion about it (in which I politely pointed out that the Tea Party was astroturf and had corporate funding and a major advantage in the media and would also protest corporations if they were serious, you know the drill).

Looking back on it now, I realize he was very excited when that was going on.

Well, I just saw him again, they came to do the family tour in Argentina, and this time, he didn't talk about politics at all. He talked about his grandson's Montessori school and about going out on his friend's yacht and stuff like that, nothing about politics. It struck me as odd... so as he was leaving, I asked him, so, who are you going to vote for in the primary?

He sheepishly replied, "I'm an independent."

He then mentioned this awesome hilarious chain email he got with a picture of Barack Obama standing in the middle of ruins and bombed-out buildings saying, "My work here is done," and went on his way.

So the demonization is, of course, still there, but the field of Republican candidates is so bad this guy has no idea who to vote for, and is extremely disappointed. At least that's the impression I got.

What amazed me most is that he didn't mention the 99% once, like they didn't exist. I thought I'd be hearing unsubstantiated stories about Occupy protesters crapping on people's cars and raping bankers' children all night, but it was like he'd never heard of them, or was ashamed to talk about them.

Weird.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Hola

now we know you live in Argentina. That is actually very interesting. He might have gotten the inkling of how global this is, and chose not to add gas to that fire.

[Capitalocracy]

2. Yep, that's where I am

I'm from Kansas, but I met a girl from Argentina online who is now my wife. It would be kind of a difficult decision where to live... if we lived in the U.S., we'd have an easier time finding work that could pay the rent, but we'd have no health care. But the decision was essentially made for us... to sponsor an immigrant spouse, you have to earn 125% of the poverty level, which is more than I've ever earned in my life.

Right now we're just desperately trying to earn enough money to have kids. And we'd like to move to Europe. Here in Argentina, it's not unlikely that someone will decide to rob me for being obviously American, and then shoot me when they're disappointed by the fact that I don't have any money (something that's reported in the news here fairly regularly).

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Well you know Americans live in vast amounts of wealth

:sarcasm:

Back in the day Dallas was so popular in Mexico, for example. And that is but one example of our disgusting media we export that make people believe we all have vast amounts of money.

[Capitalocracy]

4. Right, we perpetuate this false model of the American Dream...

and then we're surprised when people crushed by poverty we have no small hand in creating want to sneak across the border to get in on some of that opportunity we claim to be the land of.

I think everyone should live in a foreign country for a time... if nothing else, they would learn how significant the effect of the entertainment industry is in other countries. Supposedly we don't export anything, but that's not true... we export entertainment of all kinds on a massive scale, and ideology as well.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. And that propaganda is for internal use as well

my favorite in that department is Eureka, where even the Janior lives very well and has a Ph.D

:-)

I made that exact point to my Comparative History of the Americas prof... yup he spoke spanish, but he never really lived abroad. That flew over his head.

[Capitalocracy]

6. Even the poor people on American TV aren't poor.

Sitcom characters are always complaining about their crappy job and they don't have any money, but they live in giant apartments in New York and never skip a meal or have their electricity shut off. And that's a huge part of the propaganda, whether or not it's intended to be... Americans see it and it "nerfs" poverty (to use a gaming term), makes it seem like it's not a big deal, and people in other countries see it and think my God, even if you're poor in the U.S. you live like a king!

And about your prof... nothing beats life experience. My wife was comparing call centers to industrial age sweatshop work (not a direct comparison, but highlighting the similarities) in a class where they were studying like Foucault and stuff like that, and it was beyond the professor's comprehension. The guy never had a real job, so he just couldn't wrap his head around it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. And sadly Foucault

Would have gotten it. Alas that is not limited to American professors.

[Capitalocracy]

9. Apparently if you're sort of middle class or upper middle class here

it's sort of looked down upon to have a real job, or ever to have had one.

[Capitalocracy]

7. A shameless mid-morning kick...

I'm bad.