So what's up with White People?
Perdido Key is an interesting place: It's 100% White People, redneck class for the most part, working class people, probably 100% Republican and we counted 50 churches of some sort (many creepy trailers) from the Flomation AL/Florida line to the condos. Trump bumper stickers, 100% Republican. It's the White Trash Riviera. My kind of people.
But the people are exceptionally nice, the beaches are beautiful, the water is nice, and this condo is really snugly. It's not like OC where people step on you all the time, it's more like Dollywood. And Alex's family comes in from Mississippi so we get to see her sister and family and her parents.
Nice people. All vote Republican. Why? They must be stupid slack-jawed morons, troglydes, fucking idiots who totally screwed themselves in the ass by not electing Hillary and instead elected a complete batshit evil con man who is going to fuck them over so hard they will feel like they have been raped by a steam engine. Yet they seem nice here. So why.
A log time ago I read a great book about class called Class. Well written, described the concept of prole, middle, upper, bottom out of sight (druggies) and top out of sight (Gates, Bezos, that stuff). Good book but written in the 50-60's and thus a trifle out of date. So I wandered around the net a bit, found an interesting article by a woman working for the Harvard Business Review (um upper dude) and bought her book: White Working Class (Williams, Joan, 2017). Reasonable read, did it in a day. And interesting.
She starts with the concepts of class but drops prole middle and upper. Everyone thinks they are middle. I think I'm middle middle. Alex thinks she is middle. janitors think they are middle. Lawyers think they are middle. So the concept of the middle class is hopelessly tanked because everyone thinks they are middle. So her classes are Poor (bottom 20%), working (middle 60%) and elite (top 20%) with the caveat that you have to have a college degree in the household to be elite. Because of fucking course, college is sooooo important.
But 70% of American adults do not have college degrees. I didn't have a college degree until last year, and many would consider my AS in Computer Science to be a bit of a cheat. So maybe I'm not elite, right?
First let's clear the slate: Alex and I are elite. I make 200k plus a year, I have an AS and a CISSP, and Alex has a MA degree from Oberlin and is a stay at home mom who edits fanfic. Alex's degree from a top tier Ivy is enough to toss us in the top tier and it's telling in an interesting way that the book points out. But any illusion that I'm middle is shot to shit here. Yes I can fix cars and computers and anything technical and yes I am a Mason but guess what: I'm fucking elite. Thank you.
So with that, what about the 60% of White people? They don't have anywhere near the resources Alex and I do, they lead different lives and have different problems. As the author points out: Both parents have to work to raise kids, and a lot of times the male's job is in jeopardy because he doesn't have a degree and ain't going to be getting one (as I can point out it's expensive and time consuming. I spent 2 years banging away for the AS with 30 credits in the bag and will spend another 2 for a BS before done and I am god-like smart and have the time to do this). Which brings up an interesting point: When the elite goes for higher minimum wages at Wendys or paid time off, the middle says fuck that, I want a job for my husband that will pay a decent wage, enough to live on that's also stable. The guy who promises that has a big leg up on a person who makes minimum wage a priority (which benefits the poor, who the working class whites *hate* for an interesting reason).
Likewise Obamacare. It brought 20+ million people into health care, this is true. But most of those were from the poor (bottom 20%) who got heavy subsidies. The middle didn't get much and the elites (me) got HSA's that I can write off 6k in medical expenses. I like being me. So although repeal Obamacare sounds like it will fuck the WWC (it will) it will fuck the poor more and the WWC is ok with that. Plus it is a finger poke at the elites who (to the WWC) don't get it (and maybe we don't).
Glass ceiling? Clinton made a big deal about breaking that ultimate glass ceiling. I know it really lit up a lot of my friends and I agree: She is right and it does suck. But as the book points out, that ceiling is like breaking into the C suite. Guess what: WWC women don't have a chance to even be near the C suite (nor do WWC men) so that whole story meant shit to them. Clinton is elite, who gives a fuck if she breaks the C suite ceiling, it means nothing to me (WWC person). By the way, this is why I am finally finishing off the BS: It is something that keeps me out of the CIO suite (50 is the time to move into that role) so I'm checking it off so nothing will stand in my way. I can get around it because I am cool anyway, but you know: I don't give a fuck. So graduate next summer at 49. I rule again.
Maybe instead of focusing on that focus on the fact that Trump is a fucking rapist. She didn't do that much, instead stressing her credentials (which were stunning, no question) against Trump's lack of (which sucked eggs). But to the WWC that didn't matter: She was elite, Trump was one of them, so the experience thing failed. WWC women are raped and harassed at work to an exceptional degree, maybe by focusing on that she might have made a connection. But she didn't because elites don't get raped in the boardroom maybe. Hm. Interesting.
Bill Clinton was trying to engage with the WWC. Hillary just didn't. She threw out elite ideas which are great and do mean a lot but ring hollow when what you want is a fucking job. Granted: THERE ARE NO JOBS LIKE THAT ANYMORE, she didn't stress retraining much except to make it seem like only fucking losers got retraining. Trump promised jobs for everyone. He lied of course, and it will be interesting to see what happens now that this will be proven false, but that's another issue (see riots, etc).
Obama engaged with the WWC. Biden is a WWC guy. So was Bill. Tim Kaine? Fuck no. Total failure there.
So you might think fuck the WWC (White Working Class). No problem. They do seem like nice enough people, different issues, different values. I don't like writing off whole chunks of the country but even if you get all the poor (20%) and all the Elites (20%) you're still only at 40%. And given the way the EC tilts, WWC class people can't be totally written off.
What to do? I'm actually not sure. I'm going to try and understand them a bit better, my lack of a degree for 30 years coupled with my ability to fix cars and having lived on steam grates does give me a bit of perspective, although man if I start whining about only being able to afford an 85-86 Porsche 928S instead of an 87 928S4 then I might have problems. But to be honest it hit me when the Wal-mart person asked me if I wanted to take the old tires to save on the $4.00 disposal fee: I have a fucking fuckload more resources and blessings than people down here. That's a problem, and that's something that can create an interesting communication gap.
I need to think about that for awhile.
But the people are exceptionally nice, the beaches are beautiful, the water is nice, and this condo is really snugly. It's not like OC where people step on you all the time, it's more like Dollywood. And Alex's family comes in from Mississippi so we get to see her sister and family and her parents.
Nice people. All vote Republican. Why? They must be stupid slack-jawed morons, troglydes, fucking idiots who totally screwed themselves in the ass by not electing Hillary and instead elected a complete batshit evil con man who is going to fuck them over so hard they will feel like they have been raped by a steam engine. Yet they seem nice here. So why.
A log time ago I read a great book about class called Class. Well written, described the concept of prole, middle, upper, bottom out of sight (druggies) and top out of sight (Gates, Bezos, that stuff). Good book but written in the 50-60's and thus a trifle out of date. So I wandered around the net a bit, found an interesting article by a woman working for the Harvard Business Review (um upper dude) and bought her book: White Working Class (Williams, Joan, 2017). Reasonable read, did it in a day. And interesting.
She starts with the concepts of class but drops prole middle and upper. Everyone thinks they are middle. I think I'm middle middle. Alex thinks she is middle. janitors think they are middle. Lawyers think they are middle. So the concept of the middle class is hopelessly tanked because everyone thinks they are middle. So her classes are Poor (bottom 20%), working (middle 60%) and elite (top 20%) with the caveat that you have to have a college degree in the household to be elite. Because of fucking course, college is sooooo important.
But 70% of American adults do not have college degrees. I didn't have a college degree until last year, and many would consider my AS in Computer Science to be a bit of a cheat. So maybe I'm not elite, right?
First let's clear the slate: Alex and I are elite. I make 200k plus a year, I have an AS and a CISSP, and Alex has a MA degree from Oberlin and is a stay at home mom who edits fanfic. Alex's degree from a top tier Ivy is enough to toss us in the top tier and it's telling in an interesting way that the book points out. But any illusion that I'm middle is shot to shit here. Yes I can fix cars and computers and anything technical and yes I am a Mason but guess what: I'm fucking elite. Thank you.
So with that, what about the 60% of White people? They don't have anywhere near the resources Alex and I do, they lead different lives and have different problems. As the author points out: Both parents have to work to raise kids, and a lot of times the male's job is in jeopardy because he doesn't have a degree and ain't going to be getting one (as I can point out it's expensive and time consuming. I spent 2 years banging away for the AS with 30 credits in the bag and will spend another 2 for a BS before done and I am god-like smart and have the time to do this). Which brings up an interesting point: When the elite goes for higher minimum wages at Wendys or paid time off, the middle says fuck that, I want a job for my husband that will pay a decent wage, enough to live on that's also stable. The guy who promises that has a big leg up on a person who makes minimum wage a priority (which benefits the poor, who the working class whites *hate* for an interesting reason).
Likewise Obamacare. It brought 20+ million people into health care, this is true. But most of those were from the poor (bottom 20%) who got heavy subsidies. The middle didn't get much and the elites (me) got HSA's that I can write off 6k in medical expenses. I like being me. So although repeal Obamacare sounds like it will fuck the WWC (it will) it will fuck the poor more and the WWC is ok with that. Plus it is a finger poke at the elites who (to the WWC) don't get it (and maybe we don't).
Glass ceiling? Clinton made a big deal about breaking that ultimate glass ceiling. I know it really lit up a lot of my friends and I agree: She is right and it does suck. But as the book points out, that ceiling is like breaking into the C suite. Guess what: WWC women don't have a chance to even be near the C suite (nor do WWC men) so that whole story meant shit to them. Clinton is elite, who gives a fuck if she breaks the C suite ceiling, it means nothing to me (WWC person). By the way, this is why I am finally finishing off the BS: It is something that keeps me out of the CIO suite (50 is the time to move into that role) so I'm checking it off so nothing will stand in my way. I can get around it because I am cool anyway, but you know: I don't give a fuck. So graduate next summer at 49. I rule again.
Maybe instead of focusing on that focus on the fact that Trump is a fucking rapist. She didn't do that much, instead stressing her credentials (which were stunning, no question) against Trump's lack of (which sucked eggs). But to the WWC that didn't matter: She was elite, Trump was one of them, so the experience thing failed. WWC women are raped and harassed at work to an exceptional degree, maybe by focusing on that she might have made a connection. But she didn't because elites don't get raped in the boardroom maybe. Hm. Interesting.
Bill Clinton was trying to engage with the WWC. Hillary just didn't. She threw out elite ideas which are great and do mean a lot but ring hollow when what you want is a fucking job. Granted: THERE ARE NO JOBS LIKE THAT ANYMORE, she didn't stress retraining much except to make it seem like only fucking losers got retraining. Trump promised jobs for everyone. He lied of course, and it will be interesting to see what happens now that this will be proven false, but that's another issue (see riots, etc).
Obama engaged with the WWC. Biden is a WWC guy. So was Bill. Tim Kaine? Fuck no. Total failure there.
So you might think fuck the WWC (White Working Class). No problem. They do seem like nice enough people, different issues, different values. I don't like writing off whole chunks of the country but even if you get all the poor (20%) and all the Elites (20%) you're still only at 40%. And given the way the EC tilts, WWC class people can't be totally written off.
What to do? I'm actually not sure. I'm going to try and understand them a bit better, my lack of a degree for 30 years coupled with my ability to fix cars and having lived on steam grates does give me a bit of perspective, although man if I start whining about only being able to afford an 85-86 Porsche 928S instead of an 87 928S4 then I might have problems. But to be honest it hit me when the Wal-mart person asked me if I wanted to take the old tires to save on the $4.00 disposal fee: I have a fucking fuckload more resources and blessings than people down here. That's a problem, and that's something that can create an interesting communication gap.
I need to think about that for awhile.