Suggested Discussion Outline

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johnkarls
Posts: 2034
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Suggested Discussion Outline

Post by johnkarls »

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Suggested Discussion Outline
Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning by the American Right: Journey to the Heart of Our Political Divide


A. Statistical Validity

• Whether the “Heart of Our Political Divide” isn’t Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin which shifted to the Republican side of the Continental Divide

• Whether the Cajuns (French Catholics evicted from Quebec and the Maritime Provinces by the conquering British and forcibly transported by the Brits to Louisiana in the 1700’s) are even representative of the American South

• Whether 60 Tea Party Members (only 6 of whom are described in detail) are even representative of the Cajuns of Southwest Louisiana


B. Our Author’s Attitude Per The Washington Post

• The title of the Washington Post Book Review by its Associate Editor and Non-Fiction Book Critic -- "A Berkeley Sociologist Made Some Tea Party Friends -- And Wrote A Condescending Book About Them”

• The equivalent of a Zoo Docent (expert guide) who likes and respects the animals in the zoo, but would certainly discuss them in terms of being sub-human


C. Our Author’s Prejudice (Opposed by Chris Matthews & Chuck Todd)

• Our author’s thesis is that her “Zoo Animals” are irrational because they are not enthusiastic supporters of the Democratic Party because of its environmental policies

• She just doesn’t “get” that the citizens of “flyover America” have been alienated by The Establishment’s War On American Workers” for the last 25 years (more details below)

• She just doesn’t “get” that the citizens of “flyover America” are desperate for jobs and view the Environmental Protection Agency as a threat to jobs

• Even Chris Matthews & Chuck Todd on Meet the Press (Oct 29) agreed that Bobby Kennedy “was the last Democrat that was attempting to stitch together this coalition of basically what is now the Trump base” (i.e., “blue collar” workers)


D. The Establishment’s “War on American Workers” for the Last 25 Years

• We have always defined “The Establishment” as the billionaires who, since 1992, have “owned” virtually all the pols of both political parties as a result of campaign contributions, who “own” many (if not most) members of the Mainstream Media, and who “own” many members of academia

• Per the thesis of the twin foci of our 2/14/2008 meeting 10 years ago (Dana Milbank’s “Homo Politicus” and Robert Kuttner’s “The Squandering of America”), NOTHING is done (or not done) in the CESSPOOL known as Washington DC except as the result of “campaign contributions” which are either BRIBERY of the pols, or EXTORTION by the pols

• The Establishment’s “War on American Workers” has, since 1992, taken the form of (A) so-called “Free Trade” Agreements pursuant to which so many American jobs have been exported to low-wage countries, and (B) the reversal of The American Civil War by flooding the country with illegal aliens who are de facto slave laborers who cannot complain about any treatment meted out to them for fear of being reported to Immigration

• The best examination of the Great Shift in The Continental Divide vis-à-vis Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as caused by The Establishment’s War on American Workers, is contained in the material posted in the Participants-Comments Section of http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org for our 9/14/2016 meeting which focused on “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis” – and in the “indictments” of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama contained in The Suggested Discussion Outline posted on http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org for our 9/16/2017 meeting which focused on “War on Cops” by Heather MacDonald


E. Our Author’s Ignorance In Trying To “Prove” That Southerners Are Racists

• On pp. 146-147, our author has a section entitled “Behind the Deep Story: Race”

• During her entire book, our author makes remarks that are based on this Proclamation

• Her Proclamation, whether or not true, is laughable because it is based on her impression of what “older right-wing whites” see on “the television screen and newspaper[s]” portraying blacks as (1) rich mega-stars of entertainment, (2) a disproportionate part of the criminal class, or (3) welfare recipients.

• Doesn’t she know that the American South, home inter alia of the NCAA’s fabled SEC (Southeast Conference) which includes powerhouse LSU (Louisiana State University), is the “sports crazed” section of the country???

• And doesn’t she know that even Southern Females (not just Southern Belles) are required to know sports forwards-and-backwards, upside-down and inside-out ???

• And that all of the sports talk shows on television feature former players, most of whom are Black, and ALL OF WHOM are smart, insightful, articulate, friendly and, in ALL OTHER RESPECTS, wonderful human beings???

• So isn’t our author simply displaying her own ignorance and prejudice???


F. Our Author’s Attempted Fraud

• On pp. 234, in an “open letter” entitled “If I were to write, a letter to my Louisiana friends on the right” our author states:

“You may not want to hear this, but in income and jobs, historically the Democrats have done better than the Republicans”!!!

• Perhaps, BUT THAT WAS MORE THAN 25 YEARS AGO, when the Democratic Party was the PARTY OF SEGREGATION employing in the U.S. Senate the Filibuster Rule to block any Civil Rights legislation -- the only purpose (until the last decade or so) for which the Filibuster Rule was ever used!!!

• So doesn’t our author’s claim appear to be based on incompetent legal advice -- that the “if I were to write” disclaimer is NOT the equivalent of an attorney saying “I would be violating client confidentiality if I told you that ‘Colonel Mustard did it in The Library with The Candlestick’ so let the record show that I did NOT tell you that ‘Colonel Mustard did it in The Library with The Candlestick’”!!!

• So is there a “champion of the downtrodden” out there who is willing to “start the ball rolling” by financing a class-action lawsuit against our author by the legions of American Workers whose jobs have been exported???

johnkarls
Posts: 2034
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Further Reflections On Our Author’s Racism Proclamation

Post by johnkarls »

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Section E of the Suggested Discussion Outline above addressed Our Author’s Racism Proclamation (pp. 146-147) in which she “proves” (at least to her own satisfaction) that “older right-wing whites” are racists.

And then makes constant references to the “proven” racism of “older right-wing whites” throughout her book.

*****
First Peculiarity About Our Author’s Racism Proclamation

If you actually read our author’s Racism Proclamation, she spends an inordinate amount of time admitting that she was unable to detect any racism from either the statements or the actions of “older right-wing whites.”

So the last paragraph of our author’s Racism Proclamation is a bald assertion that she can ascertain what is in their hearts from what they see on television and read in the newspaper.

[Which, according to her, portrays Blacks as: (1) rich mega-stars of entertainment, (2) a disproportionate part of the criminal class, or (3) welfare recipients.]

*****
Second Peculiarity About Our Author’s Racism Proclamation

As already noted in Section E of the Suggested Discussion Outline, our author is simply displaying her own ignorance and prejudice because --

(1) The American South, home inter alia of the NCAA’s fabled SEC (Southeast Conference) which includes powerhouse LSU (Louisiana State University), is the “sports crazed” section of the country;

(2) Even Southern Females (not just Southern Belles) are required to know sports forwards-and-backwards, upside-down and inside-out; and

(3) All of the sports talk shows on television feature former players, most of whom are Black, and ALL OF WHOM are smart, insightful, articulate, friendly and, in ALL OTHER RESPECTS, wonderful human beings.

ACCORDINGLY, by our author’s own litmus test, SOUTHERNERS (whether or not “older right-wing whites”) COMPRISE THE LEAST RACIALLY-PREJUDICED SEGMENT OF AMERICA.

*****
Third Peculiarity About Our Author’s Racism Proclamation

Even if our author’s bald assertion were true that she can ascertain what is in people’s hearts from what they see on television and read in the newspaper, virtually all television shows are national, rather than regional or local.

So why does our author claim to perceive racism in Southerners based on national television shows???

Moreover, 2.5 years ago Yours Truly drove 2,329 miles through the heart of America.

[He bought a Catalina 16.4 sailboat from the factory in Tampa FL and transported it to Salt Lake City inside a 26-foot U-Haul truck which, incidentally, was cheaper than any other transportation alternative but, MORE IMPORTANTLY, enabled Yours Truly to experience once more the American heartland WHILE FEELING YOUNG AGAIN by driving solo the 2,329 miles in 3 days.]

So why mention all this???

Dumb Old Me, I thought I would be able to listen to classical music on commercial radio stations during the entire trip because, after all, NYC and London where I spent my career and SLC and Austria where my two ski houses have been located, have wonderful classical-music commercial radio stations.

So please imagine my surprise that Florida had NO classical-music commercial radio stations, AND THERE WERE NONE all the way to SLC!!!

HOWEVER, during the entire 2,329 miles from Tampa to SLC, there were always at least a dozen (and usually considerably more) Christian radio stations constantly preaching Christ’s TWO Commandments (vs. the TEN Commandments of Judaism, aka The Old Testament) to love God with all your heart/soul/strength/mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself (which, in The Bible, is immediately followed by the Story of the Good Samaritan to drive home Christ’s point that EVERY HUMAN BEING ON EARTH is your “neighbor”)!!!

ACCORDINGLY, since commercial radio is the only form of entertainment that is REGIONAL, our author’s own litmus test “proves” that the citizens of “flyover America” are NOT racist!!!

MOREOVER, during my career I visited California 4-5 times/year and, following my retirement, I was a tax-paying resident of San Francisco until 2011.

AND I WAS NEVER AWARE of a single commercial radio station in our author’s own San Francisco Bay Area that preached “loving your neighbor as yourself” or even a pale facsimile thereof.

ACCORDINGLY, our author’s own litmus test “proves” that the residents of our author’s own San Francisco Bay Area ARE RACISTS!!!

*****
Fourth Peculiarity About Our Author’s Racism Proclamation

Our author’s litmus test for CLAIMING that “older right-wing whites” are racists based on what they see on television and read in newspapers IS BIZARRE for yet another reason.

Television’s fabled Nielsen Ratings measure NOT ONLY the audience size of each television show, BUT ALSO measure the PROFILE of each television show’s audience.

For example, whether it is young, affluent, well-educated, etc., etc.

It is inconceivable that advertisers do not demand the same type of data for the readership of each newspaper before they decide whether to place their ads there.

So why doesn’t our author provide any data about WHICH TELEVISION SHOWS “older whites” in the American South actually watch???

*****
CONCLUSION

Our author received her PhD from U/Cal-Berkeley.

For the four reasons set forth above, U/Cal-Berkeley should revoke her PhD in order to preserve its own reputation!!!

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