Angry White Men Should Stop Trusting The Source of Their Discontent

12/29/2012

Angry White Men Should Stop Trusting The Source of Their Discontent

The working title for this post: "What do white men have to be angry about?" was rendered obsolete when I admitted that poor, working class, and middle class white men have plenty about which to be fearful and angry. Unfortunately , for many of them, their anger is not directed at the source of their discontent.

After the 2012 political campaign, Republicans and conservative pundits were nonplus in their reactions to the belief that they had not created enough "angry white men." But it was not because they did not try. Rush Limbaugh has gotten wealthy creating angry white men and angry white women.

The pundits at Fox News are almost as good at doing the same thing. But they have to work much harder at it because we can see their faces. And evidently, many of the conservative pundits at Fox News are inclined to lie without conviction and say things they intellectually and morally know are not true. That kind of dissonance eventually takes a toll on even the most highly paid messengers of false and fake news, talking points, and commentary.

But money trumps everything, including truth and genuine morality. So, true to their calling, Republicans in state and federal government along with their conservative confederates on television and radio, rather than offer intelligent discourse, ideas, and solutions, instead used lies, false morality, and divisive talking points to create fear and anger in conservative white men and white women. They stuck to this premise in the belief that an angry white conservative base of scared and angry white men and women was large enough to swing the tide toward conservative chaos.

It almost worked. Many angry white conservatives directed their fear and anger towards the "government", minorities, illegal immigrants, LGBTs, Barack Obama, liberals, democrats, women, affordable health care, the poor, senior citizens, non-christians, medicare, jobless benefits, social security recipients, and a host of other groups--many of which angry white men and white women were themselves members and recipients of benefits.

But other angry white men and women saw through this audacious bid by Republicans and their conservative cohorts to direct anger and mistrust of the white middle class away from the power behind their discontent. They realized that their anger was misdirected and they needed to stop listening to and trusting the divisive sources of their discontent. The logic is very simple if one doesn't let hate and other unbridled debilitating emotions get in the way.

I. Wealthy white men, the infamous 1%, control most of what has political and economic power in America. They have done everything in their power to keep wealth and power in the hands of a few white men--even to the point of not letting the truth nor the Constitution of The United States of America get in the way. It is a very small society. Ninety-nine percent (99%) of white men--poor, working class, middle class, fringe groups, and white men making less than $250,000 and more-- are not members and are not invited. Indeed they are made to suffer because they don't belong. Neverthess they are still perpetually and relenlessly prodded and convinced to be angry at everyone but powerful white men who do not respect them or like them and refuse to tell them that they no longer have skills that they need or can't find cheaper in other countries.

II. Other angry white men realized that they have a right to be angry but were able to direct the souce of their anger towards the manipulative source of their discontent. They became angry at wealthy white business men, the super rich often are wealthy greedy CEOs, and wealthy conservative Republican politicians who, from a long list of other atrocities:
1. Destroyed American business and corporations and sent jobs to china and other places overseas.
2. Fought to deny Americans affordable health care.
3. Denied their mothers, wives, and daughters equal pay for the same work as men.
4. Voted against the Violence Against Women Act and sought to deny their wives, mothers, and daughters the right to get an abortion for any reason, including violent rape.
5. Blocked bills that would have provided jobs for veterans and other working class and middle class American workers to help rebuild and strengthen America's infrastructure.
6. Worked to destroy unions and orgainzed labor that protects American Workers, especially the white middle class.

Yes, men and women of the white middle class and the white working class have a lot about which they should be angry. But they should be fearful and less trusting of right wing conservative pundits and congressional members, most of whom are on the Republican side of the aisle who spit out divisive talking points and offer no cogent plans or intelligent discourse to move America forward. Nor do they offer any contributions to a diverse America whose every citizen only want to exercise their constitutional right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.