You dropped a bomb on me
 

https://twitter.com/jpbrammer/status/799686559901454336

So I'm a Mexican American from a poor, rural (mostly white) town in Oklahoma. Missing from this debate? How poor whites see themselves.

If you're wondering how poor, exploited white people could vote for a dude with a golden elevator who will fuck them over, here's how.


They don't see themselves as poor. They don't base their identity on it. They see themselves as "temporarily embarrassed millionaires."


The stigma against poverty is incredibly strong. It is shameful to be poor, to not have the comforts of the middle class. So they pretend--


That they aren't poor. They are willing to lie to make it seem like they aren't poor. They purchase things to make it seem like they're not.

In my town, wealth wasn't associated with greed, but with hard work and inherent goodness. You are blessed if you have material wealth.

When they see Trump, they don't see an extortionist who is rich because of the very conditions that keep their own communities in poverty.

They see someone who worked hard and was justly rewarded with wealth. Most men, especially, think they too could be Trump were it not for

the unfair obstacles put in their way. White men who don't consider themselves successful enough have so many excuses for their "failures."

The idea that immigrants are the reason they are poor and not wealthy like Trump is so appealing. It takes all the shame and blame away.

And here we have a man who, they think, "tells it like it is" and is willing to name the things stealing prosperity out of their hands.

If these people saw themselves as an exploited class of people, if American culture didn't stigmatize poverty so much, it might be different

But America has so entangled wealth with goodness and poverty with moral deficiency that they can't build that identity. They won't.

Trump is rich, and so according to American criteria, he is also:
1. Wise
2. Fair
3. Moral
4. Deserving
5. Strong
6. Clever
He *has* to be.

Capitalism and the American Dream teach that poverty is a temporary state that can be transcended with hard work and cleverness.

To fail to transcend poverty, and to admit you are poor, is to admit you are neither hardworking or clever. It's cultural brainwashing.

So if an exploited class of people don't want to admit they're exploited and they blame themselves for their oppression, what manifests?

Xenophobia. Hatred of anyone who is "different," queer people, people of color. These people are eroding the "goodness" of America.

And if they would just stop ruining America, then the perfect design of America could work again and deliver prosperity.

I'm telling you, as someone who has spent almost his entire life in this environment, that if you think cities are a "bubble..." Good God.

But the reality is, of course, that these people are indeed exploited and they are victims, even while they victimize others. Victimize us.

How you balance those realities, and what conclusions you reach to improve the lives of both, well, I'm not smart enough to have the answer.

https://twitter.com/jpbrammer/status/799686559901454336

You must spread reputation before...

GIT UP GIT UP GIT UP

Seriously y'all, watch this video. It's so embarrassing. And sooo 2001.

In that "things that were super corny and harmless and got banned because of 9/11" sort of way.

Oh look, I surpassed 2,000 posts

Just call me Powerman 2000.

Never forgetup get up get up

this is outta CONTROOOO

LOOK WHO'S GONE AND LOOK WHO'S BACK!

do you think these guys took themselves seriously?

I...hope not. I mean, he's Rob Zombie's brother, so I'm inclined to think he knew what he was doing was inferior and just rode that shit as hard as he could.

i wonder how many times he had to mime 'this is outta controooool" while lowering his gaze to look menacing to get them right

All very well put and true OP or whoever wrote that

this guy gets it

The US has an incredibly rigid class system but our optimism as a people doesn't allow us to see it

Contrast that with say the UK that has a people very aware and accepting of their lot in life despite if anything having higher social mobility

This is what it's like when worlds collide.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall for a video shoot like that. You know dressed up in all of those get-ups, half the band had to have been like "What are we even doing here?"

Wow reprise really broke character in this thread.

Nice to see you having fun, girl. Don't be shy!

NOBODY'S REAL!

"no matter how poor we white people are, at least they aren't black"

I've had a couple of my racist relatives actually say something very close to that when I called them on their racism.

That sums up how poor whites have been manipulated by racist ideology into doing the bidding of the rulers of this country for hundreds of years.

how do you get half a nation of poor white farmers to fight a war against their own government over the rights of .01% of the population to own other people? RACISM!

Bomb
rhymes with
mom

You dropped a mom on me

poor whites don't want solidarity with other poor people of color. they've been trained by society that it is in their best interest to hate us and feel one step up and at least glad they're white.

that's all true, but now what?

I have had similar thoughts and totally agree with you OP. I also have some odd insight to this:

I was born in Norway, moved to America with my family when I was an infant. For some strange reason, they moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. I grew up poor but happy. Odd thing is until I hit middle school I had never attended class with anyone but other poor white kids. First day of sixth grade all the familiar white faces freak out on the new Mexican and Black students. While all the other white students picked on the “foreigners” (dumb term) I felt kindred. I came to the realization that I had some sort of camouflage. I was accepted because I had white skin. It’s really that stupid. I am just as much of an immigrant as the others kids from Mexico. I never once in my life had to deal with that “go back to your country” rhetoric. It was an interesting position to learn and understand how truly ignorant racism is.

Fast-forward to present day: I’m 30 with six years of college under my belt. I just passed the two-year mark at my job. I’m fortunate enough to make a great living and that puts me in a position to meet many wealthy people (business owners). I’ve been dragged into conversations about immigration and how immigrants (especially Mexican) are destroying America. I’ve witnessed people making $50,000 a year talk about themselves as if they are in the same financial league as Trump. Like there is this special club of “Wealthy white people” that they all belong to. It’s ignorant self-aggrandizing that I just can’t comprehend. They view Trump as some sort of white wealth savior. Like he’s going to protect them from losing their status.
The phrase "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" is the best description for this view that I have come across.

^ i clicked on Avery's name to check who the fuck this person is and laughed out really loudly at CAIC's rep comment there. priceless. i love u bram

sounds like the kind that actually happened and then was subsequently covered up by other white racists life yourself