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They don’t identify as rednecks because most of polite society looks down on those types of people. Over the past 40 years we’ve demonized manual labor and the
by davewritescode 8y ago
They don’t identify as rednecks because most of polite society looks down on those types of people. Over the past 40 years we’ve demonized manual labor and the people who perform it as lower class and undeserving of nice things. Real success after all is an office job, just ask any high school guidance counselor.
Most people have the innate sense that something in our society is deeply unfair and they’re looking for someone to blame. Trump offers easy solutions.
What we should refuse to do is let anyone off the hook for supporting Trump. Just because you like his business policies doesn’t mean you get to look the other way when he does monstrous things like locking migrant families in detention centers.
- josefresco 8y agoAmerican identity politics started long before Trump, and long before the GOP's modern assault on governance. I just finished reading; White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America - it was illuminating. The war against "cultural elites" started with the first "mountain men" that ran for office in contrast to the 'educated elites' from "the North". Sound familiar? It's not liberals, leftists or elitists who started the war on manual labor - they used it to separate themselves a long time ago. This of course was connected to slavery, which left the south under-educated and feeling personally attacked. Too much to cover here, just read the book!