Harold Meyerson has an excellent article in the Washington Post this morning examining the impact of OWS on white blue collar workers. He points out that OWS is vaguely countercultural and in the past many white blue collar workers have recoiled from such people and demonstrations. The very rich have long used cultural war to split any possible opposition to their exploitation of Americans. Blue collar workers should be hating those "hippies" in Wall Street. Indeed, FoxNews and Rush are pouring on the false depictions, hoping to bring on the hate. But it's just not working like it used to. Most people, inluding white blue collar workers, SUPPORT Occupy Wall Street and the battle against economic inequality!
According to a National Journal poll, 59 percent of Americans agree with Occupy Wall Street, while 31 percent disagree — a level of support comparable to that found by a Time magazine survey last week. The Post’s Greg Sargent has thoughtfully broken down the data and found that the group that should resent the occupiers most — working-class whites — doesn’t resent them any more than anyone else does. In the National Journal poll, 56 percent of non-college-educated whites back the demonstrators, though the right-wing media continually depict them as trust-fund babies gone wild.
In the strange case of Occupy Wall Street, none of the usual cultural signifiers by which we’ve been conditioned to hate one another seems to be working. Where have you gone, Archie Bunker? What gives?
WaPo, Harold Meyerson, It’s hard to hate these occupiers
Meyerson believes that the usual cultural signifiers that keep people apart break down here in the face of a common enemy:
What gives, I suspect, is that most Americans don’t particularly care what the demonstrators in downtown New York and other cities look like or believe in.
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What they care about is that the demonstrators are confronting unmerited power and unearned wealth. They are taking on the banks.
WaPo, Harold Meyerson, It’s hard to hate these occupiers
They are taking on the banks. The usual tricks to keep people apart are not working. The banks went too far when they impovrished so many.
This is what happens when the 99% see the 1% for what they are and fight back.
The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
Just a few examples of union support for OWS:
Unions Join Occupy Wall St.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Supporting Occupy Wall Street
AFL-CIO President Visits Occupy Wall Street