Time, I guess, to jump into the cauldron. And I do so, admittedly, without knowing the full context of the diaries which sparked the latest "He said-She said" Rec list battle. I don't do polemics well. I don't write about politics and political economy well. I know where I stand. Just as well as I know where I once stood. I see it around me, and I absorb it, synthesize it...I am like the 3rd World who gleans the grains from the field after it has been harvested, places them onto my woven tray, tosses them into the air and allows the wind to send the chaff afloat, leaving me with a few morsels of sustenance.
I have strong feelings about the whole political economy thing...but I lack the blogging skills of Meteor Blades, who can import graphs and charts, not to replace his analysis, but to support it. But by and large, I avoid overtly political diaries. They compel you to argue forcefully in a linear mode, with supporting evidence, and I find the process of aggregating the supporting evidence, and fending off the attacks, to be distasteful.
I will attempt to step outside of that box. Because I read something yesterday, by a diarist that I generally respect and aspire to in terms of writing and discursive skills, implied something here which, at least to me, smacked of both a lack of perspective and perhaps, even, a lack of empathy.
His diary was, as is all too often the case, a counterpoint to another diary which had wound its way to the top of the Rec List. The first Diarist (MC) stated his unconditional devotion to matters of povertyand Middle Class erosion, as he experienced them within his own community, and...at least by my reading...seemed to suggest that many here take their eye off the ball and get all wrapped up in what he might think of as secondary issues. I don't want to put words in his mouth, as I may have misread his rant. Not surprisingly, it didn't take long for a group to soon form indignantly suggesting that his "priorities" are not exclusive, one, and that their own lack of attention to his identified priority does not in any way diminish their valuation of it...they are simply "better multi-taskers." They failed, in my eye, to make the case for how not addressing a core issue on any regular basis doesn't mean that it's not a core issue for them.
What caught my eye, however, was this line:
, I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my fellow middle class white American for saying what needed to be said. He's made it safe for the silent majority to come forward and say, I don't give a shit about anybody but me and people who look like me,
Snark tag aside...that comment is unfair, untrue, unwarranted, and just generally shitty. There's a fine line between snark and sarcasm; between irony and meanness. The title of the diary, "Let's Just Worry About People Like You and Me" was intended as a javelin cast at the heart of the former diarist....I would suggest that it is a boomarang, and not a javelin.
Who are the people like you and me? The answer depends, of course, upon who you and me are. And upon our circumstances.
Clearly, David wants us all to know that we are all the most discriminated against amongst us...people subject to indiscrimate detention. There, but for the Grace of God, go I...or thee. If they can do this to "X"...how long before they attempt to do it to "Y". There is a logic to that argument that cannot be debated.
But there is a logic to need that cannot be debated, either.
And you know what? I challenge you all to step on board your local bus, and just ride for awhile, sitting cheek to cheek with people you neither know nor care to know, and engage them in a conversation about NDAA. Ask them what their concerns are, and they will tell you. But don't hold your breath for an emotional outpouring over issues of detention, of bullying of gays in middle school, or of laments about global warming.
They are just trying to survive. Survival is a fun thing to read about here, as evidenced by a recent series that made the Rec List outlining home canning techniques and such. Real survival is far less photogenic. And it is hardly a "White, Middle Class bourgeoisie" diversion. I live in Portland, Oregon. Like other states, we are struggling with this recession. Private charitable organizations supplying services like food pantries are overtaxed. I have never availed myself of one yet. But Two weeks ago I had to take the bus to get from point "A' to point "B"., and found myself in front of one. I allowed three buses to pass me by as I observed the people coming and going from its doors.
I was in a neighborhood that the latest census figures show as being almost 88% Caucasian. Counting the people who entered the food pantry in my sight over a period of 30 minutes...they were almost 1 in 3 latino. I saw Blacks enter as well as Whites. On the bus itself, it was a much more mixed race group. The poverty that we are afflicted with is not a "White, Middle Class" concern. It is multicultural, and multiracial. And to be a vocal proponent of poverty as the issue of our time is not to be a White philistine.
Portland is not a metropolitan area marked by widespread urban blight...but there are nonetheless areas that are underserved, and areas of poverty. There are neighborhoods where there simply aren't many, if any, supermarkets. And in those communities, almost 1 in 5 do not drive.
How long has it been since you, fellow Kossacks, took public transportation, or walked 1.5 miles, to buy groceries? Because that was the only way to get there. I walked to the nearest Safeway back in December, while my wife was gone...because my car wouldn't start. It was a 2 mile walk, and the 2 miles back, with 2 bags of groceries, was pretty hard. I had to shift the load several times, and was cursingt under my breath. That was one time. Imagine if everytime you had to get groceries it was the same?
Imagine if your grocery budget was such that you had to take the bus, and pass 3 supermarkets along the route, to travel 10 miles to the only store where your food dollars would stretch as far as they need to stretch. That is a reality for many people. Some of them are White, some of them are Black, some are Latino. They have their little collapsible carts that they know how many groceries they can fit into, and they take that bus that most of you can't imagine. A 9 mile trip can take over an hour if you have to transfer. Spend about 45 minutes gleaning the grocery store for the best deals, cause you don't want to repeat this trip, and the return bus ride home...you've just spent the better part of 4 hours buying groceries.
Excuse that person, once she finally gets home and drops her bags and puts the food away, and cooks dinner for the hungry family members, if she doesn't have the energy or the inclination to log onto DKos and wax indignant about the NDAA. She (or He) probably just wants to gell out for awhile.
I've never been to Muskegon, Michigan. But I have been to Akron, Ohio. And I have driven through Youngstown. Have you?
Do you...any of you??? Know what a city looks like that is currently facing almost a 50% poverty rate, as Youngstown is? Or over 1/3 of the public school students living in poverty, and many of them homeless, as Akron is? These aren't White Kids...they are kids. Poverty is a White problem, it's a problem of Humanity. And it is, in spite of whatever circumstances y'all find yourselves in...pressing. Urgent. It's the wolf at the door. Not the ICE agent, and not the DHS agent. It's the fucking wolf. And the wolf likes white meat just as much as it does dark meat.
I know one thing...I will rec any diary here that speaks to these issues, because they are growing, not receding. And anyone who suggests that they are parochial, or the subject of White Middle Class navel gazing is fortunate that they are not within arm's length. It is most definitely not, and to suggest it is says more about your own White, Middle Class privileged existence than it does anyone else's.
And I had to get that off of my chest.