[Ibon]

Read Fareed Zakaria's article here

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... story.html


Why is Middle America killing itself? The fact itself is probably the most important social science finding in years.

This article is interesting because of this suicidal impulse that arises when your privilege is removed.

I remember Argentina in the 90's, the high level of suicide and psycho therapy among its citizens when severe recession hit and the country had to adjust to a loss of certain privilege as well.

White America has not had the coping mechanisms that some minorities have developed to cope with a disadvantaged future.

This might be just a generation thing as well.

What youall think?

[Newfie]

White Americans have the Puritan work ethic, similar to the Japanese?

They have been born and raised to be worker bees. Take the work away and they have no reason to live, they get foresees, and so on.

Latin and black groups are no so disadvantaged. Don't know about Asians. Seems Japan has a similar problem.

I know in myself, as I approach retirement in 2 weeks, even though I am far more prepared than most, it creates a lot of stress and is not comfortable. And I've been working some form of part time for about 10 years. Guys who are 65 and still hard at it have a very difficult time retiring. It must be even worse to be 50 And be let go, turned out, useless, and broke.

[Cog]

I'm not going to miss work one bit. Counting the days and weeks.

[MonteQuest]

Demographics and minority equality; the root cause behind the polarization of America.

The White Person has, for decades, had a sense of being superior to Native Americans, blacks and Hispanics, and other ethnic people. White men felt a sense of domination over “their” women. Homosexuals were called “queers’ or “faggots.” Women didn’t vote, didn’t work outside the home, and were kept barefoot and pregnant. About the time we started to witness the decline of the middle class and physical infrastructure, we saw minorities gaining equality, affirmative action, voting rights, civil rights, and even be elected to high office. Interracial marriage was allowed. This sense of a declining white superiority was further tarnished by the media when the bastions of prejudice were exposed as ignorant thinking by rural white bumpkins. A vision of a multicultural America with everyone equal was seen as, just not right.

Now, same sex couples can marry, women can now fight on the front lines, and a black man—the result of an interracial marriage—becomes President. Equality laws threatened the religious right’s “freedom to discriminate.”

Couple this with the changing demographics that show whites will soon be a minority in America, and you get the making of a revolt that breeds district gerrymandering, voter laws that suppress minorities, laws that discriminate against minorities, and the rise of demagogues that espouse racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, and a promise to Make America White Again.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'C')ouple this with the changing demographics that show whites will soon be a minority in America

[onlooker]

It is in my opinion mainly about resilience as well as easy access to narcotics and alcohol. Meaning White Americans have not developed the coping mechanisms of other races as they have been insulated to a large degree from real hardships and outcomes. This has created what has been said already a sense of privilege and expectation. This in turn is now meeting up with the realities that are coming more and more to the forefront. So this attitude and mind frame cannot cope with these new realities and people seek to get away from their problems either with stupefying substances and/or suicide. Of course being drugged or drunk makes the ultimate act of suicide less difficult to go through with.

[Ibon]

The point about expectations is what struck me. Hispanics and blacks and other minorities never held high expectations of success and continue to see their mortality rates decline, only the under educated whites are experiencing this rise in mortality due to alcoholism,drugs and suicide. They were never honed for hardship.

In my decades living in developing countries I have noticed populations with greater well being but much poorer. There isn't that sense of expectation or entitlement. There is however far more cohesive family and community.

Interesting that self destruction is rising, perhaps even more than rage for this uneducated white demographic in the US. Increased drug use etc. This is clearly related to feeling isolated and not integrated, what Agent compared between Joe6P white alone vs Jose 6P hispanic with tighter family unit.

If Joe6P white had more brotherhood and community there would be more rage and less self destruction. Rage can manifest change. Without community rage has nowhere to go except toward further self destruction. Donald Trump tapping into this with empty promises will only further exasperate this despair.

[onlooker]

Good points Ibon, personal problems can be dealt with better if one has supportive and caring people around you. Also, I failed to mention another possible explanation and that is the sense of failure that these uneducated Whites must feel. Remember, the narrative as always been the sense that Whites are superior. So this sense of personal failure can be quite overwhelming to some. In fact one can see it manifest in Asian communities that hold rigorous expectations for offspring. I have heard that this has led to some youth also taking their lives. Self-esteem should never be underestimated particularly in young peoples as a potential source of great anguish when a person does not have it. To feel that you are worthless can be devastating to anyone.

[SeaGypsy]

Screw self esteem, there's way too much of it already. More OK with a simple life, more OK with sharing. Less self, less concern with esteem outside one's kin, more concern with smooth relations & interactions. America especially has an over abundance of the importance of self esteem, a load of psi pop b-s really.

Sent from my HUAWEI Y520-U33 using Tapatalk

[Newfie]

Cog,

It's not about "missing" work. It's about being flexible and compassionate with yourself so that you can transition. Don't underestimate how much the system has gotten into you. Hopefully this is unnecessary advice. Good luck.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', ' ')I think this is a *good* thing though, and should be embraced as an opportunity to create a new community of something that is distinctly American; not Anglo, not Spanish, not African, not Asian; but an authentically true American culture.

[Tanada]

Bull pucky. There is not one single thing about the Democrat party that has to do with the future, they are mired in the past and constantly dredge up old offenses, some real and some imagined. As for the Republicans they could give a rip about so called 'white privilege' the only thing the elites of both major parties care about is maintaining their elite privileges. If that meant deporting the Irish descent Americans back to Ireland and the Italian descent back to Italy they would be 100 percent behind the project.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'B')ull pucky. There is not one single thing about the Democrat party that has to do with the future, they are mired in the past and constantly dredge up old offenses, some real and some imagined. As for the Republicans they could give a rip about so called 'white privilege' the only thing the elites of both major parties care about is maintaining their elite privileges.

[Pops]

It seems really simple, since forever in the US, being WASP male meant you automatically were some number of steps above quite a few other groups, no matter how little you achieved you always had someone to be "better than."
Now not so much.

Uneducated whites were promised if they would only vote tax breaks for the rich and deregulation for the corps they would receive a Shining City on the Hill. But not only did civil rights proceed pace and the old comfortable segregation fall and eliminate the biggest birthright, it turns out nothing trickled down either.
The USSR fell, so what?
Red China took your job.

I just can't get over how much Sanders and Trump are addressing the same basic problems, just from opposite ends of the spectrum.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'T')his election is coming down to a battle between two visions for America: one that embraces a multicultural future and one that harkens for a return to white privilege.

[onlooker]

What about a Universal culture, where we see each other as one/one human family. Is it too late for that? Was that ever even possible?

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'W')hat about a Universal culture, where we see each other as one/one human family. Is it too late for that? Was that ever even possible?

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'A')gent, we're an aging population. Couldn't we arrive there faster with bingo and shuffleboard?

[KaiserJeep]

As in most things, good or bad, California leads the way. Today's Silicon Valley success story is far more often than not, a minority or mixed race individual, often female, and frequently an immigrant. The Old White Men made their fortunes and disappeared from the tech scene a decade or more ago. Those Whites left in the Valley are recently retired wage slaves (like me), soon to retire wage slaves (like my wife), the owners of Blue Collar type businesses, and a bare few who have actually missed the tech bubble, but don't yet know that.

I really want to move to Wisconsin, but the wife is not quite ready and I refuse to push her to make a decision. But I do bring every new digital image and phone video of the grandkids to her attention, and doubtless she will convince herself to move soon, and live amongst her descendants. She'll make an awesome Grandma.