by Vexed » Thu 03 Nov 2005, 20:42:25
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bobcousins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', 'T')he one I find most remarkable is that Americans have been trained like monkeys to hate the poor. There are many arguments why, such as it's the land of opportunity etc.
It's actually a really good question. I saw a good analysis of it which I now can't find. At some point, the US was transformed from that Christian principle which says that everyone is equally worthy, provided they worship God, to a principle which implies your moral worth depends on how financially rich you are.
This has its roots in the change of social viewpoint. In the european old world, you had the class structure which defined where people were. Social mobility did not happen, people reluctantly accepted their lot. You can even see this today. Aristos and poor people actually get on really well. They both don't care about money (for different reasons), and just like to have a good time. It is the Middle class who agonise, they despise the rich for being lazy and inheriting wealth, and they either sympathise with the poor for being uneducated or despise them for having no aspirations. If you saw "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here..." you can see this being played out.
In the New World, the old class system is discarded. The new ethic is work hard and you will be successful. It's the "anyone can be President" principle. The flip side to this principle, is that if you are poor, it implies that you have not been working hard enough, or are otherwise defective. In fact, the idea of American social mobility
is a complete myth. Studies have shown that social mobility is lower in the USA than in most other western countries. Americans will not however abandon the myth of a class-less society - it is their ideology. They stick to the ideology, and this is why the poor continue to be despised. They must be to blame themsleves for being poor - othwerse they deny the American Dream.
The reality is that modern America has a more rigid class structure than the world they tried to leave behind. The class structure is based on money and power, which determines access to education, jobs and capital. This is inherited as much as titles are. The poor are a constant reminder that the American Dream is a myth, and that is why they are despised.
Well put, Cousins. BTW, the term you're searching for here is Meritocracy. The US sees itself in this way, and to a degree, it was a meritocracy. But actually, the idea that the individual in the US could substantially change his status or increase his income through hard work and talent alone, is based on an absense of understanding of the labour movement.
The drive to unionize in the US accomplished more in terms of bumping the poor up a class than anything else. A good union job provided a family with means to provide for it's children and educate them. That together with the post war GI bill and Britain's losing it's status as a world power, created terrific opportunity for many Americans.
As unions lost power, society began reinforcing the idea of the power of the individual. The idea that "you create your own reality" may have some metaphysical merit, but that has been a weak force against the mundane reality of globalization and the resulting outsourcing of manufacturing jobs.
But people, including the poor, suck it up. They've integrated the twisted "spiritual" values that insist that efforts to improve themselves should remain atomized, isolated and independant. They labour away in utter futility, while the upper class networks like crazy in a true "collectivist" effort to accomplish their goals.
