Two Overclass females, after having enjoyed chocolate scrubs and rose wine wraps. Are white, working class Americans prepared to take lessons in morality from the likes of them?
In an earlier blog:
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/02/coming-apart-charles-murrays-arguments.html
I basically lacerated a book by Charles Murrary, 'Coming Apart: The State of White America: 1960- 2010' with its premise that at least one-fifth of Caucasian Americans is suffering from an ongoing regression in mental capacity (owing to become more dependent on "entitlements"), decaying morals and lost wealth. However, I pointed out in that earlier blog that rather than blame poor, working class Caucasians for their predicament, people-commentators would be wiser to blame a corrupt economic system predicated on who, or which subset, can emulate the most voracious jackals. (Recall Vilfredo Pareto in his original parable concerning his Pareto distribution, referred to a "commonality composed of a wolf and a sheep", with the maximum efficiency achieved after the wolf ate the sheep.)
In a number of preceding blogs, I had detailed the evil basis of this rogue economic system, and how it propped up the scurrilious, parasitical elites. See. e.g.:
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/06/modern-economics-its-evil-basis-pareto.html
and
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/06/modern-economics-its-evil-basis-pareto_13.html
Even a cursory examination of the content of those two blogs will disclose that contrary to Murray's mythology, it is the economic system that creates immoral people, not the converse! It is also the most immoral people (e.g. the elites) who are able to profit and advance from within this corrupt system because they are privvy to all its loopholes, and networks that enable them to take advantage of ordinary Joe Schmoes.
Worse, in order to sustain this vile system, the Elites are forced to confect lies for those they perceive as beneath them. They also rig advantages so that their offspring can gain admission to the most elite universities, while working class families have to suck salt and beg for outrageous-interest laden loans from private usurers.. err... purveyors.
Ultimately, the crassest lie of all is tied into the fundamental attribution error which the elites fob upon the workers and strugglers to make them believe it is THEIR fault for not getting to the top, rather than the rich pigs for rigging the system to keep them in their place.
Understandably then, one becomes enraged when he beholds people who ought to know better even implicitly defending this horrific evil economic zeitgeist and its third columnists, apologists and criminals. And so, one has to look askance at the Brit columnist for The Economist who goes by the monicker, "Lexington". Because I could barely finish one of his recent pieces (Feb. 4, p. 36) without running to grab a barf bag.
While Lexington's paean to Charles Murray seems to ring alternately warm and cold almost paragraph by paragraph(i.e. "the most successful are not only rich but exceptionally clever, because they've become expert at sending their brightest to the same elite universities" vs. "This new elite is not just a breed apart but seems to live in bubbles, such as Manhattan south of 96th Street".)
Then there are the over the top references that ding the lower classes (or any class or people who don't follow the example of the upper crust) by noting:
"A cultural gap separates the Elite from other Americans. They seldom watch 'Oprah' or Judge Judy', in fact they do not watch much television at all. They eat in restaurants but not at Applebee's, Denny's or Waffle House...chains that cater to the common taste. They read The Economist and the New York Times, or Wall Street Journal, and they drink wine and boutique beers.....but only in moderation and never smoke cigarettes."
Well, no surprise about the tv-watching. I mean, shit, all the Elites have to do all day is keep tabs of the stock market crawl on CNBC or occasionally make the odd trade online! Meanwhile, Working Joe, having finished 10 hours - including unpaid overtimes- butchering chickens at the local supermarket, has little energy left for anything other than watching 'Alcatraz' or 'House'! After parading all the things the Elites DO, and by the exclusion principle calling attention to what ordinary Joes and Janes don't - which in effect makes them culturally "inferior" to their elite betters - Lexington has the absolute chutzpah to write:
"A lot of American commentary about the elite is suffused with a creepy resentment...."
Oh yeah, Mr. Lexington! Righto, mate! You bloviate about all the niceties these elites do and the experiences they share together - including their rose wine wraps, then talk about commentary concerning these people "suffused with a creepy resentment". Ah no, what's "creepy" is toadying up to these jackals in any way as if one would wish to suck the soot from the soles of their wingtips. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, sir!
You ought to be asking instead, how many lives - of ordinary working class Americans- each of these vile swine wrecked or stole or rent asunder to be able to afford: 18 holes on a special course at St. Kitts-Nevis, or 10-15 kt diamond jewellry (often necklaces) from Tiffany', and nightly candle-light dining in special luxury Villlas (see graphic) where they can feast on endless foie Gras, fresh salmon, lobster thermidor, and as many Magnums of the best champagne as they desire.
Oh......as opposed to having to dirty their dainty, elitist paws holding a big burger at Dennys' or while eating a humble sirloin at Applebee's! But note this: those working or lower middle class white folk who do go to Denny's or Appelbee's at least earned their meals as opposed to stealing their lobster thermidors and magnums of champagne blind from workers via expropriation of their labor.
Next comes the moral opprobrium as if Lex is channeling Murray:
"Most in need of instruction is a new lower class, perhaps a fifth of the white population whose plight forms the next part of his book. This class is in the throes of disintegration. Too many of its men will not work, too many of its women raise children out of wedlock, religious worship is in decline... In lower class neighborhoods the togetherness of communities has vanished...."
Okay, let's back up there, Lex. This needs an objective examination as opposed to semi-adorational slobbering. Let's begin with the last, that "lower class neighborhoods have lost togetherness". This very malady in fact, was addressed as long ago as 1995 by Charles Reich in his book, Opposing the System. As Reich noted therein, p. 103:
"When society itself comes to be modeled on economic and organizational principles, all of the forces that bind people together are torn apart in the struggle for survival. Community is destroyed because we are no longer 'in this together' because everyone is a threat to everyone else."
Note especially the highlighted part. We are no longer in this "together". Again, the crime or sin or whatever you wish to call it that Lex and Murray appear to want to hang on the lower classes is in actuality a direct effect of the Pareto-optimality based economic system which destroys equality and cooperation. It enables banks to foreclose homes at will (robo-closings) and thereby fractures neighbors one from the other. It rewards those who are prepared to game the system, but not those are aren't.
In such a capitalist-driven, consumerist, Pareto-organizational economic model, wherein the resource “pie” for the non-wealthy grows ever smaller, the young are threats to us oldsters, as we are threats to them, as neighbor is to neighbor. It can't be otherwise. For example, as threats to our Social Security are ramped up on account of the odious austerity-debt hawks - led by billionaire pricks such as Peter G. Peterson, we oldsters tend to pull back in self-interest and vote ardently against any increase in property taxes to support schools.While we would dearly love to support local schools via higher taxes, we are wary so long as threats exist to cut our benefits and standards of living to the point we need to turn our furnaces off to save money, or split our meds.
And at the forlorn bottom of it all each manjack believes the "other" - his neighbor, to be his enemy as opposed to the savage debased system that spawned such inequities. And each time we latch onto their PR spiel, that WE are to blame - whether on talk radio, or 'Morning Joe' or from any blow dried bimbo, we worsen the situation. We then play into the original hands of Edward Bernays and his PR factory. Recall Bernays' infamous words:
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government, which is the true ruling power of our country.”
So pardon me while I retch as Lex recounts - from Murray's book- that the über-Rich sally forth from their "Super zips" to "talk the less fortunate into marrying, worker harder, and becoming better neighbors"
Well ...uh. yeah, if these overclass twerps who smile out of one corner of their mouth and frown on the other want their butts kicked. Because make no mistake, the response they'd get by seeking to lecture the 'have nots' on American mores would not be very welcoming. The recipients would begin by telling these wine and brie eaters that if they want them to marry then fucking provide a LIVING wage, not a mere minimum wage, to enable that to happen. They'd tell them to also provide - parting with some of their ill gotten millions or billions - some free child care services such as exist in Denmark and Norway.
As for "working harder" - they'd be told 'Yeah, if you fucking stop sending our jobs off to Bangalore or wherever, and give us decent pay and benefits for the jobs we do have.
Becoming better neighbors? No problem! Simply revise the debased existing economic system which places a priority on screwing your neighbor to get ahead, and replacing it with one that emphasized cooperation. Not that hard.
Even Lexington, by the end of his toffy-nosed bloviation gets it when he writes:
"Those in the upper class who heed his call might want to leave their Mercedes Benzes at home when they set out for Denny's on their voyage of persuasion."
Maybe tell them to leave their PR pamphlets at home too, because we all know how that works by now!
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/02/coming-apart-charles-murrays-arguments.html
I basically lacerated a book by Charles Murrary, 'Coming Apart: The State of White America: 1960- 2010' with its premise that at least one-fifth of Caucasian Americans is suffering from an ongoing regression in mental capacity (owing to become more dependent on "entitlements"), decaying morals and lost wealth. However, I pointed out in that earlier blog that rather than blame poor, working class Caucasians for their predicament, people-commentators would be wiser to blame a corrupt economic system predicated on who, or which subset, can emulate the most voracious jackals. (Recall Vilfredo Pareto in his original parable concerning his Pareto distribution, referred to a "commonality composed of a wolf and a sheep", with the maximum efficiency achieved after the wolf ate the sheep.)
In a number of preceding blogs, I had detailed the evil basis of this rogue economic system, and how it propped up the scurrilious, parasitical elites. See. e.g.:
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/06/modern-economics-its-evil-basis-pareto.html
and
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/06/modern-economics-its-evil-basis-pareto_13.html
Even a cursory examination of the content of those two blogs will disclose that contrary to Murray's mythology, it is the economic system that creates immoral people, not the converse! It is also the most immoral people (e.g. the elites) who are able to profit and advance from within this corrupt system because they are privvy to all its loopholes, and networks that enable them to take advantage of ordinary Joe Schmoes.
Worse, in order to sustain this vile system, the Elites are forced to confect lies for those they perceive as beneath them. They also rig advantages so that their offspring can gain admission to the most elite universities, while working class families have to suck salt and beg for outrageous-interest laden loans from private usurers.. err... purveyors.
Ultimately, the crassest lie of all is tied into the fundamental attribution error which the elites fob upon the workers and strugglers to make them believe it is THEIR fault for not getting to the top, rather than the rich pigs for rigging the system to keep them in their place.
Understandably then, one becomes enraged when he beholds people who ought to know better even implicitly defending this horrific evil economic zeitgeist and its third columnists, apologists and criminals. And so, one has to look askance at the Brit columnist for The Economist who goes by the monicker, "Lexington". Because I could barely finish one of his recent pieces (Feb. 4, p. 36) without running to grab a barf bag.
While Lexington's paean to Charles Murray seems to ring alternately warm and cold almost paragraph by paragraph(i.e. "the most successful are not only rich but exceptionally clever, because they've become expert at sending their brightest to the same elite universities" vs. "This new elite is not just a breed apart but seems to live in bubbles, such as Manhattan south of 96th Street".)
Then there are the over the top references that ding the lower classes (or any class or people who don't follow the example of the upper crust) by noting:
"A cultural gap separates the Elite from other Americans. They seldom watch 'Oprah' or Judge Judy', in fact they do not watch much television at all. They eat in restaurants but not at Applebee's, Denny's or Waffle House...chains that cater to the common taste. They read The Economist and the New York Times, or Wall Street Journal, and they drink wine and boutique beers.....but only in moderation and never smoke cigarettes."
Well, no surprise about the tv-watching. I mean, shit, all the Elites have to do all day is keep tabs of the stock market crawl on CNBC or occasionally make the odd trade online! Meanwhile, Working Joe, having finished 10 hours - including unpaid overtimes- butchering chickens at the local supermarket, has little energy left for anything other than watching 'Alcatraz' or 'House'! After parading all the things the Elites DO, and by the exclusion principle calling attention to what ordinary Joes and Janes don't - which in effect makes them culturally "inferior" to their elite betters - Lexington has the absolute chutzpah to write:
"A lot of American commentary about the elite is suffused with a creepy resentment...."
Oh yeah, Mr. Lexington! Righto, mate! You bloviate about all the niceties these elites do and the experiences they share together - including their rose wine wraps, then talk about commentary concerning these people "suffused with a creepy resentment". Ah no, what's "creepy" is toadying up to these jackals in any way as if one would wish to suck the soot from the soles of their wingtips. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, sir!
You ought to be asking instead, how many lives - of ordinary working class Americans- each of these vile swine wrecked or stole or rent asunder to be able to afford: 18 holes on a special course at St. Kitts-Nevis, or 10-15 kt diamond jewellry (often necklaces) from Tiffany', and nightly candle-light dining in special luxury Villlas (see graphic) where they can feast on endless foie Gras, fresh salmon, lobster thermidor, and as many Magnums of the best champagne as they desire.
Oh......as opposed to having to dirty their dainty, elitist paws holding a big burger at Dennys' or while eating a humble sirloin at Applebee's! But note this: those working or lower middle class white folk who do go to Denny's or Appelbee's at least earned their meals as opposed to stealing their lobster thermidors and magnums of champagne blind from workers via expropriation of their labor.
Next comes the moral opprobrium as if Lex is channeling Murray:
"Most in need of instruction is a new lower class, perhaps a fifth of the white population whose plight forms the next part of his book. This class is in the throes of disintegration. Too many of its men will not work, too many of its women raise children out of wedlock, religious worship is in decline... In lower class neighborhoods the togetherness of communities has vanished...."
Okay, let's back up there, Lex. This needs an objective examination as opposed to semi-adorational slobbering. Let's begin with the last, that "lower class neighborhoods have lost togetherness". This very malady in fact, was addressed as long ago as 1995 by Charles Reich in his book, Opposing the System. As Reich noted therein, p. 103:
"When society itself comes to be modeled on economic and organizational principles, all of the forces that bind people together are torn apart in the struggle for survival. Community is destroyed because we are no longer 'in this together' because everyone is a threat to everyone else."
Note especially the highlighted part. We are no longer in this "together". Again, the crime or sin or whatever you wish to call it that Lex and Murray appear to want to hang on the lower classes is in actuality a direct effect of the Pareto-optimality based economic system which destroys equality and cooperation. It enables banks to foreclose homes at will (robo-closings) and thereby fractures neighbors one from the other. It rewards those who are prepared to game the system, but not those are aren't.
In such a capitalist-driven, consumerist, Pareto-organizational economic model, wherein the resource “pie” for the non-wealthy grows ever smaller, the young are threats to us oldsters, as we are threats to them, as neighbor is to neighbor. It can't be otherwise. For example, as threats to our Social Security are ramped up on account of the odious austerity-debt hawks - led by billionaire pricks such as Peter G. Peterson, we oldsters tend to pull back in self-interest and vote ardently against any increase in property taxes to support schools.While we would dearly love to support local schools via higher taxes, we are wary so long as threats exist to cut our benefits and standards of living to the point we need to turn our furnaces off to save money, or split our meds.
And at the forlorn bottom of it all each manjack believes the "other" - his neighbor, to be his enemy as opposed to the savage debased system that spawned such inequities. And each time we latch onto their PR spiel, that WE are to blame - whether on talk radio, or 'Morning Joe' or from any blow dried bimbo, we worsen the situation. We then play into the original hands of Edward Bernays and his PR factory. Recall Bernays' infamous words:
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government, which is the true ruling power of our country.”
So pardon me while I retch as Lex recounts - from Murray's book- that the über-Rich sally forth from their "Super zips" to "talk the less fortunate into marrying, worker harder, and becoming better neighbors"
Well ...uh. yeah, if these overclass twerps who smile out of one corner of their mouth and frown on the other want their butts kicked. Because make no mistake, the response they'd get by seeking to lecture the 'have nots' on American mores would not be very welcoming. The recipients would begin by telling these wine and brie eaters that if they want them to marry then fucking provide a LIVING wage, not a mere minimum wage, to enable that to happen. They'd tell them to also provide - parting with some of their ill gotten millions or billions - some free child care services such as exist in Denmark and Norway.
As for "working harder" - they'd be told 'Yeah, if you fucking stop sending our jobs off to Bangalore or wherever, and give us decent pay and benefits for the jobs we do have.
Becoming better neighbors? No problem! Simply revise the debased existing economic system which places a priority on screwing your neighbor to get ahead, and replacing it with one that emphasized cooperation. Not that hard.
Even Lexington, by the end of his toffy-nosed bloviation gets it when he writes:
"Those in the upper class who heed his call might want to leave their Mercedes Benzes at home when they set out for Denny's on their voyage of persuasion."
Maybe tell them to leave their PR pamphlets at home too, because we all know how that works by now!
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