Thread: Very Appropriate?

"PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. "

I was just reflecting on this the other day as it relates to the current situation in the U.S.

It seems every time we hear about unionized workers like those at GM having their wages and benefits cut, many cheer. Every time Govt workers are slapped down many cheer. Every time we hear about some factory lowering their workers salaries and eliminating benefits many cheer.

So why is that? Is it because we simply suffer from sour grapes and like it when those above us are taken down a peg or we really think that's the way it should be?

Just remember every time this happens what is really going on is another group of Americans is being pushed further back down in the middle class or out of the middle class. How many times can this happen before there is no middle class? Reminds me back in N.Y in the 60s or so and folks were burning down their neighborhoods. Yes their own neighborhoods and in the end who were they punishing? Themselves, cause the businesses never returned and the homes were never rebuilt. Kind of like people just go crazy out of their mind and don't realize what they are doing.

Meanwhile the rich folks who instigate all this sit back and laugh their butts off. Reminds me of that old star wards movie where the Emperor says "yes, everything is going according to plan".

What do you think about this?

I for one believe you to be absolutely correct. Why "the people" are so glad to see their own throats slit is beyond me. The best that I can come up with is that as a house we have been divided into two camps and manipulated by; big money. the government it owns and the media it owns. These two camps are constantly kept in a frenzy of distrust and hatred of one another and are eager for any reason to betray the other, unaware of the fact that they share the same shackles and if the one goes down, so does the other.

Remember that term from the 60's, The Establishment? It was that all powerful force that kept things running and maintained the status quo at the expense of human rights and expression. I haven't heard the term used in a long time but the concept is alive and well today. Many have stopped seeing the people who the institutions around us as people. The government, big business, the church, all have become these faceless entities that we can point to when things go wrong. We cheer to see the failure of those establishments we've demonized, forgetting that the majority of individuals involved in them have nothing to do with the policies or decision-making involved. They don't deserve to suffer. We talk about the bailouts of the financial institutions and the automotive industry. Did the few in upper management responsible for the mess deserve to suffer the consequences? Probably. Did the thousands who carried their lunches to work each day and punched in at 7:00 deserve to be unemployed? I think not.

There was another term that went hand in hand with "the establishment". If you remember the silent majority who were the main body of the electorate. They had little representation politically speaking as they were not classified in any special interest group nor did they have lobbiest to influence the policy makers. I still believe that this is the largest group of Americans that continue to work hard at their jobs(if they still have them) and are deeply concerned with the widening gap of the ultra wealthy-politically connected class and the division they continue to make on the electorate.

One side makes token gestures that promise individual rights, smaller government and tax holidays and the other uses class warefare to opiate the voters. The cost of this division has been to procrastinate fixing existing social programs that has put us in a very deep hole. The silent majority that still votes wants to do what is right for themselves and their country but has little hope that real reform will ever happen as long as we are divided.

Unfortunately, misery loves company and out of frustration, people lash out on the groups that do not represent their own status and while these voices are amplified and the silent majority who wish everyone to do well go quietly about their lives.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Meanwhile the rich folks who instigate all this sit back and laugh their butts off. Reminds me of that old star wards movie where the Emperor says "yes, everything is going according to plan".

perhaps when those unions wages and benifits are cut those who are cheering have the same idea in their heads that this last paragraph seems to intone about the rich folks who sit back and laugh. I'm not rich I'm not even middle class, but I would like to be some day. what I wonder is do we wish those less fortunate than ourselves to do well only to have an excuse to tear them down if they do well enough for us to call them rich. and should all of us, eaven the poorest among us, be taken down a few pegs since even our homeless are rich compared to most people in places like liberia, somalia, and other third world countries. when we talk about the rich and everything going according to their plan we would do well to remember that to most of the world we're all rich.

I didn't cheer when unions were forced to make concessions and if government workers have to give up collective bargining I won't cheer either but I will look at it from the viewpoint of economic and political reality rather than an ideological viewpoint that holds them up as the downtroden and oppressed simply because somebody else's bank account has a few more commas in its balance. being downtroden and oppressed means that someone actually did something to hold you down not just that they got ahead.

yes some people have more and some people have less, some people are tall some people are short, and some contemplate astrophysics while others contemplate how to tie their own shoes. all of this is absolutely unequal, but that doesn't make it unfair. the fairness comes from equal oppertunity not equal outcomes.