---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 08:04:01 -0700
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism to
the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
"To be or not to be, that is the question".
Middle Class, Lower Class, Working Class, Upper Middle Class, Upper
Class, and let's not forget the Working Poor and the Chronically
Unemployed.
It's a Wizard of Oz, Smoke and Mirrors trick. Either we are workers
or we are drones. We are producers or we are takers. Either we
contribute to the good of the whole, or we feed on the fruits of
others labor. Over simplification? Perhaps. But it serves to help
us decide where we fall. We have been constantly brain washed to
believe that some of us are just plain better than others. Perhaps
it's what we've been trained to do, or maybe it's who our parents are,
or how bright and clever we are. Whatever the measuring stick, we
attempt to make sense out of who and where we are. But why do we
continue to cling to the confusion promoted by our Masters Mass Media
and so called Educators? Can it be that the Masters need to have us
fighting among ourselves to determine who is better, so as to give
themselves the status of being the very best? And encouraging the
rest of us to fight to climb the "ladder of success" in a vain attempt
to push our way into that rarefied air breathed only by the Masters?
In truth, none of us are more important to the whole than is each
individual. In my personal community, my body, my heart does not say
that it is of more value than my liver. My brain is as dependent upon
my lungs as my lungs are dependent upon my blood. Imagine if my body
began fighting itself to determine which organ was better than the
others. Without total cooperation I'd be dead inside of an hour.
Even the humble little honey bee understands the value of equal
responsibility in distributing the work that is essential to the
survival of the hive. But then honey bees do not have massive
propaganda machines cranking out BS.
Is my doctor more important than my auto mechanic? Is the janitor of
less value than the bank president? Of course they are, we say.
Because that is the way we've been taught to see things. And who has
taught us?
Who benefits from our quibbling over whether we are working or middle
class? What does it matter? Does my work mean more to the American
Way of Life than that of the bus driver? If people do not use their
"Class" to define themselves as being in a different bracket than
others, what is it, if it is not our attempt to measure our self
importance?
I spent many years in and out of college without ever earning a
degree. Yet I supervised people with Master degrees. Who was better?
Me, who earned more money and supposedly had more responsibility? Or
they, who were obviously better students than I? Several of these
people resented me because they felt superior to me. In my
discussions with my staff, I stressed that we were all brought
together to solve and serve the needs of blind people. We were
partners. But to many of our agency employees my words were like dust
in the wind. Annoying but ignored. We had a pecking order. It drove
me nuts. I would remind my staff and coworkers that all of us were
seen as doodoo on the shoe of life, by our state Legislature. They
were our real boss, and they did not differentiate between us. But
our conditioning is so entrenched that we just can't get our heads out
of the sand.
So go ahead and insist that you belong to this class or that. I'll
call you anything you wish. But I'm simply saying that if we continue
with this sham, we will always be the slaves of our masters.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/22/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> Well Roger, First of all, I think that you're describing a regional
> phenomonon. In the urban and suburban northeast, lots and lots of people
> identify themselves as middle class. The person who cleaned my house and
> whose husband was a maintenance man for the NYC school system, insisted
> that
> she was middle class. When she wasn't cleaning houses, she was working as a
> waitress in a chain restaurant where she earned $4 an hour plus tips. Her
> house was on the verge of being foreclosed because of all of the loans on
> it
> that she'd taken out and couldn't repay. Ssecond, although you have the
> feelings about the term that you have, not everyone who refers to
> themselves
> as middle class is doing it because they feel superior to you or to other
> people. Some people refer to themselves as middle class because they think
> their income or their job or their lifestyle, define them as middle class.
> They think that because of what they read and what they see on TV.
>
> Miriam
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
> Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81@aol.com" for DMARC)
> Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2015 10:50 PM
> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
> Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism to the Red
> States and Draws Huge Crowd
>
> Like I have said, when you use a word or phrase to mean everything it means
> nothing and when everyone calls themselves middle class then middle class
> means nothing too. The trouble with that phrase, though, is that it never
> really meant much in the first place. Literally, I suppose it is somewhere
> in between upper and lower, but then you have to specify where one class
> ends and another begins and by what criteria you are doing the measuring.
> The terms upper and lower don't mean much either.
> If you want to talk about classes then to do so with some kind of real
> meaning you have to use terms that actually describe the role of the
> classes
> you are talking about in the economic system you are talking about. With
> all
> that said, though, I will have to admit that I have a very strong personal
> distaste for that term middle class. Virtually every time I have heard the
> term being used it has been used to derogate me and the people I associate
> with by reassuring that person who is using it that they are better than
> us.
> The vast majority of people I have ever known do not refer to themselves as
> part of any class in normal conversation. If the conversation turns in a
> direction that they have to call themselves something they will usually say
> working people or poor people. The few who call themselves middle class,
> though, do not have to have the conversation turn in a direction such that
> they will have to identify their class. They make a point of telling you
> that they are middle class to be sure that you will not mistake them for
> one
> of you. Added to that, all of these obnoxious bourgeois politicians are
> constantly talking about what they are going to do for the middle class as
> if the vast majority of us do not even exist. When Joe Biden came to
> Charleston a whole lot of poor people turned out for his speech. I know a
> lot of them. His speech consisted of middle class this and middle class
> that
> through the whole thing. Did he even have the slightest idea how much he
> was
> turning off his audience. I really did hear at least two people say that
> they were convinced that he didn't care a thing about us because all he
> cared about was middle class people and in that context the phrase middle
> class was used with a bit of a sneer. Traditionally the phrase middle class
> refers to the professional class, that is, doctors, lawyers and the like.
> Among most of my acquaintances those people are usually referred to as rich
> people, not middle class people.
> That is, of course, inaccurate, but it is the term that is used. There are
> two neighborhoods in Charleston that mainly consist of those types.
> They are South Hills and Edgewood Drive. There are other such
> neighborhoods,
> but it is those two that are normally referred to by the most of the people
> I am acquainted with as snobville or where those rich people live. By the
> way, John D. Rockefeller owns a house in South Hills, so I suppose there
> really are some rich people there, except that Rockefeller does not really
> live there. He only bought the house to officially maintain a West Virginia
> residence so that he could be senator. South Hills was about as low as I
> think he would ever be likely to go even if he didn't have to live there
> though.
>
> On 7/21/2015 11:23 AM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
>> When Carl and Roger talk about this, they ar using a Marxist framework
>> in which class definitions are very specific. You are using the terms
>> in the way most Americans use them. But it is also true that blue
>> collar workers have been referring to themselves as middle class,
>> probably ever since they moved to the suburbs, owned one or more cars,
>> and
> a color TV. Corporations'
>> advertising has sold everyone on the fantasy that they are similar to
>> the rich which is why so many former Democrats voted for Reagan. Was
>> it in the eighties that all these people began taking cruises?
>> Everyone purchased this
>> 1 week fantasy of opulence. One or two thousand people crowded onto a
>> ship, the majority in tiny windowless cabins, with fancy looking
>> public rooms and unlimited food of mediocre quality on the less
>> expensive cruises and now, on almost all of them, and nightly
>> entertainment. And each day, they stop at a port and are shepherded in
> huge groups to places where they can buy things.
>> And they all think they're doing what the rich do.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Alice
>> Dampman Humel
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2015 10:16 AM
>> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism to
>> the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
>>
>>
>> I also think there is significant overlap.many working class people
>> are also middle class, and conversely, many middle class people are
>> simultaneously working class. Socially and economically, I don't see
>> the two as mutually exclusive, Under certain circumstances, they seem
>> to be two different terms that describe the same thing. Maybe it's a
>> slant in one direction or another, and the accusation leveled that
>> many middle class people think calling themselves middle class somehow
>> elevates them above the people they might call working class and look
>> down on is certainly true in some cases, but some people always feel
>> they have to look down on somebody, and I don't think this is
>> characteristic of all or even many denizens of the middle class . I
>> certainly know and have known in the past, many so-called middle class
>> neighborhoods that are populated by people who hold jobs considered to be
> working class, not white collar.
>> And of course this kind of gray area does not exist between let's say
>> upper and working class.
>> Alice
>>
>> On Jul 20, 2015, at 3:54 PM, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
> wrote:
>>
>>
>> It may have something to do with the fact that his background is
>> working
>> class. His family was Jewish, working class, and he grew up in
>> Brooklyn.
>> He's a bit younger than I am, but our childhood experiences are
>> probably
>> similar. One doesn't forget that, unless one puts forth a lot of
>> effort to
>> do so.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Roger
>> Loran
>> Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81@aol.com" for DMARC)
>> Sent: Monday, July 20, 2015 3:18 PM
>> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism to
>> the Red
>> States and Draws Huge Crowd
>>
>> There is at least one point in favor of Sanders. He, at least, gives
>
>> lip
>> service to working people instead of assuming that the so-called
>> middle
>> class is the only class of people worth addressing.
>>
>> On 7/20/2015 2:33 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) Home >
> Bernie
>> Sanders
>> Takes His Populism to the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
>> ________________________________________
>> Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism to the Red States and
> Draws Huge
>> Crowd By Zaid Jilani [1] / AlterNet [2] July 19, 2015 Today,
> Sanders
>> took his Southwestern tour to Dallas and Houston. In Dallas,
> he
>> spoke
>> to nearly 10,000 people. The senator condemned the
> Democratic
>> Party's
>> political strategy in the South, saying that it has
> "conceded half
>> of
>> the states in the national level." He said that when
> "childhood
>> poverty in Texas is 27 percent, we've gotta take it on. When
>> 34
>> percent of people living in Texas have no health insurance,
> we've
>> gotta take it on." The people sitting in the bleachers
> behind him
>> took
>> to their feet to applaud when he said it makes more sense to
> invest
>> in
>> "jobs and education" rather than "incarceration," something
> that has
>> become a feature of his stump speech.
>> Sanders' speech in Phoenix on Saturday night brought
> together an
>> estimated eleven to twelve thousand people - one of the
> largest
>> political rallies in the city's history (by comparison
> Barack Obama
>> got 13,000 in January 2008 [3]). The crowd gave Sanders
> standing
>> ovations at numerous points, such as when he condemned
> police
>> violence, called for tuition-free college, and demanded that
>
>> American
>> provide for the veterans of its wars. It's worth noting
> that, in
>> contrast
>>
>>
>> to Donald Trump's homogeneous audience, Sanders'
>>
>>
>> crowd was extremely diverse; there was heavy representation
> of young
>> Latinos, with one activist introducing the Senator before
> his
>> speech.
>> Bernie is campaigning across the Southwest to show he has
> broader
>> appeal than just the safe blue-state regions of the country.
>> It is an
>> echo of the swing through the South that Sanders did in
> 2013, when
>> he
>> was still considering his candidacy.
>> "I really strongly disagree with this concept that there's a
> blue
>> state and red state America," he told In These Times in an
> interview
>> that year. "I believe that in every state in the country the
> vast
>> majority of the people are working people. These are people
> who are
>> struggling to keep their heads above water economically,
> these are
>> people who want Social Security defended, they want to raise
> the
>> minimum wage, they want changes in our trade policy. And to
>> basically
>> concede significant parts of America, including the South,
> to the
>> right-wing is to me not only stupid politics, but even worse
> than
>> that-you just do not turn your backs on millions and
> millions of
>> working
>>
>>
>> people."
>>
>>
>> Although the majority of the address in Phoenix was similar
> to the
>> remarks the senator has given around the country, there were
> a few
>> innovations. "God bless Pope Francis," he joked. "Some
> people think
>> my
>> economic views are radical, you should check out this guy."
>> He also
>> ended his address on a note of optimism, pointing out that
> while
>> some
>> may say this country can never have truly universal health
> care,
>> this
>> is the same country that in the span of two and a half years
>>
>> successfully defeated both the Germans and Japanese in the
> Second
>> World
>>
>>
>> War.
>>
>>
>> Watch the video of Sanders' address below:
>>
>> In Houston, Taylor Channing, a 25 year-old from Houston who
> has been
>> volunteering with his local Bernie Sanders group, was
> thrilled by
>> Sanders'
>> visit.
>> "It's funny because whenever I found out the other day that
> he was
>> coming to Houston, I mean it freaked out we weren't
> expecting such a
>> gift or such an early visit to one of the reddest states in
> the
>> nation," he exclaimed. "I've never seen such a response to a
>>
>> progressive campaign in my lifetime. I thought the response
> I saw to
>> Obama was huge but this is just, I mean it's just, it's
> insane."
>> For Channing, this Southwestern tour is a sending a message
> to the
>> entire country about the Bernie Sanders' attitude towards
> politics.
>> In
>> his mind, Sanders is saying "I have no druthers about
> showing up in
>> what is perceived to be a conservative bastion and just
> being who I
>> am
>> and seeing how the people respond."
>> By the looks of the response in Phoenix and the expected
> response in
>> Texas Sunday evening, this strategy is working.
>>
>> Zaid Jilani is an AlterNet staff writer. Follow @zaidjilani
> [4] on
>>
>>
>> Twitter.
>>
>>
>> Share on Facebook Share
>> Share on Twitter Tweet
>> Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'.
>> [5]
>> [6]
>> ________________________________________
>> Source URL:
>>
>> http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-sanders-takes-his-populis
>> m-red-
>> states-and-draws-huge-crowd
>> Links:
>> [1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/zaid-jilani-0
>> [2] http://alternet.org
>> [3]
>>
>> http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/01/31/75657-obama-rally-draws-13-
>> 000-in
>> -phx/
>> [4] https://twitter.com/zaidjilani
>> [5] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Bernie
>> Sanders
>> Takes His Populism to the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
>> [6]
>> http://www.alternet.org/ [7]
>> http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>>
>> Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) Home >
>> Bernie Sanders
>> Takes His Populism to the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
>>
>> Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism to the Red States and
>> Draws Huge
>> Crowd By Zaid Jilani [1] / AlterNet [2] July 19, 2015 Today,
>> Sanders
>> took his Southwestern tour to Dallas and Houston. In Dallas,
>> he spoke
>> to nearly 10,000 people. The senator condemned the
>> Democratic Party's
>> political strategy in the South, saying that it has
>> "conceded half of
>> the states in the national level." He said that when
>> "childhood
>> poverty in Texas is 27 percent, we've gotta take it on. When
>> 34
>> percent of people living in Texas have no health insurance,
>> we've
>> gotta take it on." The people sitting in the bleachers
>> behind him took
>> to their feet to applaud when he said it makes more sense to
>> invest in
>> "jobs and education" rather than "incarceration," something
>> that has
>> become a feature of his stump speech.
>> Sanders' speech in Phoenix on Saturday night brought
>> together an
>> estimated eleven to twelve thousand people - one of the
>> largest
>> political rallies in the city's history (by comparison
>> Barack Obama
>> got 13,000 in January 2008 [3]). The crowd gave Sanders
>> standing
>> ovations at numerous points, such as when he condemned
>> police
>> violence, called for tuition-free college, and demanded that
>> American
>> provide for the veterans of its wars. It's worth noting
>> that, in contrast
>>
>>
>> to Donald Trump's homogeneous audience, Sanders'
>>
>>
>> crowd was extremely diverse; there was heavy representation
>> of young
>> Latinos, with one activist introducing the Senator before
>> his speech.
>> Bernie is campaigning across the Southwest to show he has
>> broader
>> appeal than just the safe blue-state regions of the country.
>> It is an
>> echo of the swing through the South that Sanders did in
>> 2013, when he
>> was still considering his candidacy.
>> "I really strongly disagree with this concept that there's a
>> blue
>> state and red state America," he told In These Times in an
>> interview
>> that year. "I believe that in every state in the country the
>> vast
>> majority of the people are working people. These are people
>> who are
>> struggling to keep their heads above water economically,
>> these are
>> people who want Social Security defended, they want to raise
>> the
>> minimum wage, they want changes in our trade policy. And to
>> basically
>> concede significant parts of America, including the South,
>> to the
>> right-wing is to me not only stupid politics, but even worse
>> than
>> that-you just do not turn your backs on millions and
>> millions of working
>>
>>
>> people."
>>
>>
>> Although the majority of the address in Phoenix was similar
>> to the
>> remarks the senator has given around the country, there were
>> a few
>> innovations. "God bless Pope Francis," he joked. "Some
>> people think my
>> economic views are radical, you should check out this guy."
>> He also
>> ended his address on a note of optimism, pointing out that
>> while some
>> may say this country can never have truly universal health
>> care, this
>> is the same country that in the span of two and a half years
>>
>> successfully defeated both the Germans and Japanese in the
>> Second World
>>
>>
>> War.
>>
>>
>> Watch the video of Sanders' address below:
>> In Houston, Taylor Channing, a 25 year-old from Houston who
>> has been
>> volunteering with his local Bernie Sanders group, was
>> thrilled by Sanders'
>> visit.
>> "It's funny because whenever I found out the other day that
>> he was
>> coming to Houston, I mean it freaked out we weren't
>> expecting such a
>> gift or such an early visit to one of the reddest states in
>> the
>> nation," he exclaimed. "I've never seen such a response to a
>>
>> progressive campaign in my lifetime. I thought the response
>> I saw to
>> Obama was huge but this is just, I mean it's just, it's
>> insane."
>> For Channing, this Southwestern tour is a sending a message
>> to the
>> entire country about the Bernie Sanders' attitude towards
>> politics. In
>> his mind, Sanders is saying "I have no druthers about
>> showing up in
>> what is perceived to be a conservative bastion and just
>> being who I am
>> and seeing how the people respond."
>> By the looks of the response in Phoenix and the expected
>> response in
>> Texas Sunday evening, this strategy is working.
>> Zaid Jilani is an AlterNet staff writer. Follow @zaidjilani
>> [4] on
>>
>>
>> Twitter.
>>
>>
>> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
>> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
>> Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'.
>> [5] Error!
>> Hyperlink reference not valid.[6]
>>
>> Source URL:
>>
>> http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-sanders-takes-his-populis
>> m-red-
>> states-and-draws-huge-crowd
>> Links:
>> [1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/zaid-jilani-0
>> [2] http://alternet.org
>> [3]
>>
>> http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/01/31/75657-obama-rally-draws-13-
>> 000-in
>> -phx/
>> [4] https://twitter.com/zaidjilani
>> [5] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Bernie
>> Sanders
>> Takes His Populism to the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
>> [6]
>> http://www.alternet.org/ [7]
>> http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
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