Let's talk about an unusually honest message....
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
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The writer doesn't realize he is just the "House Slave" lookin down on the "Field Slave" as the master laughs all the way to the bank.
Sad, but accurate.
How apropos
Well said!!
Chilling but correct.
... That's a succinct and brutal way to put it.
People misunderstand "white privilege". White privilege doesn't mean you get some special treatment simply because you're white. It means you don't get selected for poor treatment simply because of your skin tone. White privilege doesn't mean you get away with crime because you're white, it means you don't have to worry about being shot any time a cop pulls you over. White privilege doesn't mean you get pay raises just because you're white, it means you don't get passed over for every promotion just because you're not. White privilege doesn't mean you automatically get hired for a job just because you're white, it means your resume doesn't get immediately thrown in the garbage because your name is Daquan.
If you're white and you don't think you've benefited in your life because of white privilege, that just means you haven't thought about how much worse your life could be right now if you'd been born black or brown instead of white.
"If you're concerned about becoming a minority - perhaps you need to rethink how you treat minorities"
Perfectly said.
Best quote. Interesting point of view.
Perhaps you are unaware that white people have ALWAYS been the minority. The white supremacists and their supporters have used semantics to imply that Black people,who are the only indigenous people on the planet, are somehow a minority. That's pathological antiblackness at its finest.
Bravo! Well said friend.
@@benyahudadavidl dont be trite and technical. It gets you nowhere.
Other so-called people of color of not of one accord so it doesn’t matter
You might be the kind of person who is “right” but still powerless. How dat feel?
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." Lyndon B. Johnson
One of my fav quotes.
🎯💯
😂 I posted this identical quote before scrolling down to see yours - it says so much about the state of mind of the Republican Party.
....and I realize LBJ was a Democrat, but this is more of a republican mindset.
"Southern Strategy" ..... why Trump ran Republican
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” LBJ
Trumpism 101
Republican policy.
LBJ nailed it with this quote.
It makes sense to me 100%
I worked for a family that were multi-millionaires. I was a private nurse for their grandfather. We had a discussion one day. They asked why so many people are against others being rich. I explained that we are not against people being rich, make all the money you want, live the lifestyle you want. More power to you. Just don't do it while keeping us poor in order for you to be rich. Don't pit us against each other, in order to keep us busy from seeing how poor we really are from the methods you used to become rich. You seem to think it's not possible to be rich without the rest of us being financially broken. There was silence for about a half hour. And then they thanked me for my honest input. After that everyone got a very big raise. They expressed how they had forgotten a very important thing. How would I want to be treated if it were me. I know this circumstances is very rare. But I wish more people could wake up like this.
"And when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, 'Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. [laughter] You’re just as poor as Negroes.' And I said, 'You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. (Yes!) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white. And you’re so poor you can’t send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march.'"
-MLK
Preach! 🙂
How people ever got the idea that a man who uses a golden toilet understands, and sympathizes with them is beyond me.
GREAT COMMENT 😂🤣😅🤣🤣
How indeed. Boggles the mind.
And that the guy who owned that gold toilet in a tower with his name on it, in New York was not himself a "coastal elite"...
Before my ex-husband came to his senses in 2020, he believed that trump as president meant he (my ex-husband) was somehow going to get rich too.
Well, he loves _"the poorly educated",_ so there's that. Way to prove his point for him, these guys'...
I want to take a second to recognize the courage of the person who wrote in. Takes guts to represent yourself in a way that you know will likely be mocked and derided. But without their courage, we couldn't have this conversation. Thanks.
Not just to write in, but to face getting an answer, too. If I were intensely opposed to his views on something but open to being convinced, I have to admit I'd be a bit nervous about essentially asking Beau to take his best shot. (I like to think I'd still do it, but I think almost anyone who says it'd be easy isn't being entirely honest with themselves.)
@@mechalith2791
Too true.
I'd have to be secure in my beliefs, or seriously questioning them.
@@prestonbruchmiller497
And if you did, you'd have missed a great video, and the loss would have been yours.
I maintain that it takes guts to step into the other team's dojo, especially knowing you're facing a hostile crowd. I think it's better to engage with people who are willing to reach out - which is what this writer did, than to shut them out. If we do that thr only people who'll talk to them are the extremists. This video wasn't for persons of color, it was for people who might be questioning their racist beliefs.
@@prestonbruchmiller497
I think my first response came on a bit strong. Sorry about that, no offense intended. I wanted to say that I respect someone who will say what they mean, even if I don't like it or am offended by it, instead of hiding behind a bunch of euphemisms and dog-whistles. That's someone I can have a conversation (or argument) with.
@@seannyhan2254 seconded. It isn't that I think they're an amazing paragon of willpower, but it *is* difficult to challenge your own beliefs, and encouraging it is one of the only ways we can reach people who're drifting toward our side of the fence. If I knew a way to reliably reach out that I was certain couldn't upset or hurt anyone I'd use it in a heartbeat, but currently this is the best approach I've got.
"I ain't never seen no white privilege". Followed by " Why would I want to tear down a system that benefits me?"
Oh the cognitive dissonance that these people much have.
Some would rather see it all destroyed out of hate.
Oops! We are all in the "these people" category as we ascend the imaginary ladder of us and them.
@@jazzman. I'm hoping 🙏 the guy is not full of hate, just not seeing things as they really are. There is a lot of time being put in and a whole lot of money being spent to keep him ignorant. Thank goodness he did reach out, even if it was for the wrong reason. And thank goodness Beau was here to help him see the truth. Ya gotta start somewhere.🙂
@@texasca9753 I love your thinking.
@@pookah9938
I identify as nonbinary...
So, I might be the "them" that everybody is convinced has a nefarious plan to take over the world?
I mean, the people saying this conspiracy stuff don't usually define who "they" are.
That's my pronoun. I'm a "they." 🤷🏻
Just letting you know.
“I’m crumbling under medical debt.. Why would I replace that system that benefits me?”... Meanwhile, in most western countries: No one has any medical debt.
"Meanwhile, in most western countries: No one has any medical debt."
Well, not no one.
@@Megalomaniakaal Well not that many. I know I don't have to pay for prescriptions now, or surgery, doctors consultation, or any of that stuff at source. I have paid taxes of course, but that seems to be a big issue for a lot of Americans. They complain about the cost of health insurance and medicines, but don't seem to want the alternative that means they pay some form of income tax for it. The one thing they seem not to realise, is that a National Health service, like that in the UK and Europe, has enormous BUYING power, that brings the cost of such things down.
@@memkiii I wasn't referring to tax. But yes, those that aren't a taxpayer would certainly have to pay full price for health services, unless they are kids.
I was referring to the fact not every EU state has universal healthcare, some have partial ones. Or rather I should say, not every universal healthcare system covers all the costs, some only cover a part of the costs.
“Nobody wins, unless everybody wins” Bruce Springsteen
Live my life by these words, we all should
Yet everybody will never win. We can put any system we want in place. There will always be winners and losers.
Well said.
@@jeremytaft8247 But it does not have to be to such extremes. Check out how the 27 Sovereign Nations that comprise the EU ensure that even the most vulnerable live with dignity & how resources are shared. Also note that these 27 countries co-operate to support another country on the border of the EU that has not yet qualified to join the EU. The EU is not the only trade/security block in the world. Climate change has caused terrible & long lasting famines throughout the world & war has reduced the supply of Wheat & vegetable oil. Co-operation hopefully will help some but many will die prematurely. Reduced world wide production of food will effect even the richest of nations. Most countries have an aging workforce & a shortage of skilled workers. Poor people cannot afford to pay for education & training. Governments need to take the initiative - sooner rather than later. S.O.S. Cheers.
@@MazzaEliLi7406 I will definitely read more about that, I remember hearing about them a few times and they’ve always caught my attention.
I do hope some better form of gov comes along n people see that both of today’s parties are full of hypocrisy.
I still think the biggest challenge is keeping a system. Nothing lasts forever. Just like the ones before us every country will be destroyed. An people will restart while making the same decisions we have in our history.
@@jeremytaft8247 - That's merely a naturalistic fallacy that competition over finite resources is somehow inevitable. Like when early humans hunted food animals to extinction because they lacked the societal planning that would allow for agriculture. Current human civilization makes the same obvious mistake of fighting over resources while making no real effort to manage resources. Once that tanks the biosphere there are no more winners.
If his employer can’t pay him a living wage his employer has a failed business model. Business owners that count on the desperation of those in poverty to increase the company’s profitability are a burden on society, not a contributor!
Bravo! No truer words have been said.
Not to mention the lack of nationalised, taxpayer funded healthcare is absurd and morally bankrupt, especially in a country that wants to be considered developed. No one should have to fear for their finances in a medical emergency, simple as that.
Wow you just described Walmart.
actually it is not "can't" but 'won't"
The business owner played the writer.
Knight: "How goes the war against poverty?" King of Id, "I'm winning!" Knight: But there are peasants starving in the streets!" King of Id, "They're losing!" [Cartoon - The Wizard of ID]
❤️
Rodney: The peasants are revolting! King: Yes, they certainly are.
Rodney: The women want to talk to you about their rights. King after being beat up by them: You didn't tell me about their lefts!
Still running unbelievably, albeit with different writers and artists.
Peasant petitioning the king: About your war on poverty.
King: Yes?
Peasant: I'd like to surrender.
Brilliant!👏
'I'm a evil spirit right?' 'Yeh' ' So what proof am I?'
"I've never seen any white privilege in my life" followed by "give me one reason to tear down a system that benefits me" in the same message...If the system benefits you, you're experiencing some kind of edge - and that's white privilege.
Cognitive dissonance is a super power.
Getting screamed at, extorted, and then released by law enforcement is a privilege compared to going to jail or getting shot to death on the spot for a traffic violation
Yeah, but this guy doesn't _see_ it. Apparently not seeing something happening to other people from whom you've averted your sight is somehow good evidence it just doesn't exist. Big part of privilege - it lets you be and remain pig-ignorant about some stuff safely and happily.
This.
Every time I hear someone deny white privilege, it always about money or opportunity, never about being treated differently.
Yeah, I am confused by people who defend police executing someone for a broken taillight. Is that the agreement we made?
Your so right. It's not equal any way you cut it. But it doesn't have to be this way, us at the bottom have a lot more in common than what them at top want us to believe.
@@Hope4U61 we all do better when we all do better.
I am a white man from the South and I can say in my 72 years of living I have never been helped by a white man. When I was having issues with my heart and my wife was seeking disability our house needed a roof and our African American neighbors church stepped in and helped. Through programs that Obama had put into place. They saved us from losing our house.
Yardwork has gotten to much for me and when our neighbors yard man cuts their grass he cuts ours. I pay him what I can when I can. He never asks. Sometimes we just pray together. I have never had a white neighbor do anything even close to this for me. I did have one that shot and killed my dog. I moved.
I’m sorry the white people around you were so terrible, and so happy that you found good neighbors and can be a good neighbor, like Mr Rogers and the local cop soaking their feet in the same cool water.
"There's plenty of cookies!" - And if not, we can just go to the communal bakery and bake some more. What, there's no communal bakery? Then let's build one!
Every time I see a white person say "I've never seen an example of white privilege" I immediately recognize an individual who has no concept of what white privilege means.
you are white
My Irish grandmother was an indentured servant for six years. Her son, my father, was pulled out of school in the 4th grade to earn money for the family. The entire family of 13 received a letter from the N. Ireland government giving them 30 days to leave the country after WWII.
Is this the type of 'white privilege' you're spouting off about?
@@frankbeardsley2941 Uh, that was Ireland. The systemic racism in the US has to do with US history and US laws.
I can pass for white, so I've been taking advantage of white privilege my whole life. The discussion about race with my father lasted about a minute, because as soon as I realized what he was getting at, I said, "I know my life will be easier because of how I happen to look," which was the main thing he wanted me to realize. Realizing at a young age that I had just as much chance of being born a black girl instead of a white-passing guy gave me an, um, interesting perspective...
White privilege is such a reductionist way of thinking about it. How about “attractiveness” privilege. Undoubtedly, if you’re good looking you’ll have privileges and opportunities others won’t. People go out of their way to talk to you, hold the door open for you, buy you drinks, etc. I’ve never been convinced by “white privilege” just “attractive privilege.” White people have been traditionally viewed as good looking, I will agree with that assessment.
"I don't wanna lose to _them._ "
This is a quote from someone who said they weren't racist. Sure seems like they see every other race as some opposition team...
That's because so many people pretend that the only way to be racist is to wear a white hood and burn crosses. It's why it's so important we teach people what racism actually is.
Yes, you're right. If he had said something like "you people," it would have been even more obvious.
That's because the person who said this is also a liar. 🤷🏾♂️
I miss the "good ol' days" when white people were honest about their racism. These new white people lie so much about their disdain for non-white people that they believe their own lies. Makes it difficult for the less-experienced to recognize their racist asses. 😒
@@backalleycqc4790 To me it seems like he just doesn't see it. Hopefully Beau can educate the guy so that he understands and can change🙂
Yup. The fancy term for that is "othering." He thinks of black people as a group of others, not individuals who just happen to share a range of skin tones. Probably stereotypes them, too.😕
...A darkly funny side effect of this:
I am often told by American posters, that, in the transatlantic African slave trade, "They (the Africans) _were selling their own people!"_
...No.
It was the coastal kingdoms who raided *other countries in the interior* for the slave trade.
Both the raiders and the unfortunates captured DID NOT think of each other as being of one people.
Racism created and applied the idea that skin=race, this occurred around 550 or so years ago.
I can't believe nobody is going to mention the statement "I don't want to lose to them."
It's not supposed to be a competition. We made it one. It's like that tweet: "the two basketball teams could score way more goals if they worked together."
And yes, the fact that you see it as us vs them is racist.
If THAT'S BENEFITING, I don't want it. And "that list of problems were not caused by black people." Thank you Beau. 👏🏾👏🏾
"I don't want to lose to them." Buddy we aren't trying to win against you. How about you work with us instead against the people you've been tricked into thinking are similar to you simply because of skin color and not circumstance.
He thinks others getting equal treatment is him "losing"
William that was very well said!
I wish people would realize what the teams actually are - Team Us is everyone who has to cross their fingers when their car breaks down that it can be fixed, the fix is within their budget, and the fix isn't more money than the car is worth; or who doesn't even have a car because car ownership is still a dream for them. Team Them is everyone who has only seen the inside of a garage waiting room for routine maintenance or a recall issue because they never reach the mileage number where things start to break before they get bored and buy a new car. I work with a lot of tRumpers who don't buy a new pair of steel-toes for work until the company brings in the Boot Truck once a year and they can get certain styles fully on the company dime because buying their own means having to cut their food budget for a couple of weeks.
The GOP gives them support for their race war, so they return support to the GOP in winning a class war, where the voters are on the losing side.
Woke is bad, because they want you asleep and dreaming about your skintone fantasy, while your real life becomes a nightmare.
THIS!!!!
Thank you Beau for clearing this up. Me as being a black man have seen it just like you said on here, I mean exactly. You being very educated as you are Beau has been the only white person I have known told it exactly how it is. You didn't sugarcoat it or anything. You hit it right down the middle. Now I'm just wondering how come other white folks can't see how the system really works. 🤔 Hmm. Just a thought.
Douglas I grew up in a home where my mother had friends of many colors. One of her best friends was black. She spent many days as a guest in our home. Kate was such a kind wonderful person. My mother taught us not to judge a person my their color. If you have to make a judgement you do it on a persons actions. One neighborhood we lived in was very mixed with all kinds of people. My children played with all of them. Just know that though there are many that may judge you by your color, there are also many people that don't. This country is made up of all colors. Every one of them is important and deserves respect until they don''t. Every one should have the same opportunities. There are white people who still believe that there is room for us all in America. We all just want the same things. And I am so very sorry that there is such prejudice out there. But I have seen it work both ways. Again we have more in common than not. Where ever prejudice rears it's ugly head it needs to be stopped. Wishing you well!
It's really not hard to see what's going on. I think many of us are willfully ignorant because just like Beau said, they want to have someone to look down on so they can feel better about their own situation. They need to get it through their heads that it is not going to actually make their situation any better.
I really hope the person who sent this message watches this video.
Absolutely my friend!!
Not just watches it but ponders it, begins to understand it, internalizes it and ultimately, applies it!
The "system" doesn't benefit you - never has - it only benefits the ruling oligarchy. Don't worry about the possibility that your poorer neighbor (regardless of race) MIGHT want to take your cookie, worry about the fact that the oligarch is already taking dozens of cookies that you're entitled to. Systemic racism is bad, but extreme wealth disparity is far worse. Let the tumbrels roll!
Yes, through labor theft, etc.
"Systematic racism is bad BUT"...........
Systemic racism ( which includes wealth disparity) go unnoticed by white people because they’re not looking for it. But the reality is that white people have benefited from systemic racism.
Let that shit REALLY sink in!!
Watch the George Carlin video on The Real Owners of America. He tells it like it is.
Thank you sincerely..These videos are just awesome but these comments you guys leave are icing on the cake🙋🏿♀️🙋🏿♀️🙋🏿♀️🙋🏿♀️Yeah you nailed it🙋🏿♀️🙋🏿♀️There’s really enough of everything to go around for all of us..If we can get some of these greedy rich people to start sharing.. They can start by paying their equal share of taxes🙋🏿♀️🙋🏿♀️🙋🏿♀️I thought I would put it in every day language🙋🏿♀️🙋🏿♀️
@@aquilaclark814 funny you brought paying taxes up? Was reading Newsweek a couple hours ago, brought up this exact topic? In the decade following WWII corporate taxes were right @ 7% of US GDP. It's now around 1%. 7 fold reduction, but by far the largest bailouts go not to states or communities, but to corporations... 👍🎯 🏆💩🏆
This reminds me of how the English overlords played off the Scottish Protestants against the Irish Catholics who really should have been natural allies against a common enemy!
I hope that this was an eye opener for the writer of the message. Their own words were quite telling. Thank you for your clear and concise response.
Respond don't react. He thought me that recently. Lil good goes a long way. ✌️
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."
I say the greatest one is the one that rich and privileged keep pulling off - making us peasants constantly fight each other over race, language, this and that.
Panem et circenses.
I seriously doubt it. Dude so deep into his own power grab, just as much as if he was a 1%, he just can’t see it and too stupid for self awareness to help him realize he’s been played.
@@Everyoneisanartist776 I had to laugh at his list of problems that sounds like the problems a lot of other people have.
@@Everyoneisanartist776 I hope you are wrong, but... you almost certainly aren't. 😑
I'm one person who did realize and change, though. It does happen.
Beau is always spot on with his messaging, and his ability to communicate them....No doubt, one of the best RUclipsrs!
Do you know another person who is spot on? George Carlin's American Dream documentary on HBO! Just from what I saw, his take on America is so honest. Google other ways to watch it if you don't have HBO.
@@scorpogee6280 “Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to 9 months. After that, they don’t wanna know about you. They don’t wanna hear from you. No nothing! No neonatal care, no daycare, no Head Start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. If you’re pre-born, you’re fine, if you’re preschool, you’re fucked.”
@@scorpogee6280 I remember George Carlin very well...Very sad we lost him way too soon.
@@titaniumismagical8643 also sad we don't have more like him today. This Beau is way underrated.
I completely agree @Titanium is Magical
This is an excellent explanation of systemic racism. I hope the people who need to hear this will actually listen to your words.
The wealthy have us fighting a class and culture war against each other instead of a class war against them.
This is why it was so crucial to destroy unions.
"There's plenty of cookies."
Yep.
There absolutely are.
The really rich people see it as a form of sport to stop ordinary people knowing this, and preventing them from having any, even though the rich could never eat all the cookies they already have.
When you've got enough "cookies" for, say, FIFTY LIFETIMES, why bother accruing more? Probably as you said: sport, fun and games. Although I truly think it's akin to ADDICTION. We have addicts running/ruining the globe. These sad sacks are addicted to money power and prestige and will maim or kill anyone or anything standing in the way of getting ever more.
It’s truly sickening, when you think about it. People like Musk, Bezos & Trump are utterly obsessed with $, status & power & seemingly incapable of empathy. If they were ever decent people, their insulation from normal experiences has erased that part of themselves.
It's called; trickle down Economics.
And we all know it doesn't work!
But we still vote them back into power. And alow them to treat people like slaves no matter the skin colour. You're nothing more than a workerbee to the Oligarchs.
Sport ? Maybe their life depends on it... you might want to look into the French Revolution
@@autohmae I feel like lots more people should be learning about the French Revolution. Maybe especially carpenters and blacksmiths.
Remember the old saying "no matter how bad it is at least I'm not black".
Poor people have more in common than we are willing to admit. We need to work together so we can all rise but no... Identify with the rich who don't care or like you any way.
Exactly! Rich white men have been coasting on that sht long enough. It's time to put a stop to it and turn all our attention on them because that's what racial resentment is designed to do. Deflect attention from the real culprits!
T1J has a great video on this via the tool of SNL's Black Jeopardy (ft Tom Hanks).
And then billionaires fan the flames, sit back and count their money
🙏🏽
I have more in common with the workers that assembled my phone halfway around the world than I do with my CEO.
Beau, I think the writer of that letter -- deep, deep down -- was anguished over his feelings and needed what you just provided, needed help connecting the dots to understand what his gut, way down there, was telling him. You done good, buddy boy.
Some people don't get that it's about lifting everybody up, anybody who's struggling, no matter who they are.
Because they have been taught and believe that equality and power is a zero-sum game. That there is only a finite amount of it to go around, and that if anyone else gets more, that means they have to have less. When the reality is that it's like the cartoon Beau mentioned. The ones hoarding all the power and privilege are the ones at the top, shaping this narrative so they can keep it all and turning people on the bottom against each other, instead of teaming up to go against them.
As has been said so many times but keeps missing the mark... when talking about these kinds of 'privileges' be it white, male, straight, cisgender or whatever... it's never of case of having that privilege makes your life better. It just means your life isn't harder the way because you don't suffer the roadblocks that people who don't share that privilege do. It's an important distinction that many don't understand because again... They think zero-sum. That someone else having it harder means they have it easier. The only privilege that does make things easier is having wealth and power. And those who have it are ruthless in exploiting it so that others don't have the same advantage... Even though they could still be richer than most. It's just easier for them to control desperate people than those who have their needs met.
A rising tide lifts all ships.
@@BeautifulPilgrim , unfortunately, a rising tide doesn't lift all boats, it only lifts those that are seaworthy and berthed in a deepwater harbor where their keel never touches rock bottom. The small leaky boats in shallow, less desirable anchorages get mired in the muck at low tide, and a rising tide floods over their gunnels. (Sorry, I hate to be pedantic, but I never much liked that analogy, as I grew up tooling around on small boats that weren't always seaworthy, and the bigger boats and their owners were a snooty lot).
@@goodun2974 🤨🤔🥺😳🤝 helping hands☯️☮️👍
We all do better when we all do better. - Paul Wellstone
That is so sad and depressing but probably the most honest thing I've ever heard a right winger say. The system barely benefits you. Yeah, you don't usually get roughed up by the cops. But look at your life. It's still brutal, and like Beau says, it's all the same system.
Agreed.
I think he figures that fixing the system would mean he would get a pay cut, and he can't afford a pay cut. And, to the extent Republicans get to influence how the system is reformed: he's right. They WILL take from these poors to give to those poors, so that the fix fails and the system remains.
Yes, his life is brutal but at least he doesn't have to deal with being looked down on by people who are in the exact same circumstances as him while he's there. That's what it feels like for poc. People who are only one step up and sometimes down the ladder from us telling us we're worthless.
Hopefully he will get this message and begin to look at things differently.
@@lkeke35 Life doesn't have to be brutal, not when everyone shares and carry their weight to the best of ability, something in the AngloSaxon heritage (UK, US, Canada, Australia) that seems to think that rich people have a greater right to the pie that is the 'nation'
Life will never be fair, but it can be fairly nice for most people (most of the time), but the 'greedy laws' won't permit it and so long as even the poor keep fighting for more rights and privileges of the rich nothing is going to improve
Wow. It's us vs corporate greed. Most people don't realize who "us' is. Very well spoken.
To the email writer: Thank you for your honesty and for engaging. THIS is exactly what we need to have happen, in order to have the discussions that will actually start to address our very real problems. I appreciate your reaching out. And I hope things get easier for you -- we are all in this together -- and when we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, we can overcome the policies set by the ultra-rich.
There is a very old saying;
"DIVIDE AND RULE."
and that's what Republicans and the Oligarchs are doing.
Because if you the people would unite and say; enough is enough.
They're toast! Unification scares the hell out of them.
No matter the skincolor. They despise you all, they only love the colour of money, there money!
To the Oligarchs you're nothing more than an asset to a mean.
And now they made you make more babies, they are assured from enough worker bees in the future.
It has nothing to do with "pro live"
But everything with pro more slaves.
Make no mistake about that.
It's a war on the poor, keep the white poor focused on the poor minoities, keep them angry and afraid and reap the benefits. Hell you can even get them to vote for you or storm the capitol for you, the whole time you are screwing them over
Let us hope they were listening with eyes wide open and mind willing to learn because if not what was the point of letter. It doesn't work if they are not open to admitting to change. Some fear change. Stop being so selfish as well. Old saying - there's no I in team.
Also, to the writer, I wanna point out that I notice that when you look for common ground and solidarity, you look past the criteria of other people having the same circumstances and struggles and look right at skin color for who you identify with. Do some self-examination to determine why you find that necessary.
Yep, we’re all in it together. Except some of us are more “in it” than others.
"I've never seen any white privilege in my life."
I literally snorted at that one. The fish that's been surrounded by water all its life doesn't see the ocean he's swimming in, either. Toss him out onto dry land, let him flap around and gasp for air a while, and he'll appreciate how nice his ocean is once he gets back in.
WELL DONE 😂🤣😅🤣🤣
😂🤣😅🤣🤣🤣😂🤣
VERY well said!!
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I laughed out loud also. Heh
There's enough housing in the US for everyone to have a home. There's enough food produced domestically to feed everyone. There is just about enough health care infrastructure for everyone to get adequate health care. Those at the top are dragons watching the ants scratch in the dust. Want to fix crime, the answer isn't more cops it's more community programs. The answers to most of societies ill can be linked to undoing the richest's stranglehold on policy and power. And that's why you, yes YOU, need to help. No task too small, no skill unneeded. Whatever you can do however you can do it, welcome to the fight.
To quote LBJ: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
"there were good people on both sides."
That explain why Republicans vote against their own interest every election cycle
@@jasonmorgan27 What happened to that platinum plan that Trump and a group of black pastors proposed to help inner city youth, families, etc. He had four years and it never materialized. It's not just trump that's anti-black...it's the entire republican party.
@@jasonmorgan27 Birtherism. Newspaper ad saying the Central Park Five should be executed even after being exonerated by DNA evidence.
That "" Does it though?" was simply priceless. Man Beau, be careful , MILK got hit parlaying the same message. You give me renewed hope everyday bro.
What a lot of people dont seem to realize is that there are various ways of opression/disadvantage. Just because you are priviliged in one way doesnt mean you arent oppressed in others and vice versa.
Its not a sliding scale of more or less. Its many facets. And what we see here is one of those moments where people are so focused on one area that they loose soght of the big picture.
It'll take more than a crazy lady with a knife to take this dude down. Besides, most of the folks they'd send to kill him like him better than they do the people that would hire them. Gives him a bit of an edge.
I believe Beau is blessed with divine protection as told in the Bhavagita!
@@BSpinoza210 :)
@@IMeMineWho he certainly does adhere to one of the core messages of the Gita. To paraphrase Krishna, "do what you believe is right even if you are unsure of the outcome; that is not yours to decide."
I've had the same challenges and privileges as this guy, and have never wanted anyone to have it worse than me so I could have it better. In fact, there have been times where I've actively increased my suffering to alleviate that of others. If we lift up those at the bottom, everyone else above rises too. Other people have lives that matter to them just as much as mine does to me, and not one of us deserves undue suffering.
Truth .
Off topic, I just saw that Mickey Dollens, a Representative in Oklahoma proposed a bill forcing men to get a vasectomy when they hit puberty, sounds good to me, and glad to see that someone is stepping up and showing other politicians that what they are trying to do to women is WRONG.
That guy is a couple districts over from me, but I was so glad to see someone from Oklahoma making news that made me happy for once... we're not all completely backwards here I promise, but we are the minority.
Every unplanned pregnancy starts with the male ejaculation.
seriously, by law, men should get a vasectomy by age 31 . Or lose job, business & all assets.
Oh so Awesome! I have been saying that all males should be vasectomized at puberty & invitro made free. This makes having a baby a choice & no unwanted pregnancies & no abortions. I am Sooner born & Sooner bred.
Thank you Beau! I have been trying to get this message across to people for decades...you said it way better than I could have.
Thank you Beau. God I love and pray for you and yours. You are such an amazing person. God's blessings upon you. I being having trouble with my heart and I am not even American, so I pray for you.
But the message is wrong. There will always be something to divide those who let it happen. The Ukrainian not zees have been targeting ethnic Russians for years. They're basically brothers but speak a slightly different language. Religion has been a wedge issue since forever. The list goes on.
@@gmw3083 then we just need to get those people smaller and irrelevant. Reverse the propaganda and indoctrination of grifters and corporate leeches taking over the Right
@@gmw3083 That's literally EXACTLY the same message you doofus! The wealthy oligarchs have pitted different groups against each other for their own benefit - Putin's been shit-stirring that particular pot for a long time, using disinformation, non-state actors and a whole host of other despicable actions, aided and abetted by the far right in Ukraine (because the far right are incredibly easy to manipulate, and particularly into taking violent actions), and as you say "they're basically brothers" ... exactly the same point Beau made about having more in common with those that are looked down on and seen as lesser.
@@chrisboyd3540 Great assessment!
The word privilege is an academic term that should never have been used in public discourse. Tell someone a black person is more likely to be arrested and that makes a lot more sense to most folks
The idea that the struggling working class could unite is the most terrifying idea possible to the people with power over us.
Look up the Southern Strategy, then look at anyone being attacked for being different today, and know that what you think is self-interest is actually marching orders.
We are so terrifying when we unite, the people who want the world to stay all about exploitation focus huge amounts of their attention on making us all hate each-other, and ignore where the real damage to our lives is being done.
I literally can't give this enough likes. you get all of them!
@@lkeke35 ✅ Yes!
...huge amounts of their attention ... and money.
This is why the oligarchs destroyed unions.
@@ev8870 When I read the comment I automatically added 'money' in there too.
It's worth noting that people with this "table scraps" mentality, especially around race, tend to welcome fascism openly. And there are a LOT of people like this in the U.S. right now.
I hope we can keep getting messages out like this.
@@brianmurman5845 If this was directed at my comment, I have no idea what you're referring to.
Yup ever since Regan and trickle up economics with less union protections. Table scrap fascism is on the menu.
Long ago, I remember a bunch of 1st grade kids ganging up on another kid, punching and telling him that he couldn't be part of their little club. Grown white men today were those kids of yesteryear. Nothing has changed.
@@brianmurman5845 Maybe keep the platitudes to Hallmark cards. You seem to have fallen for the idea that people are failing because they choose to, and not because the system is designed for them to fail.
I'll recommend the book "The Sum of Us" by Heather McGhee.
Here she details how the systemic racism hurts everyone but the very rich, but is held in place by an unholy alliance between the top and the people nearly at the bottom who need someone to look down upon.
I'm black and i have a white roommate,we've been roommates for 4 year's now and we get along like bestfriends,i totally hear what you are saying and been saying this same thing to people,the only way power can and will stay in power is to keep us fighting against each other,they don't want us to get along in peace and harmony because if we do,then we'll see what they have been doing to stay in power,their greed,their corruption,so they put this out there to gaslight a group of people against another group of people,we are all one people,skin color doesn't make you good or bad,a person's actions and behavior does
There has never, ever, EVER been a systematic problem that's been caused by the people with the LEAST power in that system.
"The people who care don't have the power or the resources. The people with the power and the resources don't care."
Me
@@sharidavenport5283 And the theory of the "Conservative" in power is "There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
Exactly!! That’s like being mad at Mexicans for “taking the jobs” with the low wages and “driving wages down” instead of seeing the greedy exploitation of the business owners who hire them because they can make them accept the low wages. 🤔😓
Those with the least power in any system can't do much of anything against those with the most power, regardless of race, religion, nationality, gender, etc. There, I fixed it for you.
@@henryhudson1297 - Sounds familiar somehow....oh, yeah, I said that myself, in fewer words and more concise meaning, first in 1982, as an instantaneous inspiration while working in a (yet another) job where it was once again demonstrated on a daily basis. And also shown by that contemporary occupier of the Oval Office, one union busting, health care ignorant, financial "master of disaster" leading, international policy ghoul, GOP member, and former mediocre actor.
And most recently, at the top of this list of comments...
As an old white guy, I often think about how I might be racist. Then, a racist chimes in and I feel like I’m not for a bit. Then I wonder if they think it’s a nascar race where the goal is to win. Hmm well, let’s all have equal cars, and then see. But if you’re out cutting brake lines to win. You are are a racist.
As long as you arent getting between them and their equality and being a tolerant person, your good. Usually the phrase is "get with it or get out of the way" but i think that gives off a bad tone. Just be a decent human and your doing better than a good deal of people.
Or voting for people to cut others brake lines.
@The Dude look, man, I’m anti bigotry of all sorts. And I think about shit, so I don’t do racist shit without knowing I’m doing it. So I can correct myself. And I ask questions to become a better person.
@The Dude a recent podcast I was listening to said a person could be lukewarm when it came to racism. People want hot or cold. I know I’m not judging people by color, but I don’t want to be lukewarm either.
It comes in degrees. I doubt anyone's walking around with absolutely zero racism in their heads. For some of us, it's wafting around a little, gathering in old corners. For others, it's got a bedroom, a man-cave, a whole garage, and a sign out front.
I have made this argument so many times. We are fighting over 1% of the wealth, attacking people for ignorant and fearful reasons when the other 99% of the wealth is controlled by people telling you that you're share of that 1% is in danger.
This video is beautifully made. I appreciate you, you’re very willing to intellectually approach subjects like these.
The problem that the US has, is that too few people go abroad. The ones that do mostly go to make money, for female [sometimes male] companionship, drinking, gambling and most to blow things up and shoot at people. Some go as teachers, researchers, serious travelers and the like, but not enough to have a big effect on the Culture when they get back. We should improve education by paid Semester abroad and Peace Corps programs, with far greater reach than at present.
@@JMM33RanMA people in the US can hardly afford to travel the US let alone go abroad
@@Daggoth65 That's why it should be a paid educational program. The Peace Corps paid me, and it was the best adventure and learning experience, ever.
I had an argument with a Republican neighbor. She argued me that when you pull into a gas station and put a gallon of gas in your car, the oil company pays the taxes on that gas. She's too stupid to realize she's paying the taxes. I just walked off.
Just like the employer pays your income taxes .... by deducting it from your wages.
Just like the grocery store pays your sales tax ... by adding it to your total.
The ignorance in this country is truly astounding.
Truly Astounding.
WTH do people learn in 13 years of "education" besides how to keep their place in the pecking order?
Just like the employer pays your income tax ... by deducting it from your income
and the grocery store pays your sales tax ... by adding it to your total.
The ignorance in this country is truly astounding.
Truly Astounding.
WTH do people learn in 13 years at school beyond how to keep their place in the pecking order?
@@nanszoo3092 given that our schools are mainly set up to teach how to keep their place in the pecking order and stay in line rather than teaching people to think critically and learn and engage with the world around them... exactly what they were supposed to, unfortunately.
If she can’t understand that -SHE- is paying the taxes on that gas, then she’d snap & lose her mind being told not only does Oil & Gas not pay those taxes, but how much of her tax dollars the government took then hands out to Oil & Gas.
- mind blown
They "make" Nothing But Profit when all the cost is passed on.
Although born in California I lived most of my adult life in the south primarily Arkansas but also Georgia and The panhandle of Florida.
Most of the white people that I knew that had the most racist beliefs had very little interaction with any person of color.
If you have never had a friend that is from a different race or culture then what a limited life you must lead .
They don't come much whiter than me but I've lived in parts of towns where I was absolutely the minority and was treated extremely well and made life long friends.
My wife came here from Cuba as a child and is the most decent caring person that I've ever known .
I guess MLK said it best
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
It just breaks my heart that this needs to be explained over and over and over again.
Thank you for your calm eloquence, and your giant heart!
Absolutely Carol S
_Reminder to other users;_ *The Dude* is a regular far-right troll here. He created sockpuppet accounts every time people start ignoring his BS, he formerly posted as John Smith/Adam Johnson. He's not interested in a honest discussion, he only wants your attention. Please treat him accordingly. Thank you.
Thank you Carol....
Dude wrote his own answer: his buddies have to carpool because usually only one of their cars work. If he went the lone wolf route, he'd have no ride. All he has to do it take a broader focus.
Also: dear god! How can he think it's worthwhile to cling so fiercely to such a marginal life???
Because the right wing used the myths of rugged individualism and Protestant work ethic to brainwash these people to think suffering and being railroaded by these systems is a virtue. I may be poor, malnourished, ignorant from substandard education, lack healthcare, and exploited, but at least I don't ask for "hand outs."
Those brothers and sisters of mine in the USA should spend a few years living in the EU.
That might change their outlook, it changed mine. Dignity is a government service here.
It's not perfect, humans can and must do better, but it sure is a model for the U.S. to start emulating.
Many Americans are sick, but don't know it. It was the same here in 1933.
Godspeed
The worse life you have, the more you cling to those resources you do have
When you've got almost nothing, even something imaginary can seem like everything.
because it's a lifeline at least. People like that they're scared that if things get torn down, maybe the people doing the tearing down look at people like him and say "You weren't actually on our side, you don't get a slice of the pie," or even if that doesn't happen they worry about their fate during the tear down process, that they won't make it to the rebuilding phase
Watch how quickly this country improves when black and brown people aren't being thrown off the voter rolls.
"Why would I tear down a system that benefits me?"
"Does it though?"
Yeah, it's just that simple. The hard part is getting them to ask the right questions. As long as they're asking the wrong questions, it doesn't really matter what the answers are.
Too bad they spend so much time listening to a guy who's constantly "just asking questions."
I love the cookie analogy. Simple yet true.
Especially since a better system *_already_* exists. USa could implement social democracy tomorrow, if not for the right wingers that prevent it from happening.
There's no utopia about it, at all.
@@danielr.y5261 you are so right my friend
I shut'em up by telling them to grow up and stop asking bad faith questions. Adults solve problems.
When you're too busy trying to keep yourself ahead of the "other guy" that you are blind from doing what would benefit everyone.
PRIDE blinds even the most faithful.
Reminds me of the person that runs to the very end of the merge lane before stopping everyone else that has already merged.
@@shawnr771 I'm a calm driver, even with traffic, slow drivers, etc. But that line cutting move gets me heated. 🤬
To them with ears to hear . . . Beau Thank You as always for great presentations.
“The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters each of whom will volunteer to live, with his family, in a cardboard box under an overpass, and cook sparrows on an old curtain rod, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, in the next box over doesn’t even have a curtain rod, or a sparrow to put on it.” -- Attributed to commenter Davis X. Machina
Wow! I haven't seen that name Davis X. Machina for years! I remember him!
Perfect summation of American life!
I hope your figure is way too high. 50 - 70 million voters? I would hope that this radical vision you spoke of would only be held by a few true nut jobs. . . Nowhere near 70 million. Maybe one million. That's my hope anyway. Or has the nation been this bleak all this time and I've been unaware?
@@donnavorce8856 i would hope so too...except that more people voted for tfg than the first time around. I know until the pandemic, there were people who agreed that he was (and this is a quote) "an awful person, but you have to go by results. " What kind of results? At the time she was looking at the continuous upswing in the economy, and ignoring the horror at the southern border.
I'm not saying that that many people actually like him, but there are too many people that just see only their own lives and not the bigger picture. My own husband keeps complaining about gas prices, blaming the Democrats for the price hikes, because gas was cheap last year...excuse me, but weren't we all locked up at home? Factories, parks, theaters, Broadway, offices, schools, everything closed? Did he forget that gas was so cheap because nobody was using it, and the producers were paying refineries to take the stuff? Negative $40 a barrel anyone.
Memories are short. Our politics have become identities and tribes and favorite teams, and not discussions on the best way to get things done.
So I am really afraid that the numbers are accurate.
Sadly
I grew up in rural Ohio in the seventies, and we had seasonal fruit and vegetable pickers from Mexico.
And one of my neighbors showed me their living quarters in the off-season. The kids would ride the bus with us in the fall to our little village school, while their parents worked. And some of the kids made fun of them. I couldn't, not because I'm a particularly virtuous person. I just knew I had it better ( though not necessarily by much) and couldn't ever possibly ridicule them.
You have empathy Wade. Just wish everyone did. I do think it can be learned 😌
@@texasca9753 I don't think it's something a lot of people are willing to learn, but I hope you're right.
And in just a few short decades, Mexicans have invaded our country and have taken advantage of us beyond belief, and our politicians on both sides of the isle and through numerous administrations have allowed it to happen.
@@MikeBrown-ex9nh I don't know what part if the planet or prairie you live, but the Hispanic community in the People's Republic of Chicago (and no, I'm a WASP in general classification, but consider myself German trailer trash) has prospered and gained great entrepreneurial skills, employing many people that look like me. Obviously you've not traveled more than five miles down the pike from where you were hatched to take a look around you.
@@wadewittscheck8269 I've seen plenty.
Very well said Beau. I certainly hope that the writer took something from that.
What confuses me is the basic math. If more Black people do better in life... then they pay more taxes. They buy more stuff. They dine out at more restaurants. If you dismantle inequality, everyone does better. Everyone prospers. Why is that so hard to see?
It is not necessarily that it is hard to see. It would mean acknowledging that Black people may do better than them. Again, without that little feeling of being superior in some form the realization of mediocrity sets in.
mathematically,you are right. but you need to understand,that in the US the taxes arent used to pay for universal health care,education or improved public transport. the money is mostly used for the military complex or projects which doesnt benefit the public. same problem with dining more in restaurants. unless the minimum wage isnt increased by law there is no benefit for the worker. the rich just become richer.
@Senna_Grillo12 not only that but you can make more pizza.
Expansion of the market. Exactly so.
I think because we have a culture that encourages zero-sum thinking via competitive events.
It's also just our mindset; we view everyone as competition under capitalism.
... That's part of why I hate capitalism. It encourages hatred, suspicion, and fear of everyone around you, because any of them might get your job and put you on the street.
Here's a thought: The guy hoarding most of the cookies is whispering into your ears to watch out for the guy with no cookie for he might take your one and only cookie because he wouldn't want you to give your attention to him and notice that he actually has the hoard of most cookies in his possession as you might come and take them away from him and so he needs you distracted by making you go after the poor guy with no cookies at all.
I'm reminded of the LBJ quote of "give him someone to look down upon and he won't notice you're picking his pocket."
Or something along those lines.
@@michaelmartinez3674 Its one of those quotes that is better left paraphrased. But it does have a deep meaning.
The people that are in the same position as the emailer and his ancestors have been falling for the same "banana in the tailpipe" for at least 300 years.
They just keep believing someone is coming for their stuff 🙄
In the cartoon of that I've seen the rich guy looks suspiciously like Rupert Murdoch.
@@himoffthequakeroatbox4320 It could suspiciously look like the Koch brothers too you know. You must be an *id*** for singling out one person just to make an "ooohh you think" a controversial statement. Go troll somewhere else!
This should be constantly replayed over a loud speaker on big screens everywhere!!!!!! Thank you Bo! Thank you!! I've never understood people who are struggling and continue to vote against their own interests just to spite another group of people who are struggling too..
Welp... if you feel safer when you get pulled over by the cops and no one follows you around a boutique as you shop because they KNOW you are there to shoplift, and when you go to rent a higher end apartment or buy a house and never seem to win the bid, or never imagine that a doctor may ignore the same symptoms you have but takes them seriously in others... or you never thought wow... it sure would be nice to have a bandaid that matched my skin... then ..nope.. you just take privilege for granted.
And white women, like me, should completely understand where POC are coming from. We have privilege that shields us from being harassed (and much worse) by police. We have privilege that shields us from being followed around stores and being falsely accused of shoplifting. We will not be less likely than any other person in our income bracket to be able to get a house or rent an apartment. Pretty much all bandages and prosthetics are colored to match our skin. What we do experience that is similar to what POC go through is medical neglect and prejudiced pain management. All white or white-passing women have probably been discriminated against in job hunting and equal pay. All of us that are poor have experienced judgment from those who are more fortunate. There are all kinds of privilege that people don't acknowledge, and an equal amount of discrimination that is ignored by those that don't experience it. We all need to talk about our experiences without anyone becoming defensive. Being wrong or accidentally racist or sexist or ableist is a human thing to do, and we should be able to listen to people that we have hurt and change our ways, just like we would want to be done for us.
the principle is simple... as long as there is injustice in our society, we ALL lose. we live in a finite planet. there are so many cookies... if you don't have any, don't go blaming others who do not either... look at the guy hoarding millions of them!
Growing up and living in a lower middle class red state, I've been preaching this message since Reagan.
I don't understand why people don't get that doing away with income inequality helps everyone. That money has to go somewhere. Just look at the quality of life when income inequality is lower. It is higher for many, many people. We need more income equality and to make sure EVERYONE benefits from it. Everyone.
imagine your parents were brainwashed. Because of your grandparents. Because of your Confederate great grandparents.
we can't look at these people as enemies as much as we want to. the enemies are these fvcking faktriots in office running around talking so loud, actions gets silenced.
They don't want to help *everyone*
They see everything as a zero sum game - if someone else benefits from a more equitable system, they think that means less for them. They don't see how an unfair system is really hurting them too, even if it's just hurting less than it hurts the 'others'...
@@AndrewAMartin I don't think it can be both: "they just think it's a zero sum game", and "their goal is to emmiserate the other". One is true and one is on a list of rotating excuses for behavior. I need to practice noticing this kind of rhetoric. Beau talks about it some.
@@sloaneglover1026 Sometimes, they conflate emiserating someone else with raising themselves up, _because_ they view life as zero sum. It is a profoundly warped worldview, but it's one that has followers.
"Everyone deserves a plate." That should be another shirt. Would love to see it go viral.
"A good life for everyone" is the slogan in liberation theology. "Everyone deserves a plate. And cookies!"
Especially when these cookies had been baked by him and the black coworkers he's throwing under the bus. All the cookie jar's owner has done is taking the jar hostage for his own benefit.
I'd like one of those myself James. It's an encouraging and inclusive message!
@@danielr.y5261
'All wheels stand still
when your strong arm wills it‘
- German original:
"Alle Räder stehen still
wenn dein starker Arm es will" -
Or the famos poem by Bertolt Brecht:
Rich man, poor man
faced each other in a van.
Said the poor man with a switch:
“Were I not poor,
you wouldn’t be rich.”
The conflict between the serfs and the masters is going on for centuries. In the last decades we have been tricked into believing that we can have cookies without fighting for it by feeding us with the cookie crumbs and telling us that each crumb is a whole cookie all the while the people in power were hoarding the cookies on the side of the table were not allowed to see.
I'd buy it.
Some of your absolute best work right here, Beau. Respect.
Those who say that they don’t have privilege should be asked how many times they were stopped by police in the last month.
And whether they feared for their life during the stop, if they were stopped because they were actually speeding or had a taillight out.
@Senses
Yes. A giant survey of over a million traffic stops found that black people were 20% more likely to be stopped, _during the day._ When the officer could see their color.
@Senses it’s privilege when you don’t have to worry about being stopped by police on a regular basis while simply living a normal life.
@Senses I agree it's harassment. It's also privilege because privilege is relative. It's not a static concept. If group A is consistently harassed more than group B, group B is privileged, by comparison.
@Senses i am white and i know i have a privilage when i crossed the canadian border and wasnt searched in my car when they had us pull off just for a misunderstandkng of cards i gave cuzzz i gave work permit not green card. They checked that green card if it was real and said have a good day asking if i had guns at all. That was it. I had a car with about a 1000 lbs of books and other stuff inwas moving down with my stuff including knives . Coulda had anything kn there for all they knew. Back seat was stacked full of boxes
I've been there. Can throw in age, too. I didn't go back to school until my 30's. I looked for any scholarships I could have applied for. If it wasn't stipulated for certain minority groups, it was locked down to age. Basically, the traditional right-out-of-high-school-now-in-college range. I would get mad, too, that there were things that poor POC could apply for or get, but my family could not. It took me a while to get into my head the question, "Why not me, too? Why not my son or daughter? Why not my husband?"
Those rich old farts in control of the power structures like to convince you there is not enough money to help the average person. Oh, this country can't afford THAT. But if there's a new fighter jet or whatever that some lobbyist convinced their bought-and-paid-for politician is absolutely necessary? Well, they will whip out the Congressional checkbook and sign us up for a half a billion dollars faster than Donald Trump would take credit for having designed that thing himself. Those job makers? They need their taxes cut so they can ship more jobs overseas or automate them so there need be no workers at all. There are more conflicts of interest in the House and Senate than you can shake a stick at.
All while these rich old farts also having the gall to tell women they have to be incubators and figure out how to afford to feed their children and not be homeless while ensuring men (who they feel should be the top dog) can't be the sole breadwinner. It's economic slavery.
In Tennessee it is a felony to be homeless (it is a felony to be camping publicly), I wonder how they reconcile that with people who camp in parks. First let make people homeless, then lets make sure that they will NEVER recover by giving them a felony conviction on their record.
@@99beowulf99 Well, I'm pretty sure you have to have an address/residence to be allowed to vote in most states. So, the moment you're homeless, you can't vote/have no voice. And since most states don't allow felons to vote, well, sucks to be you, in their eyes. And since our society has been groomed to blame the victims for becoming homeless, they don't see anything wrong with it unless/until they are made homeless. And then it's too late because now homeless and potential felon.
Very good points everyone! Living in Texas it is sometimes hard to stay positive.
"Give me one reason to want to tear down a system that benefits me", said Beau's correspondent. It does NOT benefit him; it only screws him slightly less than it does a minority.
I've heard that same argument from people about unions: "Why should the union have these benefits when I don't?" is how they phrase it, when the question SHOULD be, "Why don't we ALL have these benefits?"
"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house" book title by Audre Lorde, but applicable as a comment here. Fear and "othering" are our masters' tools. Our masters will never willingly relinquish their wealth or their power.
Said the French Monarchy at one time, then the guillotines rolled out and got put to use. And the Catholic church wisely got quiet and hide for a decade or two. Don't forget how much religion is used to control the peasants. WAKE UP PEOPLE.
Totally.
Definitely. And if you want actual democracy you require sortition.
"You can't hold someone down unless you stay down with them."
G.W.Carver (I think!)
A different brilliant black man, Booker T. Washington
I am all about fairness
Here's a theory: the Confederacy was doomed to fail for economic reasons. Using slaves instead of paying workers meant a low velocity of money and hardly any development. "Why should I pay you when I can just rent a slave?" was how they suppressed wages among fellow whites.
And exactly the reason the civil war was fought.
What Donald Trump and the Confederacy have in common :
Both have the inability to man up and admit they LOST , LOST , LOST ....
Along the same line, another theory..., without unpaid slave labor the south wouldn't have had the money necessary to war against the north.
Look at how they treat prisoners in for profit prisons with little if any food. One nutritionist said she finally developed a type of ensure and if they were lucky they might get one egg. A couple of those companies tried to operate in Washington and got run out of town on a rail.
There's also the fact that slavery and autocracies aren't really productive, and kind of brittle in practice.
This was one of the best questions asked. As a person of Japanese and Jewish heritage, I found that the most vulnerable asset I have is being a member of a union. When I worked for Coca Cola in the 80's and 90's the union helped us get $15.50 a hour, healthcare, and a retirement package. After I changed careers and became a registered nurse I took a job that has union representation. Again I have excellent wages and benefits. That plate of cookies is best served with anyone belonging to a brotherhood and sisterhood of unions. If we got a fair shake we wouldn't need uions and the bosses would waste billions of dollars trying to bust the union efforts
Unions are a socialist response to unjust capitalist greed. And hardcore Capitalists fear Unions because they work: They give workers more money, more protections, and more benefits. They give workers better shares of the profits and corporations STILL don't die because, well, production stays up with better paid workers.
To anyone reading this who fears Unions are the devil and are stupid and whatever else, think about this: If Unions are so useless, why do corporations, like Amazon and Starbucks, spend millions of dollars per year on Union Busters and Anti-Union propaganda to keep unions from organizing?
The argument made by the person who wrote in answered his own questions yet totally missed it.
Lots of people fall prey to the same blindness. These are sad and troubling times.
Yeah, he lacks self-awareness big time
What makes it worse is that these “sad and troubling times” have been around for centuries.
Here's the chain of logic I work through:
An individual worker is powerless, one-on-one, vs an individual owner, much less the owning classes. You will always be at an extreme disadvantage in any negotiation.
The power of any one working person is directly related to the power of the working class as a whole. Only when _organized_ on a class basis do workers, or does _any_ worker, have the ability to stand up to the bosses and say "yes" or "no" with anything to back it up.
The power of the working class is directly related to its _solidarity_ - *An Injury To One Is An Injury To All.* Only on that basis can we act together as a class to defend our common interests and press our common demands.
That means that *when my Black fellow-worker is injured* due to racist systems, *I am injured*
That means that *when my woman fellow-worker is injured* due to sexist systems, *I am injured*
Repeat for any other group of oppressed & "othered" people - immigrants, trans people, etc., _ad nauseam_ - there's always someone else to be used for the purpose of divide-and-rule.
As such, I'm on the lookout for any situation in which I, as a pale-skinned, cis-hetero-male native-born to the USA have been put in a position of relative advantage due to any of those factors, and conscious of the fact that privilege is nearly always invisible in the first person (though sometimes it's pretty blatant!), I try to pay attention when someone points it out & adjust myself. And whenever I _do_ see an example of such systems at play, *it pisses me off.* Because I *know what it's for* and how I'm being played.
I ain't falling for a cookie. I want to get together with all my fellow-workers, and take the whole goddamn plate for all of us to share.
you are talking unions. We have them throughout Australia and they work. NOT perfectly 'cause bosses are still looking out for number one, but
a factory full of workers going on strike is much more powerful than one person. And if that dont work you try to draw in other factories,
and workers in related fields , and it can be a voice bosses cant say no to. And so i say UNIONISE. this is the workers best answer to oppression
@@ianmurray7484 I'm talking unions, for a start...
I'm a white man living in rural Vermont on a dirty road and grew up pretty poor. I have far more in common with my female Puerto Rican friend from Brooklyn than almost any politician.
But do you RESENT having "more in common" with your female friend from Brooklyn than with any ruling politician ?
@@bobbachelor5930 Not sure I understand your question. I'm happy to have common understanding with someone so different from myself. I resent the government for its many failings which have allowed us to share and witness many difficult experiences.
@@802Garage Yes, you have answered my question. Your resentment is justifibly towards the government, not towards your freind. However, i find alot of whites foolishly misdirect their resentment towards "the other".
@@bobbachelor5930 Oh I hear you. Quite the opposite. I feel solidarity with everyone in the lower class, regardless of race or even political affiliation. While I vehemently disagree on many topics with the rural Republicans in my area for example, we still share similar struggles and the same oppressors. Hope that makes sense.
I love the cookie analogy it makes me think of my dog. You give him a milkbone and he starts growling at the cat. The cat doesn't want the milkbone, but he sure is afraid she might take it.
LOL That's perfect! Exactly the mentality Beau is referring to!
💯 Beau. This false belief that it’s either them or us, when there’s plenty for both. It’s the Man at the top w/ his boot on all our necks
This reminds me of what we are seeing in the UK. The rich and elites hoarding the cookies, pointing to the EU saying "those people that are coming here are taking your jobs, your cookies, your everything".
One of the most infuriating arguments is that the EU workers are "coming over here driving down wages" when the people in charge could just increase the minimum wage.
Deep frustration there.
Sadly the UK is looking more like the US everyday, there's even talk about the healthcare system going private. I'm sure there's always been that kind of talk but Stephen Fry has a video on the channel Pindex that shows how that kind of talk is getting more serious.
@@chadatchison145 We already have some privatised healthcare. Right now the public healthcare is on it's knees. In a year the government will say "we can't carry on like this, it has to be privatised" and the baying idiots will agree......
@@gdwnet Oof I hope not, your country has always been a beacon of hope for me as an American, something for my country to strive to emulate at least in some areas, if you lose your healthcare system the US would never improve ours.
They actually were though, as a trades man from the north, London was always a good pay day, a whole lot of building work was taken by EU migrants, working with them was difficult, not due to a language barrier, but due to the fact their task master spoke to them in the morning and wouldn't be seen until the following day and they never deviated from the task they were given even if it was the right way to go, it also harmed the apprenticeship system here, as an employer why pay a tenner an hour to a trainee [after employers NI contributions] when for 12 quid an hour you could have some what qualified EU worker, makes sense in the short term, seriously harms the industry in the long term.
We need migrant workers sure, but with no quota's it does drive down wages. Sure there are jobs we can't fill because we're not willing to do those jobs, but there's a lot of jobs we could fill if the wages were better.
Was neither for nor against Brexit, sound arguments could be made for both without accusations of xenophobia being thrown around. Structurally the Euro is a mess, without germany the house of cards falls, debt to gdp of spain italy greece looks like an unsolvable problem.
And the big thing nobody thinks about, when climate change wrecks southern europe farming. [And it will] What do you think free movement of people would do to Britain, a country that has a shortage of housing since as long as I've been alive?
Please remember this phrase "lifeboat Britain" because 20 years from now, it will be a newspaper headline.
@@chadatchison145 Sadly I Think it will happen if this government gets re-elected. We are already heading down a very dark path.
If they can keep us fighting amongst ourselves, we cannot become a force to be reckoned with.
I'm gonna copypaste my own thoughts about "focusing on the selfish side".
This is written in the most selfish terms I can imagine. (ESL warning.)
I am a retail worker. (not currently, but I've been.) Everyone who has been a retail worker KNOWS how it be. You need all hands on deck as soon as need arises. We all rely on each other at any moment.
One of my coworkers was Clarice. She liked espresso, lavender cologne and raccoons. (She LOVES raccoons.) Clarice is also a transwoman. It is on my absolute best interest, as a worker, that Clarice is taken care of, respected just like any other worker, gets equally paid, so on, so forth. I rely on Clarice as much as she relies on me when push comes to shove, so I need her to be on her best health both physically and mentally. Those things can only be achieved if she is socially equal to me, a cis straight white male. (IMO).
On the same note, it is ALSO on my best interest that she gets any help she needs to achieve her better life (as in, the medical care necessary to fully transition if she wishes to) and that she is respected outside of the job since work isnt all there is to life and an unhappy person simply isnt up to the task of being an efficient coworker. Nor would she support my needs as a coworker (if we were to strike or form an union, lets say) if she's not feeling well or something is disturbing her outside of our job.
That's me being 100% selfish and taking away any concept of morals whatsoever. Now we add our own sensibilities to the mix.
That isn't 100 % selfish, and it's full of moral concepts. Just because you say it's so doesn't make it so.
"Does the system really benefit you or does it only benefit you a little more?"
PREACH!
Dude, MLK Jr would've loved you because you're preaching the message he was trying to get through to the Joe Biden(s) of his day.
Salute brother!
Until we take "that" down (whatever the barrier is - racism, gender equality,...) we will not be able to work together to achieve a fair, just system. What the barriers do, is prevent people uniting, prevent achieving a better way.
He does have one very real privilege - he doesn't have to worry than any encounter with a cop could land him in a box.
Actually he has a lot of privileges. He just wasted most of them.
Actually even that isnt 100% true, white people get shot too, just way less often. Its what happens when police both lack training and are hyper paranoid.
Idk, if he's driving a beater, cops tend to come on a little more aggressive. He's better off than a black dude in the same car, but he's still probly getting searched and hassled.
I've got news, I personally know 5 people that have been shot by cops over my lifetime and none were black. I don't even live in a high crime area. Nobody should personally know 5 people that are dead from cops. It's not just black folks that are in danger of being shot in a routine traffic stop.
“People will give up much more to hurt ‘other people’ than to help ‘other people’”.
-I Can’t Remember and Paraphrasing
Edit: spelling
I think maybe Lyndon Johnson?
"I've never seen white privilege in my life"
White privilege isn't some idea that because you are white your life is easy and everything is given to you. White Privilege is that you haven't had to fight against your skin color to get the same opportunity as someone with the "right" skin color.
Life is hard for almost everybody. Most of us have to work hard to survive, no matter your skin color. That doesn't prove that white privilege isn't a thing, because that privilege is a different category than work ethic and just existing in general.
I'm over my head in medical debt ... right there is the next problem after racism that needs to be addressed . Most of the rest of the world doesn't have to put up with health care that makes people sick from worry about paying bills .
One hospital stay can wipe out all the savings you have and put in a debt hole you don't think you'll ever get out of. It so sad and sooo unnecessary.
When people say, "We don't have enough ___" more often than not, the problem doesn't lie in lack of production, it's a lack of distribution
So very true. I can be heard time again saying, it's not that we lack the resources to eliminate homelessness in the U.S., what we lack is the political willpower to do so. This country has MORE than enough resources to house EVERY single person in this nation, we just can't agree that this is a priority, and then act to resolve it.
This Explanation is Perfect Beau !!!
This is exactly What I have been trying to explain for Years !!!
It is THIS SYSTEM That is Screwed to be Competitive and Racists !!!
Hi
Whyte privilege is more about an absence of additional difficulties rather than a presence of benefits. Removing difficulties for all of your neighbors is important. A rising tide lifts all ships.
Howdy
One reason to want to tear down a system that *seems* to benefit you: The system we build to replace it will benefit you more at the same time that it benefits all of those "others".
"If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” -Lyndon B. Johnson
it's mind-blowing folks don't see social programs make society better for EVERYONE and now the guy with the plate of cookies getting you to watch the guy without a cookie... he's got your cookie too... why the heck do you think he had a plateful, to begin with?