- My biggest fear with Trump is that, because of the failures of the Republican and Democratic elites, the bar for the white working class is too low. They’re willing to listen to Trump about rapist immigrants and banning all Muslims because other parts of his message are clearly legitimate. A lot of people think Trump is just the first to appeal to the racism and xenophobia that were already there, but I think he’s making the problem worse.
The other big problem I have with Trump is that he has dragged down our entire political conversation. It’s not just that he inflames the tribalism of the Right; it’s that he encourages the worst impulses of the Left. In the past few weeks, I’ve heard from so many of my elite friends some version of, “Trump is the racist leader all of these racist white people deserve.” These comments almost always come from white progressives who know literally zero culturally working class Americans. And I’m always left thinking: if this is the quality of thought of a Harvard Law graduate, then our society is truly doomed. In a world of Trump, we’ve abandoned the pretense of persuasion. The November election strikes me as little more than a referendum on whose tribe is bigger.
I'ma read the book and report back for science.
- There’s good research on this stuff. Believing you have no control is incredibly destructive, and that may be especially true when you face unique barriers.
Huh.
I'd like to address his point about Culture though. Vance make the point that culture is inherited, and that he had to be trained out of the culture of domestic violence. What that requires though, is a judgment of a given 'culture' and an acceptance of that judgement as valid by the people who need the change. With DV, it seems fairly straightforward, but there are plenty of behaviors/patterns of behavior that are less obviously pathological, or less obviously pathological to the people exhibiting them.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that there needs to be leadership. The poor whites that Vance describes need a leader, someone they can look to and say 'this person was one of us, and they have improved their life without sacrificing their values.' I can't help but draw parallels to people like Maajid Nawaz and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, people who want to preserve Islam in its various flavors by purging out the antisocial, dangerous radical elements through reformation. Their battle is religious rather than 'cultural' but it seems to me that the comparison is apt.
I also think that the point he makes about social mobility is telling. Single-parent households are not as able to raise healthy, upwardly mobile pro-social adults as more nuclear-style households are, and we have been working hard to craft a narrative that says otherwise. I made a point a long time ago about unwanted children, and I think it stands as morally defensible. When I find the link I'll add it to this post.
You know, it's funny. I downloaded it as an audiobook, intent on taking a break on this nonsense when I get to the end, a mere 12 hours away. Then I realized the Vance book is a thin little 7-hour volume and that if I start it on my way to work tomorrow, I'll be done with the fucker by Saturday morning just in my commute.
So you may have your answer soon.
I'd definitely like to hear your take, it's on my list as well, but the shortness put me off.
I have, and it's very good, Coates is a terrific writer. I did not feel as if guilt was impressed upon me, nor some explicit blame of "white people", but a individual and communal perspective, and his critiques are systemic. The James Baldwin comparison is very apt.
I'm sure you may have already, but The Case for Reparations is a really fantastic article he wrote for The Atlantic.
It's been on my list for a while. I know I should read Coates but I suspect that as a white man I'll feel pretty bad about myself after. Edward Said's Orientalism was rough enough; he does a damn fine job of making you feel guilty for liking Kipling.