A brilliant political pitch from J.D. Vance, quoted in "J.D. Vance, ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Author, Is Running for Senate in Ohio/The author and venture capitalist will vie for the Republican nomination in one of the most wide-open 2022 Senate races" (NYT).
I mean it strikes me as brilliant, but on reflection, it doesn't make much sense. You're made to feel like a bad person if you complain about the elite? Where and how is that happening?
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John Mosby writes:
Hi Prof - how do the elites make you feel like a bad person?
Simple: They wrap their policies in the language of liberal piety. Then if you disagree with their policies, you are a racist/sexist/xenophobe or just a science-denying ignorant redneck. Examples:
“Undocumented immigrants are undercutting my wages” - Xenophobe!
“I have to live 50 miles from my work because there are no affordable low-crime neighborhoods in the city anymore” - Racist!
“The Chinese Communist Party is undercutting my wages with the help of free-trade laws, and it’s responsible for COVID” - Racist xenophobe science-denying mercantilist rube, you are ill-equipped for postmodern life! Learn to code!
@John Mosby
But if you read the words literally, the complaints are limited to the way the elite are "robbing us blind." If I toss out that literalism, I agree that there are many ways that the elite indicate that we should feel we are bad. But I think the elite are fine with complaints that the elite make too much money or don't pay enough taxes. I don't think there's a massage that we're bad people for complaining about the way they are channeling money toward themselves.
Temujin writes:
He is, I believe, referring to the many of us who see the reach and power of our leadership class, not only in our government, but in academia, the media, and Big Tech. In recent times, if you disagree with them, you are called names, sent away from university speaking engagements, or tossed out of student groups. Or you are simply canceled from social media, or trounced on by the media. Or, in more current times- say from the Obama administration on through to today- you have the DOJ, State Department, and various 'intelligence' arms of our Federal government, such as the NSA and FBI, actively working to destroy you. And yes- you are called a White Supremacist just for disagreeing with the government and their motives. The phrase White Supremacist is used so often and so incorrectly that it's lost all meaning (like 'racist').
In fact, our entire government is working to make sure anyone they call 'White Supremacist' can be put away, shut down, silenced. So they use it as often as they can.
It's not that we're feeling bad about ourselves. We're being threatened. Either we shut up or we get shut down. It doesn't make me feel bad about myself, but it sure makes me feel bad about my government.
Wendybar writes:
"All you need to do, is look at what General Mark Milley said about “thousands” of Trump supporters who never entered the Capitol, but were at the rally….he is basically calling us all terrorists….BECAUSE they have questions about the irregularities in the voting….just like what happened this past week in NYC. But it’s okay for Democrats to complain about the election problems. It’s quite obvious to anybody who opens their eyes."
MikeR writes:
"You're made to feel like a bad person if you complain about the elite? Where and how is that happening?"
Well, rings true for me. Every major political issue in this country has an excuse, some kind of a moral claim at its base. And it has a result, which is always the same: politically connected people get richer and/or more powerful, the rest of us get more and more disenfranchised.
And if you disagree with the policy, they trot out the excuse, and say you're a bad person for not caring about it. Global warming, black lives matter, LGBTQ rights, white supremacist terrorists, voter suppression, the list goes on.
Scott writes:
"A good current example is the hubbub about CRT. If elite academics want to incessantly yak about it (and all the CRT adjacent stuff), that's their business. It becomes something for the rest of us to complain about when it becomes a racket with all the mandatory seminars at workplaces, organisations, etc. It morphs into an industry of self styled elites taking money from people to tell them how to think and how to act. Eventually, it gets entangled with all levels of governments, laws, regulations and so on.
"Another trope is when "ruling class" elites compare themselves to elite surgeons, elite engineers, etc. The common narrative is "People complain about elites but when they go in for surgery, who do they want operating on them? They want the best, elite surgeons" .
Being an elite authoritarian is not something to be admired. Demanding to be admired is a key motivation of the ruling class."
Amadeus 48 writes:
"Hi Althouse—I can’t make much out of Vance’s pitch, and I’m a pretty partisan GOPer. The elites are robbing us blind? That takes some reflection. They certainly are conformists and adhere to a certain sort of statism. They attempt to squash dissent. They are cowardly and hypocritical. They have leapt into bed with a horrible political entity—the CCP. But robbing us blind? It is more like they are robbing future generations to bribe the present.
"If you object, they say you are a bad person. Do you believe them? I don’t."
A reader who wants anonymity writes:
"You asked “You're made to feel like a bad person if you complain about the elite? Where and how is that happening?”
"I think the answer is that the elite’s money- and power-grabs are done in the name of social justice, so any complaints are dismissed as being opposed to social justice, rather than as opposed to corruption."
This is a good point. The elite may be rich, but the "robbing us blind" could be understood not as the way they channel money toward themselves but how they take our money and distribute it to others.
MartyH writes:
The idea of JD Vance as a real life Nick Carraway one hundred years after Fitzgerald’s imagined one has been rolling around in my head.
I am not greatly familiar with either-I did not participate in your Gatsby project and last read the book before then. My awareness of Vance is largely through your posts about him. But consider:
Both are from the Midwest, veterans, and (IIRC) Yalies. Both go East and hobnob with the elite. Both are disillusioned and return home.
I believe Carraway referred to Daisy and Tom’s “carelessness” to describe his disgust.
Vance’s rejection is perhaps more caused by the elite’s indifference. I am thinking of the anecdote you highlighted where he is dining with some masters of the universe. They are complaining about Trump’s border policy because they can’t get cheap labor. Of course, he is famous for highlighting the lives of those Americans whose jobs may have been taken by that cheap labor.
These fantastically wealthy people are discussing this right in front of him. They do not care or know how Vance happened to be with them. If they do know, they must believe that he shares their values; that they have corrupted him.
How can Vance, as an ethical person, accept their attitude and still care for the people whose lives he chronicled and they helped destroy? How can he not become a populist?
There is a weaker parallel between Gatsby and Trump. Both seem to be wildly popular (Gatsby’s parties; Trump’s showmanship) and yet these ties are superficial. In Trump’s case it this is shown by all of the manifestations of “The Resistance” to his election; Gatsby’s funeral is sparsely attended.
Carraway ultimately chooses what Gatsby represents over Tom and Daisy’s lack of values.
Finally, art is supposed to make us reflect on our lives. Maybe my analogy is strained, but this gives me a framework through which I can try to understand Vance better.
Bob Boyds writes:
"I think your third post answers the question you asked in the first post."
Norman writes:
""You're made to feel like a bad person if you complain about the elite? Where and how is that happening?"
"We Have Never Been Woke by Musa al-Gharbi appears to be an attempt to answer your question - it's not released yet but the website preview gives the basic argument: https://musaalgharbi.com/2021/05/05/book-announcement-we-have-never-been-woke/"
Birches writes:
"Along the lines of the anonymous commenter and your reply is illegal immigration as an instance of "robbing us blind.". The Elites make decisions to show how compassionate and woke they are while the working class suffers the negative consequences."
Bob Boyd writes:
"Wendybar is right. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs testified before Congress that Trump supporters were trying to "overturn the Constitution of the United States of America."
"That makes them domestic enemies every military member takes an oath to defend against. It justifies turning the powerful and secretive forces marshalled in the War On Terror against political opponents."
Basil writes:
Examples of the elite robbing us blind -
1) The cost of college and the rise of student loan debt. This cost increase is almost all for administrative positions, including diversity Deans, Title IX Dean's, Federal compliance officers, etc. These jobs, which do nothing to educate or train students, are all filled with left wing elites, ducking money from students or their parents, to the tune of billions of dollars;
2) Importation of cheap foreign labor. This practices suppresses wages for blue collar Americans, thereby robbing them of a middle class lifestyle.
3) Overseas manufacturing - see, 2, above.
4) Exponential growth in federal civilian jobs and salaries. Direct enrichment through jobs controlled by the left.
I could go on.... but you should be able to see the point by now.
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