३१ ऑगस्ट, २०२३

"A self-described high school dropout living in a camper with a tarp on the roof sings a plaintive cri de coeur about blue collar workers being shafted by the wealthy..."

"... and it is right-wing Republicans who rush to embrace him while Democrats wag their fingers and scold him for insensitivity. Huh?"

Writes Nicholas Kristof — who can't really be surprised, can he? — in "On Their High Horse, Too Many Liberals Disdain Oliver Anthony" (NYT).
Have Democrats retreated so far from their workingman roots that their knee-jerk impulse is to dump on a blue collar guy who highlights “folks in the street, ain’t got nothin’ to eat”?...
Easily, for anyone who's been watching America in this century, the answer is yes. The "workingman"/"blue collar guy" might be a racist, and if anything in that song feels like dog-whistle racism, that brings on the hostility of the left. The lyric "the obese milkin' welfare" closed liberal hearts to the plaint of the working-class white man. They're not "on their high horse" in this. They're sticking with their anti-racist values and keeping their sensitivities tuned. 

Kristof says:
Liberals are properly attentive to racial injustice, but have a blind spot about class...

It's not blindness. It's a matter or priorities. And racial injustice has taken the top priority. 

... driven in part by unfair stereotypes that members of the white working class are invariably bigots....

Speaking of "unfair," the use of the word "invariably" is unfair. Oliver Anthony wasn't presumed a bigot because he's a member of the white working class. Those words "obese milkin' welfare" triggered a presumption against him.

I wish Anthony hadn’t complained in his song about obese people on food stamps; that’s a horrible stereotype and was simply mean.

Simply mean? 

But just as Anthony should show more compassion for people struggling on food stamps....

He "should"? Ironically, Kristof seems to be on his "high horse" when he dictates that good people refrain from resenting food assistance given to people who look overfed.

... liberals should show more compassion for workers who have been left behind. It’s partly this condescension that has driven many working-class voters... into the arms of conservative politicians who would shaft them even more.

I'm imagining the NYT readers who perversely giggled at "shaft them even more." They're not inclined to "show more compassion" to the racist sector of America. The argument that they should center their politics on "class" has been heard and rejected. They're doing race. The racial critique won priority on the left.  

BONUS: Oliver Anthony on Joe Rogan:

९९ टिप्पण्या:

gilbar म्हणाले...

have y'all ever met any "blue collar workers"?? Did they SEEM like democrats to YOU?
when you think blue collar worker, do you think: Hormone Replacement Therapy? or Critical Race Theory?
MAYBE what you think, when you hear blue collar worker, is someone that wants to defund the police?
Oh! i know! you think "reparations!" or "LET'S send our troops to [fill in the blank]"

please name me ONE democrat policy of the last 20 years that a "blue collar worker" would support?
i'll wait

RideSpaceMountain म्हणाले...

We just lived through the greatest wealth transfer in human history.
We are living through the greatest demographic shift in history.
There’s never been this big a class of elderly people in history.
IQ is collapsing at levels never before seen in history.
Young white men are the most maligned they’ve ever been in history.
Young white women are the biggest THOTs they’ve ever been in history.
Democrats are busy bitching about how the hydrosphere is collapsing due to toxins and microplastics while pointing their finger at guy who sang a song.

Everything is fine, ya'll.

Kate म्हणाले...

I'd like to join the "Disdain Oliver Anthony" party. The man's 15 minutes are over.

rwnutjob म्हणाले...

Bullshit

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

They're sticking with their anti-racist values and keeping their sensitivities tuned.

Ah the old "anti-racism" fig leaf and sensitivities excuse. When one imputes color where none is expressed by the speaker then you ARE the racist, not the anti-racist. Yes the Democrats have abandoned blue collar workers and the working poor and Obama made that explicit in his 2012 reelection campaign. Thomas Edsall wrote a long article about that at the time.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

Thanks for the fisking, always the best part of the blog.

Progs expect the deplorables to stay in their basket. Any protest is doubleplusungood deplorable.

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

My complaint is with Kristoff like Althouse's. But I have a complaint about Blogger as well. If I click "comment" and then within that screen select "show original post" Blogger removes all formatting, making the excerpts and Althouse's commentary run together. However, if from the home screen I click "show more" then it retains the formatting making the fisking clear. I've noticed a similar formatting issue on the phone screen, where "click for more" from the home screen shows comments in a larger text that I can read easily without turning the phone sideways, which is necessary if I simply click the number of comments hypertext.

Brian म्हणाले...

The left ceded the working class to the Republican Party, while the Republican party ceded the country club set.

It's just taking around a decade to complete.

Joe the Plumber versus the Academic Obama.

Hard hands versus soft hands.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

I'm right wing and thought the song sucked, both musically and lyrics-wise.

Rich men lift the poor up, corrupt men put the poor down, is the correct message.

n.n म्हणाले...

diversity (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry), inequity, exclusion (DIE)... It's not just religious doctrine to justify the wicked solution for a "burden", political congruence, redistributive change, [catastrophic anthropogenic] immigration reform, ethnic Springs, conflation of logical domains, etc.

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

It reflects the change in the party hierarchies and the change in the government workforce. Democrats are mostly college educated female/soy male white collar workers in both government and corporations, black people of all classes and genders, and about 60% of Hispanics (concentrated in 1st/2nd generation citizens/residents). Republicans are everyone else. But the key change has been in the political composition of the government workforces at the federal and state levels in the last 50 years.

Althouse is wrong, however- it wasn't the obese welfare milking line that drew the Left's antipathy- it was the title and main refrain of the song itself. It was clearly aimed at the political class in D.C. plus the government workforce in D.C. which is overwhelmingly Democrats and firmly ensconced white collar elites. Had the welfare line not been in the song at all, the antipathy would have been exactly the same. Althouse makes the mistake because she assumes everyone analyzes lyrics closely- they don't- song titles are what most people notice and interpret. Lyric analysis then proceeds to put the best face on the general reactions- here it allows the Left to pretend they are against racists only, not poor working class white people- but that is wrong- the Democrats really don't care about poor working class white people because such people have mostly started voting for Republicans while upper class white people have started voting for Democrats, at least young ones without children do.

Michael म्हणाले...

So when they hear “obese milkin' welfare" the lefties immediately think of black women. Telling.

hawkeyedjb म्हणाले...

"Working class roots"

Hah. The roots of the Democratic party are in slavery, the KKK and Jim Crow.

hawkeyedjb म्हणाले...

"Working class roots"

Hah. The roots of the Democratic party are in slavery, the KKK and Jim Crow.

Enigma म्हणाले...

Condensed summary: "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."


Ideals go the way the dinosaur when one's income and retirement depend on the establishment and current power structure. All who receive $$$$$$$ from the government are bought off to a greater or lesser degree, while the language they use to defend the status quo shifts with the wind. Class. Green. Race. It matters not. They don't want anyone messing with their gravy train.

hombre म्हणाले...

Other than pimping labor bosses what do Democrats have to do with the well-being of blue collar workers? They have destroyed the middle class with corporate taxes, pandering to the CCP, Obamacare and inflated housing, grocery and fuel prices.

Clark म्हणाले...

Wow. The assumption that 'obese milkin' welfare' is racist tells me two things about the people who assume it:

1. They are racist (THEY are the ones assuming race)
2. They are out of touch and know nothing about rural poverty (lots of fat white people)

Iman म्हणाले...

Kristoff doesn’t even mean well, he’s an effete dilettante.

Owen म्हणाले...

Why should we expect a cry of visceral rage and disgust to be impeccably coherent, satisfying the intellectual and prosodic requirements of the faculty lounge inhabited by the Dems?

Oliver Anthony tapped into something much bigger than himself.

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

There's no mention of race in the lyric "the obese milkin' welfare." So why isn't it racist to assume he's singing about a certain race that isn't white? I mean there's certainly no shortage of overweight white people.

It's not blindness. It's a matter or priorities. And racial injustice has taken the top priority.

Racial injustice may be a top priority, but that hasn't stopped Dems from taking up the causes of other groups like women, LGBT, immigrants, etc. So why not poor whites too?
I agree it's not a blind spot, tho. It's calculated. The white working class is the designated bad guy, responsible for every problem and unhappiness in the world. They need a designated bad guy, someone to be feared and hated. It's anti-white racism. The good kind.

Iman म्हणाले...

Nominated for the most annoying song of the year. The message isn’t a problem but I can’t take the nasally whining!

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

'Rich men lift the poor up, corrupt men put the poor down, is the correct message.'

There is some subtlety here.

He is clearly referencing politicians who are rich, not just generic corporate types.

Politicians in DC have a lot to answer for...

Ice Nine म्हणाले...

Notice how the lefties' accusation of racism in the song is totally constructed of whole cloth. There is not a single reference to race. And, it cannot validly even be argued that the lyric "obese milkin' welfare" implies reference to Blacks, since the vast majority of welfare recipients in the US are White -- by tens of millions more Whites than Blacks (on Medicaid, food stamps, ADC).

Never mind that it wouldn't be racist anyway if the fact were that Blacks were the majority welfare recipients. But, again, they are not close. Furthermore, I've been around welfare recipients my whole adult life and, trust me, there is no shortage of obese White ones.

A complete fabrication of racism by the left simply as a weapon against the general (raceless) gist of the song, which they hate because it slams their god, government.

mikeski म्हणाले...

They're sticking with their anti-racist values and keeping their sensitivities tuned.

To paraphrase The Other Professor (Glenn Reynolds), "they're not anti-racist, just on the other side."

re Pete म्हणाले...

"Why an’ what’s the reason for?"

Misinforminimalism म्हणाले...

If you hear "obese milkin' welfare" and think "he's talking about black people," it just might be you who's triggering a presumption of racism here.

(43% of welfare recipients are non-hispanic whites, nearly double the percentage who are non-hispanic blacks).

Tell me you don't live in the South without telling me you don't live in the South....

jaydub म्हणाले...

Not sure a hillbilly would agree with calling this song a "cri de coeur," plantive or otherwise. Seems pretentious for bluegrass, or maybe a better description would be "Kristof-ish." Probably should just describe it as "pissed off," although that may be too low brow for the likes of Nicholas.

Larry J म्हणाले...

Had he released the song when Trump was in office, the Left would have hailed Oliver Anthony as a working class hero. Instead, the Left hates him for releasing a popular anti-establishment song when they are the establishment. For that sin, he must be destroyed. Millions of people who got the short end of the stick identify with the song. They see the Rich Men North of Richmond, Democrats and Republicans, getting richer while doing things like destroying poor people’s jobs as the problem.

Eva Marie म्हणाले...

It’s racist to claim obese milkin’ welfare is racist. White liberals should be ashamed of their stereotypes about obesity, and poverty. I don’t know about where white rich liberals shop, but when I’m at the 7/11, overweight people buying their donuts with food stamps come in all colors. And since I live in a lower middle class, majority white and Hispanic area, those groups are the ones reflected in food stamp users.
This song is more complex than “it’s us against them”. Yes it’s the rich men in Richmond who are milking us dry but we don’t escape all blame because people like me and people like you, we do it too. When we have folks in the street while we take advantage of government rules to take more than we should, we need to look to our own souls.
The song also is not complaining about people who are rich, but those in Washington DC, who like the obese milking’ welfare, are milking our tax dollars away.

TreeJoe म्हणाले...

How is not a single person here not calling out this line,

"I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere"

Democrats didn't go against it because it was perceived as racist.

Democrats attacked it because they felt the song was aimed at them, even though it was aimed at both parties.

Jupiter म्हणाले...

"They're sticking with their anti-racist values and keeping their sensitivities tuned."

The second person plural pronouns are "We" and "our", Althouse. Not "They" and "their".

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

They're not inclined to "show more compassion" to the racist sector of America.

So I'm a racist in your mind, Althouse? Thanks.

wild chicken म्हणाले...

"I'm right wing and thought the song sucked, both musically and lyrics-wise."

Me too. Just a laundry list or gish gallop diatribe in that phony drawl Nashville loves so much.

And sounds vaguely like Rock Me Baby which is a much better song. Not plagiarism but a unearned allusion.

Jim Gust म्हणाले...

What Ice Nine wrote. In my personal experience at the grocery checkouts, the obese paying with food stamps are as likely to be white as black, so this is not racist. Although, now that I think about it, I've never noticed an Asian person, obese or not, pay with food stamps.

MayBee म्हणाले...

I think the line about obese people milking welfare is really about politics anyway. Aside from having nothing to do with race (unless the listener is racist enough to assume welfare = black), it's about the terrible welfare policies that the Rich Men come up with, as if they've solved the problem rather than create another one.

Obese people require more calories to stay obese, so more welfare is going to be needed. Health problems increase, and people on welfare are going to probably be on Medicaid as well. So that becomes a spiral of costs.

All because the Rich Men came up with a solution, the way they always do. The way Obama's "sometimes grandma doesn't need the surgery, just a pain pill" attitude helped feed the opiod epidemic.

Rabel म्हणाले...

Perhaps they assume a racial component to the lyric because they've stood in line at the grocery store in an area with a significant Black population and the reality of the situation versus their public rejection of that reality based on the sense of righteousness it imparts to their view of themselves as the good guys causes a mental conflict that they deal with by shooting the messenger.

D.D. Driver म्हणाले...

"So when they hear “obese milkin' welfare" the lefties immediately think of black women. Telling."

I guarantee he is singing about family members. If you don't come from the rural working class you won't get it. But, talk to someone who has and I guarantee they will bitch about their deadbeat brother-in-law on disability who drives a nicer truck than them and goes fishing every day and their cousin with five kids from five different fathers living on public assistance. No one begrudges those who "need" help, but only white urbanites believe that everyone on public assistance "needs" it. It's easy to maintain this fiction because white urbanites don't know a single person who is actually on public assistance.

lane ranger म्हणाले...

What Yancey Ward said.

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

This is what "anti-racism" is at heart: www.frontpagemag.com/anti-white-racism-and-the-maui-fires

PM म्हणाले...

This morning in SF, I carefully and politely stepped over just-awakened fortyish black woman blocking the door of the building I work in. She asked for 20 bucks. That was new.

Mr. T. म्हणाले...

The left long abandoned the blue working class citizen for the goverment union dreg. That's why the left doesn't want the history of socialism/communism taught in schools: their is no social utopia, only the goverment class vs. everyone else.

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

Rich men lift the poor up, corrupt men put the poor down, is the correct message.

Love your takes usually, even if just for the laughs, but this formulation elides the hard truth that rich men come in all types and unfortunately, the tiny group of them that are the target of this song are essentially evil globalists who are doing this to us on purpose. We also call them the Uniparty. It is a class distinction not a political or racial one.

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

it wasn't the obese welfare milking line that drew the Left's antipathy- it was the title and main refrain of the song itself

Agreed. The leftists pounced on that lyric to attempt to racialize this class issue, as they do.

Money Manger म्हणाले...

Wait. Is this the “Try that in a small town north of Richmond” song I keep reading about ? So confusing.

Kevin म्हणाले...

Shorter Kristoff: Are we the baddies?

Jaq म्हणाले...

If you think that there are no obese white women who are milking welfare, then you are the racist. But let Democrats get going on the shoppers found in Walmart some time, and suddenly, yeah,there are a lot of poor and obese whites. If you are a working class white, you know some white women pumping out children, with no father around, living on welfare, and that same working class white probably knows no black women on welfare. What is distressing is the destruction of the culture of work and family that these, in this case, white women represent. It’s a lament for the loss of a way of life.

The people who claim to hear these dog whistles sure have a fully working inner racist to consult at all times. If this was an actual fisking, some cultural sensitivity would be on display.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne म्हणाले...

Reality collides with the Left's world of conceit. Expect more of this to happen and don't be surprised when it gets uglier and uglier.

Michael K म्हणाले...

it wasn't the obese welfare milking line that drew the Left's antipathy- it was the title and main refrain of the song itself. It was clearly aimed at the political class in D.C. plus the government workforce in D.C. which is overwhelmingly Democrats and firmly ensconced white collar elites.

The left pretends to care about blacks as long as it needs their votes. The political class in DC also consists of the millions on government payrolls. The military used to be the exception but that is going fast. See how quickly black conservatives are sent to the back of the bus.

Just A Thought म्हणाले...

I interpret Anthony to be criticizing the government program's lack of common sense limitations at least as much as (and probably more than) the recipients who use program benefits in a way that further diminishes their own health. And part of that criticism, I think, is "why does government use tax money, which they've made me pay, to make the poor more ill?"

But let's just say for argument that Anthony is taking aim at fat welfare recipients for using government benefits to satisfy nutritionally vacuous and gluttonous cravings.

What has to go through one's mind to see *racism* in that criticism?

They have to associate "welfare" with "racial minorities."

They have to associate "bad choices" with "racial minorities."

They have to associate "obese" with "racial minorities."

If one's mind *intuits* these associations, the racism likely lies less with the lyrics and more in the mind seeing the racism. And don't give me demographic data -- I'm talking about intuitions. Plus, I'd be quite surprised if that demographic data mapped onto what likely informs Anthony's subjective observations -- mostly rural and either mid-Atlantic, southern, or Appalachian.

Xmas म्हणाले...

One of those great ironies of our country that aggravate the rest of the world is our constant complaint that our poor people are too fat.

This comes across as an malicious humblebrag.

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

Furthermore, I've been around welfare recipients my whole adult life and, trust me, there is no shortage of obese White ones.

Yep. Me too. Very true. About half trade the snap money for drugs too.

MayBee म्हणाले...

The part about welfare also reminds me of a conversation I had with my LA-area Uber driver last month. He told me he was moving to Florida because living in California was good for people who make very little money and people who make a lot of money, but for people who work hard for a moderate income, it is unsustainable.
This tension exists on a national level. I remember in the 2010s, there were a lot of people going on Social Security disability. Again, this had a lot to do with the opioid epidemic. But incentives to work hard if you don't make a ton of money don't come from our government.
The current Dem/progressive answer to that is: Well, it is a white person ethic to work hard, and it is part of systemic racism to expect that of people.

~ Gordon Pasha म्हणाले...

The Democratic Party is no longer the party of FDR, HST, and JFK. It is now the party of the transnational oligarchs and the down trodden lower classes who it treats like zealots between elections (vide Maui) with a Satanic communist philosophy.

phantommut म्हणाले...

I watched the Rogan/Anthony podcast last night. Anthony came across as very intelligent and well-grounded. I have no idea if his music career will have any "legs" but I do think he'll be fine whatever comes down the road.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

By a point … or 2. This is ba magical n of error. You need to be ahead by 6-7 points for a poll to mean anything.

Patrick म्हणाले...

"Have Democrats retreated so far from their workingman roots that their knee-jerk impulse is to dump on a blue collar guy who highlights “folks in the street, ain’t got nothin’ to eat”?"

Yes.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

So when they hear “obese milkin' welfare" the lefties immediately think of black women. Telling.

@Michael + 1

Kakistocracy म्हणाले...

This guy is the real deal. Straight down the aisle 'moderate' makes sense. The political division of the US today doesn't make sense anymore, it's sadly become "horseshoe politics". Neither party corresponds to the views and attitudes of the younger generations and by younger I mean ≥50.

The beauty is that so far Oliver Anthony has turned down any record contracts, under which he would presumably be shoe-horned to fit a more specific demographic. In the meantime he's making $40k/day on streaming royalties.

I appreciate his transparency and I wish him all the best.

Lem Vibe Bandit म्हणाले...

I’ve resisted listening to this guy talk.

I don’t recall many artists talking about their songs.

Why should this guy be special?

tim maguire म्हणाले...

into the arms of conservative politicians who would shaft them even more.

This from the New York Times' conservative columnist.

tim maguire म्हणाले...

MayBee said...The part about welfare also reminds me of a conversation I had with my LA-area Uber driver last month. He told me he was moving to Florida because living in California was good for people who make very little money and people who make a lot of money, but for people who work hard for a moderate income, it is unsustainable.

When my wife and I lived in NYC, we said this exact thing about it. You could probably say it about any place run by Democrats. Good for the very rich and the very poor and nobody in between.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

"She asked for 20 bucks. That was new."

Whatever happened to 'Brother can you spare a dime?'

Bidenflation...

Rabel म्हणाले...

Right. Nobody here thinks about Black women when obese welfare queens are mentioned.

Give me a fucking break.

Static Ping म्हणाले...

Considering that the Democratic Party and their agents regularly declare that non-whites who disagree with them as "white supremacists," there does not appear to be any logic here beyond reactionary "us vs. them." They need villains and they will produce villains.

Right now, the working class is seriously reconsidering if the Democratic Party cares about them - hint, they don't unless you vote for them and agree to all their positions without question and/or produce graft for them - hence, the lashing out. The position changed from "we will do things for you so you should vote for us" to "you owe us." If it was not for the media covering for them such that much of the working class is not going to know about this unless they personally witness what it is going on, I suspect the Democratic Party would collapse. That's part of the reason for the desperation. The thing is desperate people sometimes win.

Kakistocracy म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Kakistocracy म्हणाले...

The minute Mr Anthony says anything that's not according to DeSantis/Trump/Putin/Posobiec Approved Doctrine, they'll cancel him with more quickness than a country hog fleeing from a hound-dog chased by a coal-rollin' truck with an Oklahoma lightning storm behind it.

It’s cute how he explicitly tells the Republicans that “Hey, this song is about you too,” but they’re stuck on the idea that he must automatically be on their side. Why? Because of where he lives and what he looks like.

These are of course the same Republicans who make lots of noise denouncing “identity politics”. These ironies get tiresome: the right wing is always accusing others of the exact thing they do themselves.

Freeman Hunt म्हणाले...

Why would anyone think that obese people milking welfare means black people? That's KKK-level racist. Maybe the "anti" in "anti-racist" is ornamental.

mccullough म्हणाले...

Fudge Rounds South of Richmond

The Vault Dweller म्हणाले...

I think the more important descriptor in the song is "north of Richmond" rather than 'rich'. The song seems to be more about people misusing power. And the kind of power that comes with being in government rather than the kind that comes from money. I can see why some on the left see the obese people on welfare line as racist. Like the hostess said being against racism is a very high priority on the left. And this leads to treating anything that could be construed as racist, as racist until it is proven otherwise. But given that the songwriter comes from central Virginia, chances are the Obese people on food assistance he sees are white folks, not black.

Michael K म्हणाले...

Blogger Rich said...
The minute Mr Anthony says anything that's not according to DeSantis/Trump/Putin/Posobiec Approved Doctrine, they'll cancel him with more quickness than a country hog fleeing from a hound-dog chased by a coal-rollin' truck with an Oklahoma lightning storm behind it.


Once again "rich" outs himself as a Democrat.

Have you ever heard of the Uniparty? You should read up so you don't sound so stupid.

You could start with this.

Iman म्हणाले...

Kristoff is America’s answer to Malcolm Gladwell.

Left Bank of the Charles म्हणाले...

“And the obese milkin’ welfare” does come across as a dog whistle, but the following lyric does conjure up the image of a poor white woman:

“Well, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 pounds
Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds”

We’re not just prioritizing race, we’re prioritizing poor women.

Jaq म्हणाले...

That’s projection rabel, but you go ahead and lynch the guy based on your opinion on what people you don’t know are thinking.

It’s called the attribution fallacy, and propaganda uses it liberally. After you have demonized a group or a person sufficiently, you can get people to put the worst interpretation on their words and actions. Don’t worry though, propaganda could never manipulate you! It only works on the people you don’t like, those people are in a cult, not like you and your friends who are founts of endless spurtles of the most dispassionate ratiocinations.

Jaq म्हणाले...

What’s “cute” is how determined Rich is to ignore the commentary that has gone on on this blog for *years* about how the uniparty has screwed ordinary Americans, Democrats and Republicans. Trumpism is a hostile takeover of the Republican Party by people kicked to the curb by Democrats. Maybe you are talking about Chuck and gadfly, who are here fighting to keep the Republican Party as the party of the rich and the neocons long after the affluent and the wealthy and yes, the neocons, decamped for the Democrats.

Free Manure While You Wait! म्हणाले...

"I don’t recall many artists talking about their songs."

You obviously don't read the Wall Street Journal, which has a long-running, regular column on just that. It's called Anatomy of a Song. Blonde's Heart of Glass and how it came to be written was one of the best. Darling be Home Soon, by John Sebastian was also a good one. As well as the one on a song by the Pretenders, the name of which is eluding my mind at the moment.

Milwaukie guy म्हणाले...

This is definitely an if you hear a dog whistle you're the dog situation.

I like his sound. It's out of the same Scots-Irish tradition as bluegrass. Lots of bluegrass and related folk music features nasally singing. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I love it.

Preach it Oliver!

Free Manure While You Wait! म्हणाले...

""She asked for 20 bucks. That was new."

Whatever happened to 'Brother can you spare a dime?'"

Not here in Minneapolis. For years there was a guy who would ask for twenty bucks. He was dressed in a suit, but if you look closely it was in pretty bad shape. And when you'd tell him now, he'd shout, "Don't you dare try to touch me again faggot!" There also was an Irish Traveler woman with two boys who would pull the same shit.

It's actually a form of extorsion in that the next time they hit you up for money, they figure you will pay up as opposed to having an 11-year-old boy yell, "Don't you dare try to touch me again faggot!" in a skyway full of people that very likely includes some of your coworkers or anyone else who may know you.

I spent years working with the homeless and the real ones don't pull shit like that.

Free Manure While You Wait! म्हणाले...

"Rich said...
The minute Mr Anthony says anything that's not according to DeSantis/Trump/Putin/Posobiec Approved Doctrine, they'll cancel him with more quickness than a country hog fleeing from a hound-dog chased by a coal-rollin' truck with an Oklahoma lightning storm behind it."

There's a word for people who predict the future based solely on their own prejudices and hoped for outcomes: Ignorant.

Jim at म्हणाले...

the right wing is always accusing others of the exact thing they do themselves.

Your lack of self-awareness is staggering.

BUMBLE BEE म्हणाले...

Remember working man's Joe at Warren Truck Plant?
"I don't work for you".
Besides, Oliver is a, I'll say it, Christian.
EEEEEEWWWWWW!

Kakistocracy म्हणाले...

Michael K double down on Pizzagate Posobiec ….

Don B. म्हणाले...

My assumption had been that the "welfare" reference was aimed at those with bogus disability claims, which practice is rampant in Appalachia. (This may have been touched on already, but I don't have patience to slog through all the comments.)

KellyM म्हणाले...

This whole thing with Oliver Anthony stinks to high heaven. Suddenly in one day he's the darling of social media and you can't get away from him.

We're supposed to believe that this guy just appeared out of nowhere, shoots to the top of the charts, turns down oodles of cash out of a sense of honor, a new icon for the right and everyone gloms on. It's all manufactured by the same shadowy forces behind the Uniparty, the response to J6, and the full-on news blackout surrounding the fires in Maui. He took the ticket just to get this far.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

“ Why would anyone think that obese people milking welfare means black people? That's KKK-level racist. Maybe the "anti" in "anti-racist" is ornamental.”

I’m just characterizing the mindset of left wingers who are hear the song. I’m basing this on general observations over the years and also specific criticisms I’ve seen of this song. This is the concept of dog whistle politics and covert racism. It’s very important to people of the left that you can’t get away with making insinuations about Black people and building in deniability by not mentioning Black people.

charis म्हणाले...

I heard once of a visitor from India who was amused on how in America, 'the poor are fat.'

I went to IntersectionalityScore.com today and found that race is indeed weighted more heavily than all the other identity markers. It's the top priority.

Jaq म्हणाले...

The guy is writing about his own community. As has been pointed out above, he is probably writing about an acquaintance, and she most likely is not black. It’s the left that plays the game of singling out “others” and making them scapegoats. The comments here tell you that Democrats refuse to accept that their party has become the party of the powerful and the affluent, so there has to be some other explanation, because it would make them feel funny in the brain if they were confronted with the truth of how they have been manipulated by the tech authoritarians, who have taken over the Democratic Party.

Michael K म्हणाले...

It’s very important to people of the left that you can’t get away with making insinuations about Black people and building in deniability by not mentioning Black people.

While "people on the left" think blacks cannot function without their help by lowering standards and banning merit hiring.

farmgirl म्हणाले...

In VT- plenty of hefty people on the gov’t teat.
In VT- they’re white.
As far as I know.
I don’t get out much.

Mikey NTH म्हणाले...

How do they think Trump got politically successful? He saw working class people had been tossed aside by both party establishments and actively courted them.

Breezy म्हणाले...

What if it’s really not about black people, or just black people? Or is it always about black people from here on, no matter the topic or players? We need to know.

RMc म्हणाले...

So when they hear “obese milkin' welfare" the lefties immediately think of black women. Telling.

If you speak of "dog whistles", then you're the dog.

boatbuilder म्हणाले...

"The minute Mr Anthony says anything that's not according to DeSantis/Trump/Putin/Posobiec Approved Doctrine, they'll cancel him with more quickness than a country hog fleeing from a hound-dog chased by a coal-rollin' truck with an Oklahoma lightning storm behind it.

It’s cute how he explicitly tells the Republicans that “Hey, this song is about you too,” but they’re stuck on the idea that he must automatically be on their side"

There you go. Hard to argue with pure, unadulerated logic.

Yeesh.

Gunner म्हणाले...

This just proves lefties don't believe their own propaganda. They constantly say that White people make up the majority of welfare recipients, but we all know who they are thinking of when he says it....

Rusty म्हणाले...

Rabel said...
"Right. Nobody here thinks about Black women when obese welfare queens are mentioned.

Give me a fucking break."
Have you ever been to a county fair? Some of those gawping housewives weigh more than the steers! It ain't all about black and white, my son. Any human being with an EBT card is gonna go for the most bang for the limited buck. That's human nature.

wendybar म्हणाले...

"Millions of people who got the short end of the stick identify with the song. They see the Rich Men North of Richmond, Democrats and Republicans, getting richer while doing things like destroying poor people’s jobs as the problem.

8/31/23, 10:27 AM"


THIS!!!!^^^^^^^

edwhy म्हणाले...

The ghost of Spiro Agnew is posting here.

edwhy म्हणाले...

The ghost of Spiro Agnew is posting here.

edwhy म्हणाले...

The ghost of Spiro Agnew posts here.

Rabel म्हणाले...

"Have you ever been to a county fair? Some of those gawping housewives weigh more than the steers! It ain't all about black and white, my son."

I don't deny that, but the stereotype of the black welfare queen exists for a good reason and claiming that only leftists assume Queenie's race when the subject is brought up is bull, Pops, and a little hard to swallow.