In the beginning I thought it was a joke. Then I realized it was not a joke and I became a little frightened. Now I’m starting to wonder what it really means.
Ultimately, at around 2:45 this afternoon, I came to the conclusion that it is the beginning of a tremendous shift in American political culture. What I think I am seeing is the start of an America where it is no longer held as de facto truth that the white male is this all powerful privileged group that can be ridiculed, accused of being patriarchal, or accused of holding every other group down with its power without pushing back.
I think our culture has accepted differential treatment of white males for some time, and white males accepted to a degree many of the criticisms levied against them because those criticisms contained very solid truth. Fifty years ago, the US was a very different place, that is for certain. There were institutions that kept out women (many Ivy league schools would not admit women until the 60’s), country clubs would not admit black people, redlining was in effect, there was no affirmative action etc. etc. etc.
But now, in 2015, all of those barriers have been knocked down for the most part. What politics has evolved into on the liberal side is this dichotomy where everyone who is not a white male is a victim and white males are responsible for it. Advantage does still exist, but the disparity is much much less than it used to be, and blaming it on white men is slowly starting to have less of an effect.
Frankly I don’t even know where I’m going with this, so I’ll just stop here.
I don’t know where you’re going with this either, but Trump does well with people who feel they are the victims of something that has gone wrong in the U.S. I don’t get it, or his “Make America Great Again” b.s. I don’t see any way we’re less great now than we were 8 or 18 years ago. IMHO, we’re a bit greater as the result of the good leadership over the last 7 years.
I don’t know where you’re going with it, either [edit: written before I saw Procrustus’s reply]. The dichotomy you set up is false. I’m not hearing anyone suggest that all white males (roughly a third of the population) are victimizers and everyone else (roughtly two-thirds) are victims.
There’s a lot of rage at or recognition of the fact that white male privilege is eroding, and that unquestioned white male privilege is exclusionary. A lot of the angry people support Trump, but I don’t see that as a shift.
If there is a shift, it has more to do with anti-intellectualism and short public attention spans; media who would rather have ratings for exciting news than present considered analysis; and a showman who is experienced in working his celebrity. If anything, it’s a shift to celebrity leaders, something you could argue began with Reagan or even Roosevelt.
I don’t know where you are going either. The shift now is coming from a rejection of establishment politicians. Trump represents this in the GOP, Sanders for the Democrats. They are using populist platforms but they’re main appeal is that they don’t represent the mainstream of their parties, and they aren’t family members of recent presidents. Both parties are working furiously to get the electorate back to the traditional phony policy debate and it’s not working well because people don’t trust their candidates.
I think that Im beginning to wonder what is really at the heart of that rage and if there is some justification for it. Is it all about just loss of priviledge or is it about loss of privilege combined with still having to feel sorry and apologetic (AKA PC) about the power you no longer have?
I rarely think about politics anymore, but this whole trump thing came out of left field for me - which could possibly be because I in fact do not pay much attention to politics generally.
Also, it is not so much the fact that he does have supporters it is more about the fact that detractors are not able to demolish him. I will probably have to elaborate on that at some point, but I’m about to go for a bike ride so I better start changing soon - I don’t want to chafe.
I think it’s a disconnect. Individuals never did have the power: being a white male didn’t get you anything, it just prevented certain doors from closing. The angry seem to feel entitled to something they never had to begin with.
The institutionalized system favoring whites still DOES exist, albeit in attenuated form, but people aren’t seeing their privilege, because it’s hard to see the lack of a negative.
I think Trump, and perhaps Sanders, are doing better than expectation is because they appear more “authentic.” I am much more willing to vote for someone I believe is being honest and “real,” even if I don’t agree with them. Christie used to have that appeal for me, until I learned more about him. People are tired of careful, scripted, and poll-driven politicians. However, experience has shown that this is usually the way to win. We’ll see what happens this year.
I’m not sure where you’re going either, but Pat Buchanan was playing the angry white guy candidate 25 years ago. In 1996 he got 21% of the vote in Republican primaries (including winning four states and coming close in some others.)
This is simply politics as media circus carried to a new height. Trump doesn’t represent anything deeper than a celebrity who knows how to play to the folks who read People magazine.
I’m not sure you’re going with this, but if Trump signals a paradigm shift, I’ll eat my hat. He’s a celebrity attention whore. Period. And we’re in the silly season where no one ha to vote for another 3-4 months.
The claim (by some Trump supporters as alleged by OP) is that white males are victims and everyone else victimizers. You may find this opinion very non-factual, but if you review American comments in the wild, you will find the opinion to be fairly widespread.
I hope so. I’m concerned that Trump’s wealth would make his bread and circuses approach to elections work. If he were elected I’m thinking the inertia of existing institutions would keep him in check.
We’ve all been part of the audience that talks, chatters, whoops and hollers before the show starts. Then the lights go down, the curtain goes up, and the show begins.
We’re still in the point of the campaign when the audience is just coming into the theater. Some are going to the bathroom, some are getting drinks, others finding their seats and talking and chatting with people around them. No one is really paying attention to the show, because it hasn’t started yet.
That’s what I see is happening now. The real campaign, the show, won’t start for several more months, when the primaries and caucuses begin. That’s when the lights will go down and the curtain will rise. The thing is, the campaign’s not a one act play, it’s more like 7 acts, with multiple scene changes in between.
And some members of the audience, while sitting there waiting for the curtain, are already saying out loud how awful the play will be, or how great it’ll be. The fact is, it’s too early for anyone to know yet. But that won’t stop people from talking and guessing, even if it makes no difference at this point.
I once commented: that person who said “I want my country back” during the early evolution of the Tea Party in 2009 was decades late in noticing that country they were thinking of was up and gone… IF it ever was there.