A new study from the United Way
claims that 43% of American households are in a status called “asset
limited, income constrained, employed” (ALICE), which denotes employed
people who can’t afford housing, food, childcare, healthcare,
transportation, and a cellphone – the basics of modern living.
Umair Haque (previously) connects this to the idea of America as the world’s first poor rich country,
a country that is awash in wealth, yet so unequal that nearly half its
residents sink deeper into debt every month – and most Americans die in
debt.
As Haque says, if you work hard all your life and die with no assets, no
savings, and debt, that’s not employment, it’s serfdom. America’s
former middle class have now hit the limits of their ability to survive
with stagnating wages by taking on debt secured by their meager assets
– the family home, pensions and so on. Now, Americans are both kinds of
poor: asset-poor and wage-poor. Americans aren’t poor because they
don’t work hard enough: they’re poor no matter how hard they work.
And unlike poor people in countries like Pakistan or Nigeria, American
poor people live in a country where things like childcare, medicine,
rent and food are very, very expensive. American poor people are poorer
than the poor people in poor countries.
As part of my recent deep dive into philosophy and political economy, today’s audiobook is The Federalist Papers, and man…I really wish they’d teach The Federalist Papers in more detail in civics class, because Hamilton, Madison, and Jay are very up-front about their desire for an American empire and their suggestions for making one. They’re not even subtle.
Madison is such an absolute hawk. He’s all like “The democratic-republicans think we shouldn’t have a standing army, but if we don’t maintain a peacetime army then how are we gonna use the threat of force to bully our neighbors into compliance? Or finish doing genocides on the natives? And what if someday we need to kill a whole bunch of our own citizens and establish a police state? Betcha didn’t think about that!”
I try to avoid commenting overmuch on pop culture negatively or taking a dump on people’s favorite media but I swear to God if anybody from the Hamilton fandom comes on this post all like “Oh there go my faves being drama queens again :3” then I’m gonna come to your house and tar and feather you and force you to move to Kentucky.
These people were goddamn animals.
In the latter, it has reference to the proportion of wealth, of which it is in no case a precise measure, and in ordinary cases a very unfit one. But notwithstanding the imperfection of the rule as applied to the relative wealth and contributions of the States, it is evidently the least objectionable among the practicable rules, and had too recently obtained the general sanction of America, not to have found a ready preference with the convention. All this is admitted, it will perhaps be said; but does it follow, from an admission of numbers for the measure of representation, or of slaves combined with free citizens as a ratio of taxation, that slaves ought to be included in the numerical rule of representation? Slaves are considered as property, not as persons. They ought therefore to be comprehended in estimates of taxation which are founded on property, and to be excluded from representation which is regulated by a census of persons. This is the objection, as I understand it, stated in its full force. I shall be equally candid in stating the reasoning which may be offered on the opposite side. “We subscribe to the doctrine,” might one of our Southern brethren observe, “that representation relates more immediately to persons, and taxation more immediately to property, and we join in the application of this distinction to the case of our slaves. But we must deny the fact, that slaves are considered merely as property, and in no respect whatever as persons. The true state of the case is, that they partake of both these qualities: being considered by our laws, in some respects, as persons, and in other respects as property. In being compelled to labor, not for himself, but for a master; in being vendible by one master to another master; and in being subject at all times to be restrained in his liberty and chastised in his body, by the capricious will of another, the slave may appear to be degraded from the human rank, and classed with those irrational animals which fall under the legal denomination of property. In being protected, on the other hand, in his life and in his limbs, against the violence of all others, even the master of his labor and his liberty; and in being punishable himself for all violence committed against others, the slave is no less evidently regarded by the law as a member of the society, not as a part of the irrational creation; as a moral person, not as a mere article of property. The federal Constitution, therefore, decides with great propriety on the case of our slaves, when it views them in the mixed character of persons and of property. This is in fact their true character.
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist no. 54
So yeah. I’ll help you with the tar and feathering.
That passage in particular is… complicated. Hamilton’s argument is less that slave shouldn’t be viewed as people, and more that Southern slaveowners were perfectly willing to call slaves “people” when it came to things like determining population for governmental seats, but “property” for things like. Rights, and freedoms, and stuff. The man himself was nowhere near perfect, but he was an abolitionist.
“This is in fact their true character.” is a glaringly unambiguous statement
“Like, yeah they’re people, but we can still own them.”
I dunno how you interpret that any way but “Wow fuck this asshole.”
It’s far more than just they’re people but we can own them. There is a blatant contradiction between the admission that their ‘master’ can chastise them in their body whenever they damn well feel like it (by the capricious will) and the later claim that they’re life and limbs are protected from harm, that I guess is meant to balance out the next little gem:
Although they can be ‘chastised’, and sold, and ordered around, etc, they can be prosecuted if THEY commit any kind of violence.
When it comes to they’re having rights, they’re degraded to below human ranks and likened to “irrational animals”. Property. But when it comes to having the option to throw them in jail (despite the fact prisoners did force labor, that hardly seems like a consequence that would satisfy many prosecutors – just a guess) or execute them (I’m guessing that one was more common – guess again), they’re people and responsible for their actions.
Slavery was fucking disgusting. Historical figures, regardless of what else they did, do NOT get a pass. You like some accomplishment by Random Early Important American but he had slaves and/or approved of slavery? Fine, like the accomplishments, but also be very clear that that person’s stance on slavery WAS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING DISGUSTING. If they’re not known to have ever changed it and actively tried to make reparations, it is UNFORGIVABLE. Whatever they accomplished is still there. But it was done by a monster and it’s not right to deny it.
And before anybody tries to call any of these analyses “anachronistic” or otherwise tries to resort to “well, they were a product of their time”:
John Brown
Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit; so let it be done!
Kentucky’s Covington Catholic High School’s Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram accounts are on lockdown this morning after a video was posted
that shows a mob of students intimidating a Native American elder in
front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.
The all-male school was participating in a March for Life rally,
which coincided with the Indigenous People’s March. As shown in the
video, the students have surrounded a Native American man playing a drum
and are hooting war cries and mocking him. The elder’s name is Nathan
Phillips, a Vietnam veteran and an Omaha keeper of a sacred pipe.
One of the students gets very close to Phillips’ face and stares at
him with a disturbing grin for several minutes as Phillips sings and
beats the drum.
this is to educate my non-American followers. This really is how the US sees itself. (and yes, 95% of the time, Florida = WHAT?!)
In Florida the more North you go, the more “South” you get
In Florida the central part pretends to be the south, the western part pretends to be the northeast and the south pretends to be the west I’m not even kidding you
… Please tell me you guys are kidding.
Florida is like it’s own country I swear
I’m from Florida and I can confirm this. Also, South Florida is basically Miami and alligators.
oh, i always assumed florida was part of The South?
north florida is yes. The rest is not.
I’m from Florida, and grew up in SC/NC. Can confirm all true. 👍
Um. This is so wrong.
You’re forgetting the part where California sees itself as its own entity.
We do not want to be grouped in with everyone else, thanks.
clearly none of you have ever met someone from texas
That last one is so true
I think what most people don’t consider is that the geographical labels we’ve put on different parts of America are a reflection of its history.
America, in its modern incarnation, formed over the course of nearly two centuries. The names given to the various regions of the country were often used without regard to the future cartographic accuracy of those titles.
As an example, a big part of the reason the south is called the south, has to do with the American Civil War. When the war happened, the south as we know it, was “The South”. Every other state that is literally on the southern side of the country – New Mexico, Arizona, California – weren’t part of the country until years later, so they were never included as part of that region.
This is south west erasure
Ah yes, the American South West. The Australia of the Northern Hemisphere.
hecc america is a chaotic entity and i hate that i am part of this
Have you read “Brave New World”? The author of that book, Aldous Leonard
Huxley, was born on this date in 1894 in Godalming, Surrey, England.
Huxley came to the United States via New York on the ship SS
Normandie in 1937 and settled in Los Angeles.
In 1955, Huxley, known for being a humanist and a pacifist, was planning
to become a naturalized citizen of the United States; however, on the petition
he wrote “no” to the statements agreeing to bear arms or serve in the Armed
Forces in a noncombatant role if required.
Therefore, the naturalization proceedings were adjourned and Huxley
withdrew his petition.
In our holdings, we have his petition for naturalization
(pictured here), even though he did not become a citizen, along with the
withdrawal form.
Huxley authored many novels, providing many
thought-provoking quotes, and here is one of them: “There are things known and there are things
unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.”
Ruby Bridges was the first black child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis in 1960.
This movie made me cry, I was so heart broken by how Ruby Bridges was treated! She was only 6, but was so strong. She is a very brave girl and she did not care what the white folks called her.
People are simply disgusting to minimize people by skin color!
Ruby you might not think you’re a hero… But to other people you are! You are A HERO and you are A PERSON WHO MADE AMERICA CHANGE!
this is white culture, this is their history, this is their legacy…being enraged at a damn baby just because she’s black.
she’s still alive by the way
Ruby Bridges in 2010
“As Bridges describes it, “Driving up I could see the crowd, but living in New Orleans, I actually thought it was Mardi Gras. There was a large crowd of people outside of the school. They were throwing things and shouting, and that sort of goes on in New Orleans at Mardi Gras.“ Former United States Deputy Marshal Charles Burks later recalled, “She showed a lot of courage. She never cried. She didn’t whimper. She just marched along like a little soldier, and we’re all very very proud of her.“
U.S. Marshals escorted Bridges to and from school
As soon as Bridges entered the school, white parents pulled their own children out; all the teachers refused to teach while a black child was enrolled. Only one person agreed to teach Ruby and that was Barbara Henry, from Boston, Massachusetts, and for over a year Henry taught her alone, “as if she were teaching a whole class.”
Every morning, as Bridges walked to school, one woman would threaten to poison her; because of this, the U.S. Marshals dispatched by President Eisenhower, who were overseeing her safety, allowed Ruby to eat only the food that she brought from home.
Another woman at the school put a black baby doll in a wooden coffin and protested with it outside the school, a sight that Bridges Hall has said “scared me more than the nasty things people screamed at us.” At her mother’s suggestion, Bridges began to pray on the way to school, which she found provided protection from the comments yelled at her on the daily walks.”
THIS SHIT WAS ONLY 58 YEARS AGO. PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS RACIST TERRORISM AND ACTS LIKE IT ARE STILL ALIVE, AND THEIR KIDS ARE IN THEIR 40′S AND 50′S.
DON’T LET RACISM APOLOGISTS GET AWAY WITH “WHY ARE YOU LIVING IN THE PAST,” BULLSHIT ARGUMENTS. WE ARE LITERALLY STILL DEALING WITH THE FAMILIES THAT FORMED HATE MOBS OVER BLACK CHILDREN ATTENDING SCHOOL WITH WHITE KIDS.
Don’t let people make fun of you for liking japanese culture.
I am living in japan right now and let me tell ya:
There are people here who can’t speak or understand English who play nothing but Missy elliot and ludacris, even in businesses like housing offices and restaurants.
There are people who have cowboy hats and dead cow skulls in their home because they idolize what they assume American homes are like.
There are people who learn English strictly through music videos and American television shows.
There are entire karaoke bars with english songs often sung by people who have no idea what the lyrics mean.
Japan often takes American shows like the powerpuff girls and make japanese versions of them.
They often mistake common Americans for celebrities. I have been mistaken for Micheal jordan, tiger woods, Shaquille o’neal, Tyler perry, and saddest of all: queen latifa.
The act of sprinkling English into your japanese sentences is considered cute and cool and is popular with teenagers. Bonus points if you happen to use it correctly.
Japanese stores sell shirts with english on them and people buy them not knowing that most of those word combinations are nonsense.
Don’t let someone shame you for singing an anime opening, using japanese in your sentences, wearing clothing with japanese on it, ect. If anything, this is just one more thing that you have in common with them.
The American/Japanese cultural exchange is so pure and wonderful and I love it so much
OK BUT RESONATE WITH THE SHIRT THING THOUGH
My Chinese relatives buy me shirts from China with English letters on them hoping I think it’s cool
I have a shirt that says “Hi Quality Uality”
It’s amazing
It happens alot.
And then what’s really great is Americans getting tattoos of Chinese characters thinking they mean one thing when they really don’t
Also a topic where the reverse happens.
lemme tell you..i have been in a grocery store in Japan and heard the unedited Get Low playin over the intercom..it was literally a Katt Williams moment
Oh, unsensored songs are pretty common.
I should not be hearing an unsensored ‘Magic Stick’ playing at a family restaurant.
And the best thing is when literally no one shows that they understand what is being said.
I was in a Chinese cafe one time and they had obviously put on their “fuck you” playlist. I mean, uncensored versions of Fuck You by Lilly Allen, Fuck You by Cee-lo Green, etc. No one else had any idea.
Oh, also, I got my favorite shirt ever in a little tchotchky store in Sichuan:
lmao the forced westernization in the media and internal racism that influences this isnt pure and funny lol its really sad knowing so many asians who hate their culture and skin color and try to white wash/americanize themselves and its super weird seeing an entire post laughing about it and pretending its a fun quirky thing and that most peoples obsession with japanese culture isnt due to fetishization/racism
Lol you are trying way too hard to make only one side the bad guy here.
Lolita fashion wasnt forced.
French maid cafes werent forced.
Bull fighting wasnt forced.
Tacorice wasnt forced.
Powerpuff girls and Titanic werent forced.
These countries chose to enjoy the fruits of other countries, and that facination sparked a general interest in said other country.
Idk who told you Asians in general hate their skin color, when Asians do the same thing as Americans. Asians often prefer certain races for dating (typically other asians, but still), Asians tend not to specifically tan or anything. The only thing you can really point out is wanting lighter skin, which was a thing in Japan before Europeans ever came. It was a sign of beauty and common to see in nobility. Just like some African countries tend to have people who prefer darker skin.
Essentially anything that you can deem racism when it happens from the US (or let’s be honest, you specifically mean white people) has an equivalent in Japan, and all over Asia.
Americans who learn most of their Japanese through Anime? Many Japanese people learn most of their English through cartoons or music videos.
Americans who like wearing Japanese garb such as kimono? Many Japanese people where things like cowboy outfits for fun too (even as costumes such as american disco culture).
Americans celebrating japanese holidays that has nothing to do with them? A bunch of Japanese people here celebrate Halloween, which has nothing to do with Asia.
Americans trying out their Jaoanese on a Japanese person? Japanese people specifically seek out foreigners (typically assuming they speak english) and try to speak with them. Even little children who take english classes will go out of their way to greet you in english.
Some Americans think Japan is just this super great anime, sushi wonderland? Many Japanese people see the US as a Disney, steak, and pizza wonderland.
Some Americans think all of Japan is one big Tokyo, and some Japanese people see all of The US as one big Texas or New York.
And literally shown above, just like Americans (who you would call ignorant and racist) have shirts and tattoos with bad Japanese, many Asian countries do the exact same thing for english.
If you inly see it as bad for one group, then it only shows your bias. And if you are trying to paint the HIGHLY influential countries such as China, Korea, and Japan as fragile victims, then you are likely the racist one here.
