Saturday, March 19, 2011

Happy to have a job

"Brain drain? Perhaps, in the short run. But maybe Wisconsin will see new infusion of brains as younger workers step up and take those positions, happy to have the jobs even without the lavish pensions of yore."
-comment on "The Costly Brain Drain in Wisconsin," by Ruth Conniff, The Progressive

One of the phrases that has "angered up my blood" the most during this Wisconsin war on the middle class has been the line: "You should be happy to have a job at all." Often followed up with some variation on "Suck it up, you lazy parasite."

This is so disturbing to me because it means that the right-wing crapweasel propaganda has seeped so deep into the psyche of the lower and middle classes that they are willing to throw their lot in with the employer and say, in effect, "I am only worth what my employer says I am. I only deserve what my employer is willing to provide, however meager. Not only am I content with ceding power to my employer, but I demand it."

That attitude is sick and wrong, and resembles nothing so much as an abused spouse telling a friend, "He wouldn't have hit me if I had just put dinner on the table on time."

Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." This isn't just about taking our government back - it's about taking ourselves back. We better start now, before it's too late.


7 comments:

Unknown said...

So glad to see you back, my friend. And look - I have the very first comment!

This reminds me of a letter I read today in the paper, from someone lamenting their lot in the underclass. They went on at length, decribing the difficulties in obtaining a job, the problems with Badger Care, and the like. "Yes, yes," I nodded sagely to myself. Then came the the last section, where the writer started to bitch about the people protesting at the capitol. "I think it is time for the protestors to take a step back and be thankful for what they have," she sniffed.

That cracking sound you may have heard this afternoon was my neck, as my head whipsawed around.

Thomas More said...

Thanks, Lisa.

See, that writer had no ability to understand that the protesters were protesting on behalf of the writer's situation. It's a sort of psychosis almost, and I don't know how to counteract it.

Bill Hurley said...

Well stated, Adam. A great build-up to the Eleanor Roosevelt quote!

Thomas More said...

Thanks, Bill. The subject really inspired me.

babette said...

Spot on, Adam, your mother would be proud of you!

babette said...

Spot on, Adam... your mother would be proud!!

Niceguy Eddie said...

Dead on.

What frustrates me so much is that this attitude really HAS worked it's way in to the middle-class mindset.

I was speaking to a collegue of mine recently (we're both degreed engineer with MBA's) and he's lamenting that a UAW worker with a HS diploma can, with overtime, make the same amount of money as we do.

His implied solution to this "problem" was to PAY THEM LESS.

My solution? PAY US MORE!
(And take the difference out of EXECUTIVE PAY for cripes sake!)

Same with health care. I hear people complaining about the "lavish" HC plans that the folks in Unions get, and the attitude seems to be, "Their health care should be as Sh--ty as mine is!" As opposed to DEMANDING that OURS be as GOOD as THIERS!

The middle class in this country have been cowed, tamed and domesticated. It's sickening how little ambition we seem to have even as we work our @$$es off and are told to "be grateful to still be employed!"

It's really sick.