Today's political post

[minoanmiss]

https://slate.com/business/2021/11/josh-hawley-men-porn-video-games-employment-despair.html



Even before the pandemic, labor economists had long observed that nearly 1 in 6 prime-aged men had dropped out of the workforce. This number was higher for white men without a college degree, many of whom struggled to find work due to globalization, automation, and overseas competition and at the same time lack the supportive factors that women and minorities have developed over time to deal with adverse working conditions. As median wages stagnated, many of these men moved back home with their parents; many struggled to find purpose without a job and achieve traditional milestones of adulthood like marriage and homeownership. Many voted for Trump. Many struggled with substance use and mental illness. And many died.

But Hawley misses the mark in critical ways. First, let’s acknowledge that nobody, least of all conservatives, was talking about globalization and the labor market in the ’90s when we saw similar dynamics in the Black community during the crack epidemic. Instead, we locked up a generation. Given Hawley’s expressed disdain for any discussion of white supremacy and systemic racism, his concern is not for all men, just for those who are most likely to vote for him.



I was intrigued by this because I've been hearing about this societal trend for awhile. I don't want anyone to falter and fail, but on the other hand the usual explanation I've heard has been one of Hawley's, that if we could just go back to the halcyon days before the Civil Rights and Feminist movements White men would do just fine. I don't want to go back for obvious reasons and I also don't believe that doing so would actually help anyone.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

Yeah, whenever I hear anyone say how great the Fifties were and how we should go back, I now know what they mean. The Fifties weren't all that great for a lot of people in the USA. Also they never mean going back to Eisenhower's tax rates on business neither!!!!

[cmcmck]

I was born in the late fifties into a UK working class family living in a prefabricated house having lost their's to the bombs during WW2, when a certain Tory politician told people that 'you've never had it so good'.

With a collier grandfather dying slowly of black lung and a squaddy father fighting those horrible little wars of decolonialisation, maybe that should have been: 'You've never had it'?

[ororo]

You nailed this hard. They never want the corporate tax rate of the Eisenhower years.

The fifties were great for middle class and higher white men. Me, I like the idea of having credit in my own name.

[lilysea]

The fifties were great for middle class and higher white men

...as long as they were straight. They weren't easy for gay men.

[ororo]

Yes, thank you for the correction.

[gloss]

Tangent: Even though, obviously, I align far more closely with the authors' position than Hawley's, I still think it's deeply irresponsible to cover him without making note of his complicity in Jan 6.

the usual explanation I've heard has been one of Hawley's, that if we could just go back to the halcyon days before the Civil Rights and Feminist movements White men would do just fine
See, there's also some mystification happening there, in that "things were different before [x]" does not necessarily, or logically, or *anything*-ly, lead to "therefore [x] should be rolled back". Josh Hawley doesn't give the first shit about working class men of any ethnicity, including "white"; he wants to extend and consolidate ruling class, white-supremacist control over the bodies of women, children, and workers. Appealing to revanchist masculinism is just one tactic to do so.

[amaebi]

hank you for logic king. It gives a much-needed sense of peace.

[lb_lee]

This has nothing to do with your post, MM, but WE GOT YOUR BONBONS! Biff got dibs and he just wanted to congratulate you for making such delicious candy every year, especially since he says he himself has never figured out candymaking. But he says you balance the flavors and textures so well and they're always such a treat!

[stranger]

... if we could just go back to the halcyon days before the Civil Rights and Feminist movements White men would do just fine.

Huh, so he's saying white men can't succeed without being propped up by women's and non-white, unpaid and underpaid, labor?

[minoanmiss]

When you put it that way.... wry smile

[amaebi]

And they're pouting, so they should be humoured!

[gingicat]

*evil grin*

[librarygeek]

"Behind every successful white man, is" ___ (x#) "of undervalued, underpaid, and VERY tired people who get ignored." To restate a "funny" sarcastic sign I had posted in my room back at my parents' house in the Eighties...

My MOM claimed the "I can't be fired, slaves have to be sold" sign as she went back to college, Dad took over doing laundry, and I as oldest was responsible for dinner 2 nights a week. Fortunately, Dad never argued about me trying out the recipes from my Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls. 😂😋 The belt had come out for things when we were younger, but Mom getting her bachelor's degree was accommodated without any of the abuse for other things.

[minoanmiss]

Ah, the Belt. It never should've been out in the first place but I'm really glad it was replaced with practical training in responsibility instead. It makes sense for you to learn while your Mom learned too.

[cjsmith]

Ding ding ding! We have a winner.

[sabotabby]

Yup. It's like if things go badly for Black men, it's a problem with Black men, but if things go badly for white men, omg SOCIETY IS TO BLAME.

(In practice, of course, society is to blame, but a Republican is never gonna frame it like that.)

[lemonsharks]

Thoughts on the possibility that these men think "a job, any job" is beneath them and only seeking work they're unqualified for, or as a reason for insisting on work in dying industries?

[minoanmiss]

I'd bet $5 that at least a plurality of them have put themselves in these situations.

[vettecat]

A lot of this also relates to education and people not having the skills needed to work in the jobs that are currently available. Which is not helped by some politicians wanting to water down the curriculum even more.