[Peace-discuss] Why It's Time to Bannish "Average Joeism"

Mon Oct 20 23:32:03 CDT 2008

I was watching the film "Slacker Uprising" and there is a segment where
Michael Moore told members of the press off. He basically told them that
they failed the American Public due to not telling the truth about WMD's and
by accepting, at face value, what was being spoon fed to them by the Bush
Administration.

It used to be that a huge fear for mass media was government control of the
media. What we have now is corporate control of the media and that is where
much of our information is coming from. Unfortunately until we reach the
point where enough people get fed up with media monopolies this will
continue to be the status quo.

On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 6:52 PM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> The point is that they should be asked, not just to evoke a stereotype of
> privilege, but an analysis of how society works, and that that should be
> taken seriously, whether in terms of consciousness or "false consciousness"
> (albeit a problematic term). Plenty of research shows that lots of people
> understand, for example, that the allegedly meritocratic educational system
> is stacked against them; as terrorist Bill Ayers says, the SAT tests who
> your parents are.
>
> DG
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* Jenifer Cartwright <jencart13 at yahoo.com>
> *To:* John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com>; David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> *Cc:* Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> *Sent:* Monday, October 20, 2008 4:50:55 PM
>
> *Subject:* Re: [Peace-discuss] Why It's Time to Bannish "Average Joeism"
>
>   Take it very seriously -- they're advertising and selling beer,
> hopefully lots of it... spending millions on marketing to make billions on
> their product! Haven't seen the ad, but sounds like the message is, This guy
> knows quality beer when he tastes it, and he doesn't have to show off
> by drinking those designer brews b/c he's the real thing, a down-to-earth
> guy.(Kinda like hearing someone describe a real aristocrat as someone who's
> so sure of her status that she doesn't give a damn if she eats her
> blancmange w/ the wrong spoon). I*  *could see the target consumer as just
> about anybody, from college kids on up.
>
> Obviously your take is different from mine, and you think this is how the
> privileged class sees "the"rabble." How DOES "the rabble" see the privileged
> class, do you think??
>  --Jenifer
>
>
> --- On *Mon, 10/20/08, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>* wrote:
>
> From: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Why It's Time to Bannish "Average Joeism"
> To: "John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com>
> Cc: "Peace Discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> Date: Monday, October 20, 2008, 4:26 PM
>
>  Of course he's laughing all the way to the bank, because he gets paid for
> a twofer by chilling out both class and race; we're all one self-satisfied
> mass of colorless beer-drinking joviality, courtesy of hyper-privileged (and
> almost certainly white, Ivy League educated) ad writers. Not to take it too
> too seriously, but the point is that this is how privileged people want the
> rabble to see the world, not how the rabble does see the world.
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com>
> *To:* David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> *Cc:* Ricky Baldwin <baldwinricky at yahoo.com>; Peace Discuss <
> peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> *Sent:* Monday, October 20, 2008 2:36:47 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Peace-discuss] Why It's Time to Bannish "Average Joeism"
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 2:06 PM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>   In my opinion, it's all about undermining any genuine, economic notion
>> of class solidarity. When Biden, etc., presents himself as working class,
>> it's only to trumpet Horatio Alger bootstrap values. It's a caricature of
>> working class culture. And elites even caricature themselves (or each
>> other), as effete rather than ruthless, an attempt to flatter what is
>> perceived as working class earthiness while submerging genuine
>> resentment; meanwhile deriding the notion that the comical arrogant elite
>> could possibly conspire against the public interest. Both conservative and
>> liberal pundits unite in fear that the response to Palin might carry with it
>> some hint of populist solidarity, however dysfunctional. The elite reaction
>> is not to the mob's anger against Arabs or Obama or Bill Ayers--it's to
>> their anger, period, which should be the theater of Limbaugh and O'Reilly
>> rather than spontaneously displayed at political rallies. All of the sudden,
>> there's defensiveness about elites from both conservative and liberal
>> pundits.
>>
>> Common people are supposed to be happy-go-lucky like the black guy in the
>> Miller High Life ads--striking a blow for "common sense" by heisting cheap
>> beer from expensive restaurants in full sight of a clueless French-looking
>> waiter. That's Madison Avenue's kind of class warfare, in which the working
>> class is defined by its right to drink cheap beer.
>>
>
> You talking about my friend Windell Middlebrooks?  He IS happy-go-lucky in
> real life, as a matter of fact.  But the ads are dumb.  He's laughing all
> the way to the bank.  I'll have to forward him this series of e-mails.  :-)
>
> John W.
>
>
>
>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* Ricky Baldwin <baldwinricky at yahoo.com>
>> *To:* David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>; John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com>
>> *Cc:* Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
>> *Sent:* Monday, October 20, 2008 11:25:10 AM
>>
>> *Subject:* Re: [Peace-discuss] Why It's Time to Bannish "Average Joeism"
>>
>>    I think this actually has a lot to do with America's bizarre love-hate
>> relationship with socioeconomic class.  I saw a documentary once about how
>> many Americans, across how many socioeconomic lines, consider themselves
>> "middle class": it's almost everybody, rich, poor, and in-between.  This is
>> partly what Steve Early is getting at, I think.  We find it uncomfortable to
>> talk about our country as class-stratified.  Our working class has been
>> trained or otherwise developed an unhealthy habit - at least it's widespread
>> - of thinking of ourselves along the lines of what we might aspire to be:
>> "well off," "comfortable," living the "American dream".  It's a country
>> where anyone can be president, right?
>>
>> But there's another side of America, too, a sort of parallel universe of
>> class, in which poor people and working class people have to scrap - well,
>> for scraps.  We fight bosses, landlords, the government, and each other, and
>> there's a lot of resentment - and pride - associated with this culture,
>> these cultures.  You can see it in many different forms, in the cowboy hats
>> and Rebel flags, pick-up trucks or loud motorcycles, blue jeans and
>> T-shirts, country music, in the loud thumping bass, darkened windows,
>> low-riding cars, mag wheels, gold teeth, and yes it gets all mixed up with
>> race and sex, but there's a lot about class in there, too.
>>
>> I know Steve Early, used to work with him, have read a fair amount of his
>> writings, and I have more than one bone to pick with him.  (He even helped
>> me lose my job once.)  But what he's saying here is hard to deny.  Whatever
>> terms you want to pick, or pick at, it's the political pandering - and media
>> condescension - to the millions of people in this country who have to worry
>> about paying our bills.  McCain brought up "Joe the Plumber" because he's
>> fighting for our votes and he knows that we know he owns 10 houses or
>> whatever it is.  Joe Biden has been trying to tie himself to some kind of
>> working class roots, and so have the others, because they know a lot of
>> people do not identify with or trust them.  We see them in their fancy suits
>> and ties, hanging with the glitzy movie stars, spending millions and
>> millions, etc. - and they're afraid we won't vote for people we don't trust
>> to work for our interests.
>>
>> To some extent they're right about that.  But I know a lot of people who
>> understand that voting isn't the same as inviting someone for dinner.  We
>> don't have to like them.  We don't have to trust them.  We just have to know
>> what we want to get out of this election, and after..
>>
>> Ricky
>>
>> "Only those who do nothing make no mistakes." - Peter Kropotkin
>>
>>  ------------------------------
>> *From:* David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
>> *To:* John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com>
>> *Cc:* Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net<peace-discuss at anti-war..net>
>> >
>> *Sent:* Sunday, October 19, 2008 12:07:49 PM
>> *Subject:* Re: [Peace-discuss] Why It's Time to Bannish "Average Joeism"
>>
>>
>> Well, of course I don't, assuming they serve as a voice of the people.
>>  ------------------------------
>> *From:* John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com>
>> *To:* David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
>> *Cc:* jencart13 at yahoo.com; Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
>> *Sent:* Sunday, October 19, 2008 10:31:45 AM
>> *Subject:* Re: [Peace-discuss] Why It's Time to Bannish "Average Joeism"
>>
>> Interesting and not-inaccurate perspective...as long as you don't include
>> those of us - or at least most of us - who comprise the alternative,
>> independent media.
>>
>> John Wason
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 8:33 AM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>wrote:
>>
>>   Neither campaign advisors nor the media who take their cues consider
>>> themselves to be either middle class or working class. They are in service
>>> of the owner class. Their job is to stereotype, manipulate, and condescend
>>> to folks who are not in a position to set the terms of discussion. It should
>>> be clear by now that the middle class *is* the working class--that is,
>>> wage laborers in the service of the owner class. Trivial distinctions
>>> between mental and physical labor (as if anyone doesn't have to think), or
>>> pay grades (or even nominal ownership), are irrelevant, and are meant to
>>> distract by replacing economic categories with cultural categories. So Joe
>>> the plumber is cast as a hardworking working class dude who wants to own his
>>> business (that is, become more like the class of people who are defining
>>> him)--but it turns out he's not who he claims to be (assuming the media gets
>>> to define who he claims to be)--he doesn't have a license, and owes
>>> taxes--if only he had turned out to be a deadbeat dad, the stereotype would
>>> be complete. He wants to be respectable (do paperwork), but doesn't deserve
>>> it. So let's end this brief campaign/media generated foray into the world of
>>> "economic issues" and social class, and get back to the "Palin dudes" (see
>>> today's NYT)--oops, another working class stereotype--hormonally-driven and
>>> ignorant working class men. As Edward Said famously pleaded on behalf of the
>>> Palestinians: "May I have permission to narrate?" Could it be more clear?
>>> The media despise the people. Their position is predicated on their ambition
>>> not to be one of them.
>>>
>>>  ------------------------------
>>> *From:* Jenifer Cartwright <jencart13 at yahoo.com>
>>> *To:* Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>; David Green <
>>> davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
>>> *Sent:* Saturday, October 18, 2008 5:32:08 PM
>>> *Subject:* Re: [Peace-discuss] Why It's Time to Bannish "Average Joeism"
>>>
>>>   This part of Steve Early's piece was particularly annoying to me:
>>>
>>> "But there's still a glaring double-standard at work here. It says a lot
>>> about HOW WORKING CLASS PEOPLE GET TALKED ABOUT by politicians of both major
>>> parties WHEN THEY'RE NOT BEING MADE TO DISAPPEAR ENTIRELY INTO OUR VAST
>>> "MIDDLE CLASS" (which, at times, seems to include 95 per cent of the
>>> population)."
>>>
>>> "MADE TO DISAPPEAR entirely into our vast "middle class"????? The middle
>>> class is made up of BOTH white AND blue collar workers who are middle income
>>> -- I'm guessing 95% of the electorate (with, btw, good manufacturing
>>> jobs paying better than some non-factory jobs, at least once upon a
>>> time). The biggest snobs seem to be among white collar workers claiming to
>>> speaking up for and on behalf of blue collar workers, or so they suppose
>>> -- Steve Early being a prime example -- who insist on differentiating
>>> between the professional/business, and working classes! It annoys me plenty
>>> when these guys do this, but it annoys me even more when they accuse
>>> politicians who do NOT make these distinctions (but instead consider the
>>> middle class to be made up of blue AND white collar workers) of using
>>> "the working classes" for political gain. Grrrrrrr.
>>>  --Jenifer
>>>
>>>
>>> --- On *Sat, 10/18/08, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>* wrote:
>>>
>>> From: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
>>> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Why It's Time to Bannish "Average Joeism"
>>> To: "Peace Discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
>>> Date: Saturday, October 18, 2008, 4:42 PM
>>>
>>>   This gets at the elitism of both parties and the media, and the
>>> inevitable use and abuse of the white working class for the elite's
>>> purposes. It's not by accident that "Joe Sixpack" is so quickly turned upon.
>>> He's merely a moment of amusement. Ultimately, his plight and his element
>>> are not to be taken seriously. _____________________
>>> Why It's Time to Bannish "Average Joeism" Stop, in the Name of Joe! October,
>>> 18 2008
>>>
>>> By *Steve Early*
>>> Source: CounterPunch
>>>
>>> Steve Early's ZSpace Page<http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/steveearly>
>>>
>>> Am I the only American voter who's getting annoyed by all the
>>> faux-populist obeisance and condescending lip-service that's being paid to
>>> "average Joes" this Fall?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  First there was "Joe Six-Pack," the frequently invoked working-class
>>> soulmate of Alaskan "Hockey Mom" Sarah Palin. Then, there was "Joe from
>>> Scranton ," Senator Joseph Biden's strained reinvention of himself as a
>>> regular blue-collar guy from Pennsylvania 's anthracite region. And now we
>>> have "Joe the Plumber," the Ohio handy man directly addressed by both John
>>> McCain and Barack Obama in their final TV debate on Oct. 15.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> What's bothering me, first of all, is the form of address itself. Unlike
>>> Palin's beer-loving archetype, "Joe the Plumber" is an actual person, with a
>>> real last name (It's Wurzelbacher and, yes, that might be hard to pronounce
>>> correctly on national TV.) Yet when someone like Joe Wurzelbacher briefly
>>> commands center stage—as a random stand-in for all workers (or, more
>>> accurately, would-be small business owners)—he is immediately shorn of his
>>> full identity and referred to by his trade instead.
>>>
>>> To the extent that Wurzelbacher is now getting full name treatment in
>>> post-debate media coverage, he may soon regret it. Already, it's been
>>> reported that he's non-union, un-licensed, never completed his
>>> apprenticeship as a plumber, and has an unpaid state income tax bill of
>>> $1,200. In 2006, he was earning just $40,000 when he got divorced. The
>>> two-man plumbing firm that employs him operates out of the owner's home and
>>> doesn't generate enough income for its taxes to be raised under Obama's
>>> plan. It would appear, therefore, that Wurzelbacher has bigger, short-term
>>> problems than buying out the owner for $250,000, far more than the business
>>> is worth, and then, if he ever earns more than that in a single year in this
>>> economy, getting a slightly larger tax bill from Obama!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Now if McCain and Obama were talking about a better-credentialed building
>>> trades guy who only goes by one name—like "Jesus the Carpenter"--surname
>>> dropping wouldn't seem so patronizing. (The Democrats, at least, seem to be
>>> invoking His name somewhat less than they did earlier in the campaign.) But
>>> there's still a glaring double-standard at work here. It says a lot about
>>> how working class people get talked about by politicians of both major
>>> parties when they're not being made to disappear entirely into our vast
>>> "middle class" (which, at times, seems to include 95 per cent of the
>>> population).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> When the names of the high and mighty in America—bankers, big
>>> businessmen, professors, or generals--come up in prime time debates or on
>>> the campaign trail, they never warrant the same disrespectfully informal
>>> and/or stereotypical treatment. For example, when Obama discusses the impact
>>> of his tax proposals on a well-heeled Omaha investor (who's also his
>>> economic advisor) and not a mere toilet-fixer in Toledo , he doesn't refer
>>> to him as " Warren the Billionaire."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Likewise, when McCain launches into his favorite refrain about
>>> "corruption and greed on Wall Street," he never fingers the perpetrators by
>>> their first names (or any name actually). And just think of all the
>>> possibilities there, from "Richard the Bankrupt" at Lehman Brothers to "Alan
>>> the Enabler" of Federal Reserve Board fame. Nor does McCain cite "Dave the
>>> General" when he's striving for greater credibility on military matters in
>>> Iraq . And even when he and Palin are warning us about that dangerous
>>> Chicago professor and Obama neighbor, they never just call him "Bill the
>>> Terrorist." We're always reminded of his proper name: William Ayers.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> So, if ex-Weathermen are entitled to have last names attached to their
>>> first, isn't it time that our leading pols got a little less familiar when
>>> addressing us ordinary folks, whether or not our real name is Joe? At the
>>> very least, they could stop trying to put themselves and so many of their
>>> fellow citizens into such silly, stereotypical, and ultimately meaningless
>>> categories, based on our choice of  beverage, occupation, or spectator
>>> sport. Among the hopeful signs associated with this year's presidential race
>>> are reports from around the country indicating that voters are not allowing
>>> themselves to be so easily pigeonholed. In fact, many seem poised to cast a
>>> vote for a candidate who's own personal history doesn't lend itself to the
>>> usual race, class, or ethnic profiling.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> With that positive development in mind, nothing would be more appropriate
>>> than a ban on "Average Joeism"—for the rest of the campaign and any future
>>> ones. Unless, of course, the candidates want to start addressing our
>>> "betters" with the same first-name familiarity they've heretofore reserved
>>> for us.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  *Steve Early* is the author of a forthcoming book for Monthly Review
>>> Press called "Embedded With Organized Labor: Journalistic Reflections on the
>>> Class War at Home." In any voter profiling of himself, he insists that his
>>> last name be used. He can be reached at Lsupport at aol.com<lsupport at comcast.net>
>>>
>>>
>
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