[Peace-discuss] Change We Didn't Expect?

[LAURIE SOLOMON]

I am inclined to agree with you: but if it does produce a radical change, it
think it will be for the worst and toward (1) decreasing civil liberties,
(2) increasing racism,  anti- immigration, and anti- welfare for the
traditional poor, (3) increased violence and intolerance, (4) increased
protectionism and isolationism, etc. and not toward progressive or socialist
goals and objectives.

 

From: John W. [mailto:jbw292002 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 5:06 PM
To: LAURIE SOLOMON
Cc: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Change We Didn't Expect?

 

 

On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 4:08 PM, LAURIE SOLOMON <LAURIE at advancenet.net>
wrote:

An interesting and telling article.  It appears that the current economic
downturn is good because it has brought change to the way of American Middle
and upper class white collar lives, they are now forced to take time to
smell the roses.  Unfortunately, they always could have taken time to smell
the roses; it is just now they have no choice.  But unlike the poor, who
have always been forced to have time to smell the roses but could not afford
to smell the roses because their spending time working at their  jobs and
their income was survival and not discretionary, have not really experienced
any change for the good - or any change at all.  They were out of work in
the good times and they are out of work now.  If they did get work, it was
low pay, dead end, and often part-time temporary work which forced them to
use any down time searching for their next paycheck or way of surviving; and
things are no different now.

A key difference as I see it is that the poor are accustomed to that life
style and have learned to adapt to it for better or worse; the downward
mobile middle class and working class folks who are not accustomed to a life
with no work or income available have not learned to adapt to it and how to
survive without either quilt or remorse about the way things use to be and
how they should continue to be, how they were deprived and now entitled to
assistance and relief, etc.  They now feel the need to justify their current
economic and social situation by telling us how it is a blessing that they
now have time to take it easy, smell the roses, enjoy life - albeit on a
more limited budget and scale than previously.  Ironically, despite the
increasing number  unemployed, underemployed, homeless, and anxious people,
most of those who have had to change their life style have had the resources
and supports available to them to make the change in life style and even
find some good in it.  This is and has not been the case for the poor, who
never had those resources and supports available to them but somehow managed
to survive despite that and are not given any free time to smell the roses
due to the economic downturn.

The real questions are:  When the conditions do not change and the resources
and supports disappear, will the middle and working classes as well as the
upper class executives and white collar workers be able to cope and adapt
when they no longer have discretionary free time to smell the roses but have
to engage in a daily hand to mouth existence?  Should such a time come
about, will that produce any radical significant long lasting
transformations and changes not only in life styles but in the very
structure and operation of society?


The answer to the latter question is "no".

 

Florentin Collomp | Change We Didn't Expect? 
 <http://www.truthout.org/050409E?n> http://www.truthout.org/050409E?n 
Writing for Le Figaro, Florentin Collomp considers "The New American Way of
Life in the Obama Era," while Alain Dubuc writes for Quebec's La Presse:
"Ever since this crisis started, people have often wondered whether it would
change anything. Whether, beyond its obvious economic impact, the shock
would be sufficient to provoke lasting transformations in our societies, to
result in our learning from our own mistakes." 


And the answer to M. Dubec's implied question is an emphatic "no".
Remember, you heard it here first.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/attachments/20090504/0fd60284/attachment.htm