[Ibon]

Read Fareed Zakaria's article here

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... story.html


Why is Middle America killing itself? The fact itself is probably the most important social science finding in years.

This article is interesting because of this suicidal impulse that arises when your privilege is removed.

I remember Argentina in the 90's, the high level of suicide and psycho therapy among its citizens when severe recession hit and the country had to adjust to a loss of certain privilege as well.

White America has not had the coping mechanisms that some minorities have developed to cope with a disadvantaged future.

This might be just a generation thing as well.

What youall think?

[Newfie]

White Americans have the Puritan work ethic, similar to the Japanese?

They have been born and raised to be worker bees. Take the work away and they have no reason to live, they get foresees, and so on.

Latin and black groups are no so disadvantaged. Don't know about Asians. Seems Japan has a similar problem.

I know in myself, as I approach retirement in 2 weeks, even though I am far more prepared than most, it creates a lot of stress and is not comfortable. And I've been working some form of part time for about 10 years. Guys who are 65 and still hard at it have a very difficult time retiring. It must be even worse to be 50 And be let go, turned out, useless, and broke.

[Cog]

I'm not going to miss work one bit. Counting the days and weeks.

[MonteQuest]

Demographics and minority equality; the root cause behind the polarization of America.

The White Person has, for decades, had a sense of being superior to Native Americans, blacks and Hispanics, and other ethnic people. White men felt a sense of domination over “their” women. Homosexuals were called “queers’ or “faggots.” Women didn’t vote, didn’t work outside the home, and were kept barefoot and pregnant. About the time we started to witness the decline of the middle class and physical infrastructure, we saw minorities gaining equality, affirmative action, voting rights, civil rights, and even be elected to high office. Interracial marriage was allowed. This sense of a declining white superiority was further tarnished by the media when the bastions of prejudice were exposed as ignorant thinking by rural white bumpkins. A vision of a multicultural America with everyone equal was seen as, just not right.

Now, same sex couples can marry, women can now fight on the front lines, and a black man—the result of an interracial marriage—becomes President. Equality laws threatened the religious right’s “freedom to discriminate.”

Couple this with the changing demographics that show whites will soon be a minority in America, and you get the making of a revolt that breeds district gerrymandering, voter laws that suppress minorities, laws that discriminate against minorities, and the rise of demagogues that espouse racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, and a promise to Make America White Again.

[AgentR11]

Couple this with the changing demographics that show whites will soon be a minority in America

I always have disliked this phrase, as it feels like provocation is intended. A much better phrase, in my opinion, "due to changing demographics America will no longer have any majority race population." I think this is a *good* thing though, and should be embraced as an opportunity to create a new community of something that is distinctly American; not Anglo, not Spanish, not African, not Asian; but an authentically true American culture.

If there were time of course.... lol.

OTOH, to the thread specifically, referencing this increased rate of suicide fast or slow.. How harsh should one be towards J6P with a high school diploma, a useless transcript, and barely the skills needed to assemble a cheeseburger? Maybe he tried college, got a bunch of debt, and a bunch of failed freshman level courses too; so not only can he barely hold a job at McDonalds, a good chunk of what he earns there gets slurped up paying some of the interest on a loan he'll never pay off.

So why is J6P-white having a different experience than J6P-hispanic? Well, Jose-6-Pack knows the drill; knows how to work for cash, and knows to give that cash to a Maria-6-Pack who'll make sure he's well fed, has a place to sleep, and an active family unit buzzing around constantly needing him to do X or Y. Joe-6-Pack doesn't get this. He's locked in to the cut payroll check system, with minimal or non-existent family structure, and an express ticket to life on skid row, as it were.

Evil AgentR answer? White "culture" has been broken for a good half a century, and now the bill is due. I'm certainly not going to pay that bill, being a proud race traitor type, I hitched my butt to something that looked like it still had a semblance of human life. Consequently, I don't have time to off myself, to many relations nagging on me to do this or that.. or that other thing; with the list constantly growing faster than could be completed. And this is, as it should be. A 40-60 yr old male should be constantly balancing what needs doing with what there is time to do. Not having something that needs doing is basically a death sentence, and tons of middle aged whites have managed to trap themselves into exactly that condition.

[onlooker]

It is in my opinion mainly about resilience as well as easy access to narcotics and alcohol. Meaning White Americans have not developed the coping mechanisms of other races as they have been insulated to a large degree from real hardships and outcomes. This has created what has been said already a sense of privilege and expectation. This in turn is now meeting up with the realities that are coming more and more to the forefront. So this attitude and mind frame cannot cope with these new realities and people seek to get away from their problems either with stupefying substances and/or suicide. Of course being drugged or drunk makes the ultimate act of suicide less difficult to go through with.

[Ibon]

The point about expectations is what struck me. Hispanics and blacks and other minorities never held high expectations of success and continue to see their mortality rates decline, only the under educated whites are experiencing this rise in mortality due to alcoholism,drugs and suicide. They were never honed for hardship.

In my decades living in developing countries I have noticed populations with greater well being but much poorer. There isn't that sense of expectation or entitlement. There is however far more cohesive family and community.

Interesting that self destruction is rising, perhaps even more than rage for this uneducated white demographic in the US. Increased drug use etc. This is clearly related to feeling isolated and not integrated, what Agent compared between Joe6P white alone vs Jose 6P hispanic with tighter family unit.

If Joe6P white had more brotherhood and community there would be more rage and less self destruction. Rage can manifest change. Without community rage has nowhere to go except toward further self destruction. Donald Trump tapping into this with empty promises will only further exasperate this despair.

[onlooker]

Good points Ibon, personal problems can be dealt with better if one has supportive and caring people around you. Also, I failed to mention another possible explanation and that is the sense of failure that these uneducated Whites must feel. Remember, the narrative as always been the sense that Whites are superior. So this sense of personal failure can be quite overwhelming to some. In fact one can see it manifest in Asian communities that hold rigorous expectations for offspring. I have heard that this has led to some youth also taking their lives. Self-esteem should never be underestimated particularly in young peoples as a potential source of great anguish when a person does not have it. To feel that you are worthless can be devastating to anyone.

[SeaGypsy]

Screw self esteem, there's way too much of it already. More OK with a simple life, more OK with sharing. Less self, less concern with esteem outside one's kin, more concern with smooth relations & interactions. America especially has an over abundance of the importance of self esteem, a load of psi pop b-s really.

Sent from my HUAWEI Y520-U33 using Tapatalk

[Newfie]

Cog,

It's not about "missing" work. It's about being flexible and compassionate with yourself so that you can transition. Don't underestimate how much the system has gotten into you. Hopefully this is unnecessary advice. Good luck.

[MonteQuest]

I think this is a *good* thing though, and should be embraced as an opportunity to create a new community of something that is distinctly American; not Anglo, not Spanish, not African, not Asian; but an authentically true American culture.

This election is coming down to a battle between two visions for America: one that embraces a multicultural future and one that harkens for a return to white privilege.

[Tanada]

Bull pucky. There is not one single thing about the Democrat party that has to do with the future, they are mired in the past and constantly dredge up old offenses, some real and some imagined. As for the Republicans they could give a rip about so called 'white privilege' the only thing the elites of both major parties care about is maintaining their elite privileges. If that meant deporting the Irish descent Americans back to Ireland and the Italian descent back to Italy they would be 100 percent behind the project.

[MonteQuest]

Bull pucky. There is not one single thing about the Democrat party that has to do with the future, they are mired in the past and constantly dredge up old offenses, some real and some imagined. As for the Republicans they could give a rip about so called 'white privilege' the only thing the elites of both major parties care about is maintaining their elite privileges.

So, this is why the establishment elites are posting single digit poll numbers? What I am talking about is the GOP versus Democratic voters. Spend some time observing who the voters are behind Trump, starting with the KKK and White Supremacists groups. Read their enthusiasm over at Stormfront.org.

[Pops]

It seems really simple, since forever in the US, being WASP male meant you automatically were some number of steps above quite a few other groups, no matter how little you achieved you always had someone to be "better than."
Now not so much.

Uneducated whites were promised if they would only vote tax breaks for the rich and deregulation for the corps they would receive a Shining City on the Hill. But not only did civil rights proceed pace and the old comfortable segregation fall and eliminate the biggest birthright, it turns out nothing trickled down either.
The USSR fell, so what?
Red China took your job.

I just can't get over how much Sanders and Trump are addressing the same basic problems, just from opposite ends of the spectrum.

[AgentR11]

This election is coming down to a battle between two visions for America: one that embraces a multicultural future and one that harkens for a return to white privilege.

I don't embrace a multicultural future at all. Balkanization is evil. Some twisted ideology of maintaining true foreign cultures running pure in this new homeland is just wrong.

I'm for a monocultural future in the US. An AMERICAN cultural future. Full of blended humans and blended practices and blended traditions and blended food styles. We need to grow up and leave our parent's home, take what they taught of course, but make something that is uniquely our OWN.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is time for this to happen, but it would have been wondrous.

[onlooker]

What about a Universal culture, where we see each other as one/one human family. Is it too late for that? Was that ever even possible?

[AgentR11]

What about a Universal culture, where we see each other as one/one human family. Is it too late for that? Was that ever even possible?

To have "culture" you have to have constant contact and communications.

It could have happened if we had another couple centuries of tech evolution, and a true VR space for borg-esque physical humans to spend their conscious mental time socializing and enjoying themselves.

[AgentR11]

Agent, we're an aging population. Couldn't we arrive there faster with bingo and shuffleboard?

Absolutely not.

You will put on your VR headset.
And you will LIKE it.
Resistance is futile, you WILL be assimilated.

[KaiserJeep]

As in most things, good or bad, California leads the way. Today's Silicon Valley success story is far more often than not, a minority or mixed race individual, often female, and frequently an immigrant. The Old White Men made their fortunes and disappeared from the tech scene a decade or more ago. Those Whites left in the Valley are recently retired wage slaves (like me), soon to retire wage slaves (like my wife), the owners of Blue Collar type businesses, and a bare few who have actually missed the tech bubble, but don't yet know that.

I really want to move to Wisconsin, but the wife is not quite ready and I refuse to push her to make a decision. But I do bring every new digital image and phone video of the grandkids to her attention, and doubtless she will convince herself to move soon, and live amongst her descendants. She'll make an awesome Grandma.