Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Stop Vilifying People That Are Not of Your Class

A friend texted me today and invited me to dinner. I get up late and hadn't even eaten breakfast, late for me is 3 in the afternoon, dinner was to be at 5 in the afternoon. I was there on time because he is like family to me and was there for me during the darkest days of my life. He was the one who took me home from the hospital the first time.

My friend is conservative. He comes from old blue collar, hard working, bible believing, stock. He comes from working class people who worked damn hard, hard enough that he was able to go to college. He appreciates hard work, commitment and honesty. Those are the best traits of old school working class people. These are the people that Hillary called deplorables and unredeemable.

People like my friend ridicule college students that need safe spaces and try and avoid real free speech by banning speakers who disagree with them. There is a growing wedge in this country and everybody, including people who believe they are empathetic and loving liberals are part of the problem. I want to start by talking a little Psychology 101. I get to do that because I qualified for a Bachelor's in Psychology and Sociology, instead I took my official degree in Political Science. Still I want to talk about Psychology.

In 1943 Abraham Maslow published a paper in which he outlined what he believed to be human's hierarchy of needs. A list of priorities for people depending on their environment.


Basically Maslow believed that one could not focus on the top of the pyramid unless they were secure in the other levels. One does not worry about self esteem if they do not have their Physiological needs met, that is air, food, water, clothing and shelter are your only concern and until they are met, one does not worry about self-esteem. Pretty simple stuff. If you have the most basic of needs you will tend to seek out safety next and then if that is met, you will concern yourself with love and belonging. Once that is achieved, self worth, self esteem becomes important and finally when all those needs are met one will seek to become self actualized, self determinate and willing to effect the world because you believe you know the truth.

When you live in a world where 50% of your population does not have the most basic needs met and 5% have enough that they can seek more esoteric needs you have a disconnect in society and that is where we are at because the middle class and working class are no longer confident in their security of having the most basic needs met.

The median house price in San Francisco is $1,132,300. The average house price in Seattle is $612,400. The average house price in Los Angeles is $603,900. The average house price in Manhattan is $1,198,900. The average house price in Beverly Hills is $3,033,400. Do you know what the average house price is in Detroit? It is $37,000. The average house price in Pittsburg is $119,900. The average home price in Cleveland is $59,900. People in the Midwest are busy trying to survive and people on the coasts are seeking Self Actualization.

The people in the Midwest cannot understand the people on the coasts because they live completely different lives. The people on the coasts cannot understand the people in the Midwest because they live completely different lives. Meryl Streep is worried that foreigners will be expelled and the arts will suffer. People in the Midwest are worried that foreigners will move their and take away their jobs. That is the essence of the anger on both sides. It is not about sexism, homophobia or racism. Truth is Trump never talked about those things nor promoted them. To believe that is an and oversimplification and is dismissive of the people in the Midwest who have real concerns about surviving.

It disgusts me to watch people like Hillary and Streep insulting people who voted for Trump because they believe his followers are sexist, xenophobic, racist and homophobic when these same people voted Obama in for two terms, THE SAME PEOPLE. While I personally am a socialist, I find it harder to talk to liberals on the coast than to conservatives. Both are difficult for me; but, liberals tend to be more self satisfied and assured that people who disagree with them are evil.