Shuttin' Detroit Down

[Dinger]

I was channel surfing and I saw this on CMT (I know). It's a song by john rick (a republican). Interesting lyrics. I don't get this song coming from a republican.


http://www.6lyrics.com/music/john_rich/lyrics/shuttin_detroit_down.aspx
"My daddy taught me in this country everyone's the same.
You work hard for your dollar and you never pass the blame,
When it don't go your way.
Now I see all these big shots whining on my evening news,
About how they're losing billions and it's up to me and you
To come running to the rescue.

Well pardon me if I don't shed a tear.
their selling make believe and we don't buy that here.

Because in the real world they're shuttin' Detroit down,
While the boss man takes his bonus paid jets on out of town.
DC's bailing out them bankers as the farmers auction ground.
Yeah while they're living up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world they're shuttin' Detroit down.
Here in the real world they're shuttin' Detroit down.

Well that old man's been working in that plant most all his life,
Now his pension plan's been cut in half and he can't afford to die
And it's a crying shame, cus he ain't the one to Blame.
When I looked down to see his calloused hands,
Well let me tell you friend it gets me fightin' mad. . . ."

[Bluzmann57]

1. Party affiliation aside

Maybe he's concerned about the working men and women of this country. It does happen you know. And every now and then, CMT has some good stuff. Like the show "crossover" or something like that. I saw ZZ Top and Brooks and Dunn doing each other's stuff. Pretty good. Let's face it, there are a LOT of people out here who like what passes for Country Music. Personally, I like the older stuff, like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, etc.

[Two Americas]

2. what is wrong with country music?

And why would we be surprised that someone who votes Republican would identify with the working class? Or, turning that around - that someone who identifies with the working class would vote Republican?

I think you answered your own question.



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[Bluzmann57]

3. Stereotyping

A lot of people think that simply because a person performs or listens to a certain kind of music, then that person must be labelled as a certain type. Those of us who have actually lived and experienced things know better. This is a HUGE country and there are many many different viewpoints. And that is the way it should be.

[Two Americas]

4. yes

And that stereotyping - condescending and contemptuous - is the very reason that people resent liberalism and vote Republican.

Also, it is not as though there is any strong working class narrative coming from the Democratic party that people can identify with.

So many of us in farming country worked our asses off to turn rural precincts Democratic, with great success. But we are up against this arrogant gentrified faction within the party that is determined to drive the party to the right, while alienating working class people with their snotty and condescending attitudes.


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[Fire1]

5. Agree. n/t

[MedleyMisty]

6. Because Republican policies are very anti-working class

It's a natural assumption to make.

Like at work this one person has a McCain/Palin sticker on her car. So I assumed she was pretty pro-other people suffering, because that's what Republican policies do - increase suffering. The Republican message is one of hate and lack of empathy and enjoying the pain and suffering of others. Or at least that's what gets filtered through to me, the isolated oddball who hasn't watched TV in a decade.

Then she sent out this mass email about helping people who are suffering in the bad economy. And yes, I am trying to learn that people are not the rational beings I thought they were and understand where she's coming from and how that huge case of cognitive dissonance came about, but I definitely understand assuming that people who vote Republican are anti-poor and working class and pro-suffering when you have never lived in a Republican culture and are trying to make sense of it based on what you know about the effects of Republican policies and what parts of the Republican message get through to you.

And actually, I grew up listening to country music. My father was in a bluegrass band before I was born and on Sunday nights he would play his acoustic guitar and I'd sing into a hairbrush. :) But then in 7th grade (so around early/mid 90s) it started sucking and I found the oldies station instead and then came across the alternative rock station. I still like the old school country music and I have found some cool new country/folk/bluegrass like Nickel Creek and Josh Ritter (actually went to our second Josh Ritter concert last month and it absolutely rocked - he played a couple of songs from the CD he's working on now and one of them, The Curse, was amazing - and we were the first people to hear it outside of those working on the album), but what has been played on corporate country music stations since middle school is just....well, it's like the Precious Moments display at Wal-Mart. All fake and plastic and saccharine.

And since around 2001, the alternative rock station has being going the same way. Which I guess that's good - it forces me to find music on my own. I was a bit ashamed of how mainstream my music collection was when I took that music class at TIP one summer. Heh - actually these days when I seek out new music it tends to be hip hop.

Anyway, I guess my point is that I think I'm not the only one on DU who associates the Republican party with being quite anti-working class and may need the explanation of why someone who votes Republican would identify with the working class explained to us quite slowly in small words and with compassion and understanding for our horrible ignorance. And yes, I've read Deer Hunting with Jesus and I've been offended and insulted by the regional/class bigotry on here and I grew up in a mostly white rural upper working class/lower middle class Southern small town, listening to 104.1 WTQR and watching NASCAR. And I still don't get it. I'm sorry, but if someone who identifies as a Democrat insults the entire South that does not make me decide to throw away everything I believe in and support the hate, ignorance, fascist authoritarianism and feudal capitalism of the Republicans. It just makes me think, "Wow, that person has issues and needs to look in the mirror and see his/her own bigotry."

So yeah - I grew up in rural white Southern culture and I still don't get it. But then I can't remember politics ever being a topic of discussion. At least not the dog and pony show, parties as sports teams and focus on celebrity individuals type politics. When political issues came up, like the semester we spent studying the Vietnam war in my IDH class, we were all quite liberal in our views.

I don't hate poor people. I don't even hate poor white rural people, because as I've said before time and time again - I grew up in that culture. I spent my adolescence in a singlewide trailer out in the woods on 12 acres of land on a dirt road - we had to park the car out on the paved road and walk a mile and a half out to it in the spring when the ice and snow would melt. My father and my brother both hunted, although my father could never bring himself to kill any living being. My friends were into country music and Southern rock and fishing and hunting and my graduation party was people getting drunk in a cabin deep in the woods and yelling "Skynyrd!". So you can think that I don't get your explanation because I'm some yuppie sitting around in my McMansion in the Northeast somewhere and I have a couple of degrees and grew up drinking fine wine and shopping for organic food and going on trips to Europe or whatever, but it's not true. I grew up with these people that you tell me that I hate, that I don't understand, that I look down on. I'm one of them.

I sometimes wonder who really doesn't get who.

[Two Americas]

7. of course

Of course Republican policies are very anti-working class.

So what?

[Romulox]

8. If you hadn't noticed, a Democratic President is currently demanding UAW concessions

on one hand, while citing the "sanctity of contract" on the other to justify AIG bonuses, and funneling trillions into the financial sector, on the other.

You may need to reassess your assumptions.

[Two Americas]

9. a little more

The assumption that because "one person has a McCain/Palin sticker on her car," therefore "she would be pretty pro-other people suffering, because that's what Republican policies do - increase suffering."

That would make half of the people in the country monsters. (And half not, as defined by political party identification.)

While it is true that "Republican policies are very anti-working class, it is not so simple as that. The right wing agenda is to promote and protect the interests of the wealthy. That is not solely found in the Republican party.

Many things that Democrats do increase suffering.


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