{"id":8983,"date":"2016-09-11T07:58:49","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T11:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/?p=8983"},"modified":"2016-09-11T08:01:27","modified_gmt":"2016-09-11T12:01:27","slug":"rolling-coal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/?p=8983","title":{"rendered":"Rolling coal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rolling-coal\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Though I had seen pickup trucks with smokestacks blowing black smoke, I did not know about “rolling coal” until the New York Times wrote about it<\/a> a week ago.<\/p>\n

Here is a new way for useless white guys to strut their hatred, as they are constantly encouraged to do by the right-wing media. Google for “rolling coal,” if you’re not aware of this phenomenon. Don’t miss the article in the right-wing web site Daily Caller<\/a>: “Here at The Daily Caller, we are going to give you the basics on how to modify your pickup, so every hybrid driven by some guy in a pink Argyle sweater will know exactly where you stand.”<\/p>\n

Here’s my question. How did so many Americans get to be this way? Until I know of a better answer, I’d have to say that it’s a combination of appalling ignorance combined with yet another way that the right-wing media teach hatred, aggression, and reckless, unproductive consumption.<\/p>\n

I have encountered right-wingers who see it as a kind of moral duty not<\/em> to recycle and to use incandescent light bulbs.<\/p>\n

Months ago, as the rest of America gradually woke up to the fact that Donald Trump actually was going to get the Republican nomination, many articles were written on the disaffected white underclass who were enthusiastically backing Trump. Many of these articles called for sympathy and outreach. Some of the articles shamed both political parties for leaving these people behind. These useless articles have tapered off. Outreach? It’s clear that the angry white underclass cannot be reached except by the right-wing media, which is more than willing to flatter their ignorance and inflame their hatred for political purposes. <\/p>\n

A couple of days ago I was having lunch in a fast-food place because I was so busy with my liberal political commitments that I didn’t have time to cook at home. I listened to a white guy at a nearby table explaining to another white guy why Trump was the only hope. “Things are gonna get really bad if Hillary gets in,” he said. It was clear that this guy thought of himself as well informed, as a kind of intellectual, a redneck wonk. He recited a long stream of right-wing talking points, including a list of places that we should bomb. Some of his talking points were deceptive half truths, the rest were pure horse-wash. Putting that stuff into his head is a billion-dollar corporate profit center. I don’t have the slightest idea what can ever be done about it.<\/p>\n

I do know this. I’ve got to work my tail off between now and the election to throw Republicans out of office at every level of government. Disempowering the politicians who cater to these deplorables — and they are deplorable — is the necessary first step. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though I had seen pickup trucks with smokestacks blowing black smoke, I did not know about “rolling coal” until the New York Times wrote about it a week ago. Here is a new way for useless white guys to strut their hatred, as they are constantly encouraged to do by the right-wing media. Google for … Continue reading “Rolling coal?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-political-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8983"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8994,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8983\/revisions\/8994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}