That’s the power of hatred

In August 2016 I came across this quote from President Lyndon Johnson:

If you can convince the lowest white man that he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll even empty his pockets for you.

I posted it as part of my growing understanding ranking, which explains we have been taught to assign rank to people in our society – men over women, white over black, going through many other categories. As I recognized from this quote a person’s need to feel superior to other people (especially in a culture that teaches such superiority) is much more important than a person’s need to feel economically secure. Ranking is an amazingly strong force.

Twitter user Propane Jane expands on this idea in a long series of tweets. Recognizing the strength of ranking is important to understand how the GOP tax scam got passed. In case you aren’t up on your acronyms: WWC is White Working Class. Excerpts of what Jane wrote:

People need to understand that his socioeconomic self-sabotage keeps occurring repeatedly because the White American majority would rather be robbed blind by the White 1% than align themselves with the majority of people of color to elect Democrats. Equality is too risky. A rising tide lifts all boats, which is PRECISELY why non-wealthy White Americans continually vote in majority for the GOP’s austerity. Skin privilege and feigned supremacy are worth more to them than money in the bank, especially when POC still have less than they do.

I know it makes folk uncomfortable to ponder this thought, but I’m sick and fucking tired of people asking “why do they vote against their self interest” as if maintaining racism as an institution isn’t a self interest or these voters’ primary electoral motivation. It’s one thing for them to keep lying to themselves but the rest of us don’t have time to participate in their denial along with them. The WWC hasn’t been duped by the GOP, they are *willful* participants in their own demise.

These people are intentionally making a habit of finding out who people of color are rallying behind and which party we’re giving our votes to so they can vote the complete fucking OPPOSITE.

Learn this basic fact now, y’all.

NO amount of facts or self-inflicted economic hardship will stop these people from voting GOP for bigotry, misogyny and homophobia’s sake. Give up on that fantasy now. Also the folk on the left who foolishly think that if shit just gets bad enough for the White majority they’ll wake up one morning and join the multicultural coalition they’ve intentionally avoided for the last FIFTY YEARS need to snap the FUCK out of it. It ain’t happening. Trust and believe that impoverished White people who live in the reddest of red states and religiously vote Republican are already suffering the dire socioeconomic consequences of their votes, they just don’t give a fuck b/c Whiteness is their sustenance. They won’t have a pot to piss in or window to throw it out in Trump’s Amerikkka, just like they didn’t under Reagan and GWB. Predictable economic hardship hasn’t stopped them from voting GOP and it never will. That’s the power of hatred.

Jane uses the recent election in Alabama where many people willingly voted for a pedophile. She also mentions the “unpopularity” of Hillary Clinton. Then she continues:

The more folk insist on playing dumb and burying their privileged heads in the sand, the more America retreats from its stated ideals and reverts back to all of its original sins. We ignore and deny the impacts of racism and misogyny on our politics at our own peril. No one should be surprised that non-stop glorification of White people who were so hateful and ignorant that they wanted to take their country back simply b/c a Black man was running it has resulted in a GOP government intent on destroying everything he/we built. No one should be surprised that the refusal of White “moderates” to lay down their privilege and join the multicultural Democratic coalition results in GOP victory and maintenance of the discriminatory status quo.
…
Y’all can be certain I won’t stop calling it out no matter how many folk jump in my mentions to say “not all white people”. Until the White majority gets its shit together, our ONLY hope is in our collective recognition that they won’t change and we have to OUTVOTE THEM. Give up on chasing these racist, sexist dummies who don’t even have sense enough to vote to keep their own fucking healthcare coverage. Focus your time, money, and energy on fighting GOP voter suppression that’s targeted at people of color.