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cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 hours ago
If you’re talking about the truck drivers, they were just never aware of it. Global politics aren’t their concern. Getting brown people out of the pool of possible competitors was, and they voted accordingly. Papa Trump told them that Iranians are brown and therefore have to go, and they backed him. They’re also Muslim, so, you know, guilt by association for 9/11, at least in the minds of the uneducated masses. To be fair, these people also believed the president they voted for when he said he could beat Iran in a few weeks. They thought Trump would control all the oil by then and sell it to them cheap. They thought they were his people because they waved the same flag and carried guns. But they got to keep a brown woman from becoming president, so they still consider that a net win… even with diesel having nearly tripled in price. It’s like that quote by former US president Johnson about giving white Americans a brown or Black man to look down upon. And they’ll vote all the way down the Republican ticket in November, too. Because, they will tell you, eventually that cheque will come in. (And they still believe they’ll get the $1776 for the America 250, the $2000 DOGE cheque, the $3000 tariffs cheque… and they believe the Trump phone was made in America…)
cattywampas@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I want to shout this from the rooftops every time someone says “white conservatives vote against their own interests.”
No they don’t, you just don’t understand what their interests are. Their interests are cultural superiority, namely white conservative Christian culture. That’s what they vote for.
Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 2 hours ago
That’s not quite what people mean when they say that, at least not what I mean when I talk about this concept.
Having a favored position (i.e. having the dominant culture being white conservative christian culture) is what buys the obedience of these individuals within capitalism.
They are still voting against their interests (protecting capitalism) and more importantly are rejecting class consciousness, with the promise that they will be treated better than the out groups.
cattywampas@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
But that’s you deciding what you think their interests should be.
Usually when people say that they mean “they are voting for people and policies that do not benefit them economically.” This is often true. But it’s not where their interests lie when it comes to the ballot box.
Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 2 hours ago
It’s not just me though, I should have been more clear. It’s foundational to certain anti capitalist theory, and important when organizing around that roadblock. It’s also useful in understanding why the trans Atlantic slave trade wasn’t as universally viewed with distain.
Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B. Du Bois is a good text, as is Settlers.
I’m not saying it’s straight up fact because I can’t know the inner working of everyone’s mind, and it certainly isn’t a conscious decision they make. It fits with what I see in my area and has been helpful in organizing here.