Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Men adrift 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

A bit of a kerfuffle blew up along political party lines when Oliver Anthony released this song, "Rich Men North of Richmond." 

"Nine million views in five days"-- that tells you it went viral. Lots of people like it because it hits a nerve with them, i.e. they identify with its message. His video inspired this comment from a viewer: “And just like that you became the voice of 40 or 50 million working men” (this comment was liked by 11,000 other viewers).


If it weren't for this article, "Distress Music," I would have missed most of the meaning of the whole thing. The article says these men are no longer respected and paid well for the important physical work they do (the chart in yesterday's post shows some of these jobs). They feel ignored by the "rich men north of Richmond," that is, the powerful elite in Washington D.C..

It seems to these distressed men as though our culture is "structured in such a way that young men with strong backs find it hard to prosper by using their traditionally masculine attributes of strength and endurance."

It's one reason why so many men are adrift. But there's more.

from Salvo

(cont'd tomorrow)

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