Why are blue collar workers idolized and intellectuals marginalized?

[OddBeMe]

How much money did Trump spend on frickin coal mining jobs? I’m sure Biden is doing the same.

“I love the poorly educated!”

Lowest common denominator

School is hard.

[Chazmatazz269]

You’ve grossly oversimplified the issue.
I’ve been working in construction for over 15 years and we are NOT respected, let alone idolized. We’re second class citizens, at best. The minority of people who do respect what we do understand that the US was built by skilled labor. And we’re considered a special interest because construction is the leading indicator of economic stability. So politicians who care about the economy will endorse labor interests.
That said, the US DOES disrespect intelligence and education. I don’t know why, because it makes no rational sense. We need smart people as much as we need hard working people. The best i’ve been able to conjure is an almost inherent bias based on old mythologies combined with contemporary events. Consider nearly every classic hero vs villain tale. Who’s the villain? Typically an “evil genius”. Who’s the hero? Typically a classically handsome and brawny stud. Most people of average intelligence and below dislike and distrust smart people. Why? Cuz they don’t get them or whatever they’re thinking about and working on. It’s very common for people to be afraid of or untrusting of things they don’t understand. Now let’s look at some of our most infamous warlords, conquerors and dictators. Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler; all brilliant tacticians and mostly very well educated. These people didn’t rise to power by being strong or physically imposing. They were intelligent, often well educated, and charismatic. Not terribly dissimilar from our legends and myths, these people were typically defeated through brute force. At least as far as the headlines have ever revealed. We know very little about to what extent military intelligence played a part, though it absolutely must have. I think it’s all part of the same bias.
The only thing i can think is we need to emphasize more stories in which smart or clever heroes overcome their foes by fighting smarter rather than harder. “David vs Goliath”, “Robin Hood”, “Sherlock Holmes”, etc. Or maybe i’m way off base. Ell oh ell!

[MikeInHawaii]

Yep. I drove a tow truck while in graduate school. White collar women tended to talk to blue collar men like we were all dumb as rocks, even when they had no idea what they were talking about, themselves.

[Chazmatazz269]

Yeah, i had to take a break from construction after i finished the apprenticeship. I absolutely hated that we weren’t allowed to use the indoor restrooms, even when WE built them. That’s some hardcore classist BS! And separate entrances for the contractors so the in-house don’t have to mingle with us lowlifes. Ggrrrr!!!

[CaptainSmartass]

Because of this place:

Now, everybody sing with me!:

Soiuz nerushimyj respublik svobodnykh
Splotila naveki Velikaia Rus.
Da zdravstvuet sozdannyj volej narodov
Edinyj, moguchij Sovetskij Soiuz!

Slavsia, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoe,
Druzhby narodov nadiozhnyj oplot!
Partiia Lenina - sila narodnaia
Nas k torzhestvu kommunizma vediot!


Сквозь грозы сияло нам солнце свободы,
И Ленин великий нам путь озарил,
На правое дело он поднял народы,
На труд и на подвиги нас вдохновил.

Славься, Отечество наше свободное,
Дружбы народов надёжный оплот!
Партия Ленина - сила народная
Нас к торжеству коммунизма ведёт!
Skvoz grozy siialo nam solntse svobody,
I Lenin velikij nam put ozaril,
Na pravoe delo on podnial narody,
Na trud i na podvigi nas vdokhnovil.

Slavsia, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoe,
Druzhby narodov nadiozhnyj oplot!
Partiia Lenina - sila narodnaia
Nas k torzhestvu kommunizma vediot!

V pobede bessmertnykh idej kommunizma
My vidim griadushchee nashej strany
I Krasnomu znameni slavnoj Otchizny
My budem vsegda bezzavetno verny!

Slavsia, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoe,
Druzhby narodov nadiozhnyj oplot!
Partiia Lenina - sila narodnaia
Nas k torzhestvu kommunizma vediot!

Simples...

[EllaNella]

the money isn't spend on the coal mines because of the blue collar workers, but rather because of the elite lobbyists who have shares in those companies and don't want to lose any profit

[goaded]

And Joe Manchin, of course.

[FreyaRed]

According to Lenin, Marx and Engels majority of "intellectuals" is part of bourgeoisie and should be terminated by proletariat.

[OddBeMe]

Also sounds trumpian

[Avicenna]

The work done by blue collar workers is respected by most people, but definitely not by the elites of our society, whose policies clearly show that they do not like blue collar workers. And no one can honestly say that our public policy reflects anything thoughtful or sustainable.

The idea that "intellectuals" are marginalized is beyond comical. It's just that many people who hold themselves out as intellectuals look down on ordinary people and say and publish the most inane things (although they're sometimes richly rewarded for doing so, which is the antithesis of marginalizing intellectuals).

[OddBeMe]

Unless you think the kardashians and Monday night football are for intellectuals; not many indie films get “richly rewarded”.

[Redstang88]

Avicenna Bingo

[MikeInHawaii]

I think it’s because blue collar workers are seen as actually accomplishing something. A ditch digger can show you a ditch at the end of the day. A consultant can show you a stack of paper.

Also, people educated beyond their intelligence are often seen as having no idea how things actually work in the real world.

[OddBeMe]

This is as stupid as object permanence in babies. If you can’t see it, it doesn't exist. Fyi, who tells the digger where to dig?

[MikeInHawaii]

There are definitely some management and directors of companies who accomplish nothing or are even counter productive. I’ve worked for a few. The ditch digger often has to take orders from someone who has no idea how his job is done.

I don’t go into management because I couldn’t afford the pay cut.

[OddBeMe]

And there are lots of laborers who do too.

[ODC2112]

Simply because uneducated people feel very strong social envy towards educated people. There are many more uneducated people and flattering them causes them to vote for the candidate who flatters them. It is a method widely used by communists and socialists around the world as well as by the propaganda of totalitarian regimes. This makes the uneducated gullible believe that the candidate or powerful on duty really takes him into consideration. He is rich, and he likes me, I must be special. Only an imbecile could believe it and in fact this is what happens, the imbeciles believe him. It is a classic method of exploiting the latent narcissism of people, who are considered socially inferior.

[OddBeMe]

Well…true.

[Redstang88]

Because like it or not the world depends on blue collar workers. Covid was a great demonstration of how redundant many white collar jobs are. It would be a long time before the world misses reporters and human resource managers, see how long we last without carpenters and truck drivers.

I don’t know if marginalized is the right term, but intellectuals can be damn quick to bite the hand that literally feeds and houses them, generally with much harder work for much less pay.

[OddBeMe]

Funny that the unemployment line isn't filled by white collars.

[Redstang88]

Hasn’t been trades either, service industry mostly. Every trade I’ve heard from has been desperate for skilled workers

[MikeInHawaii]

I have an MBA and a CDL. With tips, I make more money driving a tour bus than I ever made on a white collar job. There’s a nationwide shortage of CDL drivers.

[OddBeMe]

@Redstang88 Very true. I would consider them educated.

[genericname85]

because traditionally, blue colar workers were just wearing down their body for profit. the stereotype isn't up to date. in this day and age with technological advancements that we have, you can't really be a dumb dumb and have good success in blue collar jobs.

[OddBeMe]

And white collar too.

[genericname85]

well yeah but that was traditionally the case. unlike with blue collar work. i mean like if you work in let's say a car production plant that still uses the good old henry ford production line, those are well payed blue collar work, that are likely not very bright. but like a technician in the field has to be quite smart.

[RolandCuthbert]

That's a false argument.

Trump doesn't idolize blue collar workers. This is the funny thing. He despises his supporters. He would rather hang out with the elites because that is how he sees himself. It is just that he wants adoration. And he cannot get that from elites.

Even Elon Musk would get to a point where he would say, "this guy is just stupid".

So you are not understanding his narcissism. It simply has to do with who he can manipulate.

[Juxtapose]

Because the college educated can't even tell us what a woman is anymore dude. These colleges are starting to look like indoctrination centers and trust me man, I used to think the right wing was crazy when they said this shit in the 90s and early 2000s.

[OddBeMe]

So disregarding LGBT is your idea of educated.

[Juxtapose]

That's not what I said.

[Juxtapose]

You can teach gay stuff without indoctrinating people. I was taught about HIV and AIDS but not inducted into the bug catcher fetish or anything. Imagine if schools promoted the bug catcher fetish.

[OddBeMe]

Well, pne there's scientific ideas of gender and then social ideas. But you said colleges can’t tell whats a woman anymore…as the meme goes.

[Juxtapose]

The term gender was originally a linguistics term. Alfred Kinsey and John Money were child predators who "revolutionized" sexuality and the definition of gender.

You can't have your own pronouns anymore than you can have your own adjectives.

[Juxtapose]

A woman isn't a costume to be worn or what you think you are in your head. Being a man or woman is a biological reality that can be detected in your skeleton hundreds of years after you die.

[OddBeMe]

Did you know Catholics werent considered white back in Kinsey’s days?

[Juxtapose]

Race relations were extra weird back then but I don't see how that is relevant.

[Ghostluck]

Huh? None of the above. Richard Gear in Pretty Woman. Jamie Dornan in 50 Shades of Grey. Keanu Reeves in The Devil's Advocate.

Not to mention endless commercials on T. V. showing off square jawed doctors, lawyers and business men. I think you just are having a slight case of selective visualizing.

[OddBeMe]

Except all the war movies, sports movies etc…

[Ghostluck]

@OddBeMe Well let's see here. Recruiters don't go after sons of lawyers, doctors or politicians. Who do they go after? The working class, lower incoming class. Why? Because in general these men are more likely to have lesser issues with hard physical work and more easily controlled. The military points you in a direction, tells you to kill... and they do it without question. Rich people on the other hand are far less likely to be warriors than the lower class income people. Could you imagine the military being filled with rich people? They would tuck tail and run at the first sign of danger. It wouldn't be very realistic in movies.

[anylolone]

Because the consequences of blue color work are traceable.
Distinguishing a good mechanic from a bad one is easy through those.

When it comes to intellectuals it's harder outside of the core of STEM, and only for those in STEM that actually look more like blue colar workers than intellectuals.

[Stoner710]

Because the Democrat coastal leads have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to the truth that he brought in flyover country. The so called experts are seeing a global backlash is not just in United States.

[ComradeCurze]

People like you are why the Khmer Rouge existed. And also why it needs a second incarnation.

[OddBeMe]

The regime that killed intellectuals and emptied cities? Yeah no.

[TransAm85]

This I kinda agree w/u about. No Genocide, but put the people to work! lol I mean.. Americans are fuckin lazy! N this dude is complaining about blue collar jobs? Who is doing most of them? Many older white guys and immigrants. My husband fixes trucks for landscapers and some construction guys.. The old guys who run the companies are worn out! Their employees.. immigrants.

[OddBeMe]

@TransAm85 wow, wheres the anger coming from? I’m not saying blue collars are evil. But you kinda are saying that about white collars…

[Guy13]

Where I reside it is exactly the opposite. The Intellectuals receive higher wages and have benefits.

[RuthlessAggression]

whats funny is, there's nothing blue collar about trump at all

he's about as white collar as you can get

[OddBeMe]

Yeah thats whats always bugged me about the gop. They give their voters emotional wedge issues but not real life ones.

[RuthlessAggression]

makes them vote

[Jltakk]

Because intellectuals themselves are idolized despite being just as brainless as the rest of society. ie. 50s French intellectuals outside of Albert Camus.

[msc545]

Because they are supposedly "street smart", the excuse of every uneducated person in the world.

[MikeInHawaii]

I’ve been told “There’s education and there’s common sense,” by people who had neither.

[msc545]

@MikeInHawaii exactly.

[OddBeMe]

There’s college educated…who have 4 times the wealth of “some college” and 5 times the wealth of “high school”.

[MikeInHawaii]

You also have drop outs like Richard Branson and Bill Gates. When I was getting my MBA, I worked for a 9th grade dropout who had sold his business for $7 million, not including land and buildings, which he was renting for $30,000 per month. He agreed to manage the business for one year for a $50,000 salary while the found a new manager.

Education is important, but isn’t everything. I’ve also experienced resentment from management because I was better educated than they were.

[Zodiac10]

As far as I know its the exact opposite I have never seen it perceived that way

[Waldoe]

Majority rule... the uneducated are the Majority... thats Democracy...

[WhitneySnow]

Most rich people are well educated

[OddBeMe]

Ehh, not sure of that.

[WhitneySnow]

I didn’t say smart. I said well educated.

[OddBeMe]

“Well” educated. The objectifier is my issue.

Most wealth is inherited. By ignorant shits. :)

[supercutebutt]

Milhouse isn't an intellectual.

[Jouth]

Steve Urkel

[OddBeMe]

How dare you!
https://youtu.be/g7GJu3YJlWY

[Babygirl_S]

It's the opposite in my country.

[OddBeMe]

What country?

[Babygirl_S]

India.