This song does such a good job with communicating the conservaive trinity:
- persecution complex
- mad about things they themselves voted for
- mad that the other is getting something, which is obviously undeserved
I’m ootl, what’s the song?
Rich men North of Richmond
Now I’m debating if I want to give him more views…
Thank you! I watched it!
I still have no clue what the deal is with it, since it doesn’t seem too different from any other hipster singing similar Country songs as that, but at least now I’ve heard it, so thank you
It’s not exactly a lyrical masterpiece.
Rich Men North of Richmond Lyrics
[Verse 1]
I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay
So I can sit out here and waste my life away
Drag back home and drown my troubles away[Pre-Chorus]
It’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is[Chorus]
Livin’ in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond[Verse 2]
I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere
Lord, we got folks in the street, ain’t got nothin’ to eat
And the obese milkin’ welfare[Verse 3]
Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds
Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds
Young men are puttin’ themselves six feet in the ground
‘Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin’ them down[Pre-Chorus]
Lord, it’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is[Chorus]
Livin’ in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond[Outro]
I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay“I wish the government would help people.”
Welfare exists.
“No, not like that.”
These lyrics reflect completely legitimate working class anxieties but supports the system that perpetuates them. “Taxed to no end,” the corporate tax rate has been brought down by lobbying for decades. The obese focus is on one hand legit since eating like shit is cheap, but it has blinders on about why that is, since it’s not convenient to their point.
These parts are all completely legit, although the lyrics are pretty bad. The same things have been said by much better voices in much better ways.
I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay
So I can sit out here and waste my life away
Drag back home and drown my troubles away
Young men are puttin’ themselves six feet in the ground
‘Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin’ them down
Overall it’s a great example of politics in America right now and how the working class is exploited by the right wing, as well as how liberal media, in the mainstream “dialogue,” fails to address the working class anxieties and instead focuses on the “controversy” of the song. The coverage isn’t really about the lyrics, it’s about the way people are interpreting them politically, and it all favors and perpetuates the exact same system.
Yeah, I totally agree with everything you said. The anxieties felt by people on the far right are real, they’ve just got a skewed perception of the cause of their problems.
So persecuted that a bunch of rich guys put their thumbs on the scale and ascended his music to the charts because they agreed with the message. The Rich Men North of Richmond want total control, no not the ones I agree with, the other ones.
Rich Men North of Richmond, by Oliver Anthony
In his interviews he claims he is a centrist but takes issues with teachers turning girls into boys and boys into girls.
I have no problem with uncle craker having a differing opinion. But I do have a problem when you haul your differing opinion up the stairs of a public stage and actively try to hurt others.
So he’s a centrist™?
He may have been looking at globe when answering that one.
Image Transcription:
Picture of Oliver Anthony singing with the caption above: “When the government gives more of your tax money to corporations but you’re mad someone used EBT to buy snacks”
[I am a human, if I’ve made a mistake please message and let me know. Please consider providing alt-text for images for ease of use. Thank you. 💜]
Good job! Thank you for doing that.
The hero we need, but don’t deserve.
Anyone have the numbers of social welfare spending vs corporate welfare spending for a recent year? Say 2020-2022? I can’t find it.
I’m too lazy to look up the numbers, but I think the premise of this argument is rather weak.
Money spend on social welfare, vastly improves poor people’s lives. When you spend it on corporate welfare, the money tends to go into the pockets of people who are already pretty comfortable.
This is a simplification of a multifaceted issue, but by and large I think this holds a lot more water than just comparing numbers.
Also: There was a pandemic in the time period given, so there might be some selection bias.
Means testing is something that wastes a lot of public welfare funds and is usually a tool utilized by those who want to cut programs as an example of welfares inability to work. If we got rid of means testing then corporate welfare would be shown for how truly useless it is. I’m not arguing with you or anything, just adding some more detail to the topic
Let’s be more specific and find out how much public money was spent on sugarry snacks for fat people, which is his ridiculous complaint. I’ll assume we’re not psychopaths who are generally against a social safety net.
It depends on what exactly you consider social welfare and corporate welfare. There’s all sorts of ways to split the data.
I legit actually like country music. Country music and punk rock. Both of them are just three chords and the truth
And man, when this song started, dude came in hot. I loved it. And then he went flying right off the rails.
Exactly what I thought, the first verse and most of the chorus is legit working class anxiety. The rest is blaming other victims of the system, and while it references “rich men,” it contains no criticism of their wealth, the reference to taxes is more the opposite.
Well it kinda does criticize them, just only if they are located above a certain geographical point
A friend sent it to me, and at first I was hopeful… then I was like ‘hmm… strange choice of wording’ then I was like ‘oh, that was deliberate’ as it started to sound more like propaganda and less like a legitimate statement.
You could be mad at both… why is this a black and white issue? EBT abuse is real.
I have seen people literally sell the milk they get from EBT that was intended to be used for their baby. They bragged about being able to get the new iphone with it. I have seen homeless who buy bottled water on SNAP only to dump and resell the bottles so they could get cash for their addictions. Why would i not be mad at that just as I am at how corporate bailouts didnt help anyone except the top .01% of society?
Edit: so many hexbears. I dont care to respond to Kremlin bots.
wow, I can’t believe someone would commit moral failures such as buying an iphone. the absolute outrage.
sounds like people shouldn’t be impoverished. that’s the conclusion you should be drawing, not this moral crusader thing of looking down your nose at impoverished people. If poor people are doing things you find distasteful, why not focus your energy on the people who create and spread poverty in the first place? and no, that’s not poor people. It’s the capitalists and their servants in the state
Ah yes someone selling a few dollars of milk is definitely the same as a corporation stealing millions. Ah yes. These two are the same.
Wonder what the milk to iPhone exchange rate is these days
According to this person 1:1
Only if it’s whole milk, if it’s skim milk that there is lesser milk. I once saw a man drink that and his dick fell off. Need at least 3 of them milks for a iphone.
Why would i not be mad at that just as I am at how corporate bailouts didnt help anyone except the top .01% of society?
Scale. The amount that the capitalists steal from you is orders of magnitude larger than whatever infinitesimal amount of tax dollars (well, more accurately, cents) you lose because an unhoused person used a loophole to buy drugs. Personally I can’t even imagine being angry at the two people you mentioned. Nor is there a realistic way to prevent those things that wouldn’t punish the 99% of people who just use EBT to buy food like its intended.
(I also really don’t care if people find a way to use EBT money to buy something else in general. Like I can’t think of a single reason to be bothered by that. And I life off EBT and only ever use it the “correct” way.)
“The homeless people were on the streets making welfare fraud and I saw one of the welfare frauds and the welfare fraud looked at me.”
I have seen homeless who buy bottled water on SNAP only to dump and resell the bottles so they could get cash for their addictions.
If you’re going to lie, why make up the most nonsensical lie imaginable?
They saw a captioned video on the TikTok and actually believed it
I’ve seen this first hand a good few times - believe me or not because I don’t want to be too specific about my experience. You’ve got to be super desperate to pour out a 40 count of bottled water for $2-4, but people with nothing else but SNAP/EBT/etc funds will do it.
It’s sad and wasteful, but it’s also such a marginal thing compared to the Sacklers making the opium wars look like a prank that I don’t see how it can even brought up in the same conversation - except as deflection.
I’ve seen no shortage of people reselling water bottles with water in them (common especially in places with lots of tourists) but just selling the fucking bottles?
It’s such a comical lie, it’s almost insulting how bad it is
If you live in a state with a bottle deposit. The $0.05-0.10 is paid with the government aid, but returned as cash to the redeemer. It’s a poor and laborious return on investment, but doesn’t require actually hustling to sell water like that to tourists.
[Removed a bit too much hostility.]
I work with homeless people, many of whom have substance abuse issues. I’ve heard of all sorts of ways to get money for drugs (by the way, $2-4 isn’t going to get that done, not even close) and have never heard of anything close to this ridiculous.
It’s unbelievable. As someone else pointed out, with selling them you’re looking at $40, not $2-4, for standing at an intersection or in a park. And you don’t need to do it 30-40 times to get your fix.
They’re drugs Michael, how much could they cost, $3?
If opiods were as cheap as this person claims and as deadly as cops claim, the U.S. would have dropped them on Afghanistan, not encouraged the locals to grow them.
Gob, go run to the opioid store and buy mommy one fentanyl.
Surely it’s a bit, LMAO. How is that something that could even be witnessed? Where is the open air empt water bottle market even located? :data-laughing:
You can return empty bottles in some states, but it’s for 5 cents. The guy I spoke to last Thursday about his fentanyl addiction told me he needed about $100 to get his fix for the day back when he used. It’s just absurd.
If you’re going to lie, why make up the most nonsensical lie imaginable?
Worked for Reagan.
“Yeah, rich people take orders of magnitudes more money from society in order to reinvest it in very concretely destroying society further, but did you consider that someone who was over-prescribed opiods as part of a deliberate campaign by the Sacklers also take up money coping with the addiction they ended up with?”
Fuck off. There are important societal benefits to welfare, while corporate bailouts and the like are a cancer intended only to give the rich more money.
No you haven’t.
No but I have seen homeless people picking up other’s littered recycling and taking it to the grocery store for the pennies deposit and that’s basically the same thing
Idk man, just seems like small potatoes, and rare. Everyone has to eat and I find it doubtful that the skinny EBT amounts will fund an addict’s lifestyle significantly if the food is resold on the secondary market.
When it comes to government waste? It’s not nothing, but I think you’re right, it is technically small potatoes. But it isn’t rare, I’ve heard 2 very credible firsthand accounts. The result of one I’ve actually witnessed, repeatedly.
So idk exactly how that SNAP/EBT stuff works, but it’s just a certain amount loaded up on a card. I thought it was $200, and $200 went a hell of a lot further in 2017. My friend had a deal worked out with his neighbor, he’d “purchase” that $200 SNAP/EBT card for $100. They’d take that to the store & eat really, really well! 😂
We justified playing into it because if we didn’t buy it, they’d just sell it to somebody else. So why not us? Why shouldn’t we get the food? But yeah those neighbors wanted $100 CASH more than a $200 card to buy food. Is this behavior rare?..probably not as rare as you think. But definitely not common, and small potatoes.
“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.” ― Anatole France
Why would i not be mad at that just as I am at how corporate bailouts didnt help anyone except the top .01% of society?
You could start by having the tiniest bit of class consciousness instead of being a fucking serf.
If you are more angry against some poor people addicted to opioids than you are against the billionaire oligarchs who made their money off of addicting millions of people to opioids… you might have a severe case of myopia.
Yeah man, I live in a fucking nice apartment and make enough money that I can sit on my ass listening to racist fake bluegrass and posting on obscure Internet forums, my entire life rests upon a literal mountain of human suffering that I am blessed never to have to come into contact with. But you know what I’m really mad about? A homeless dude making $3.
Post hog liberal
Corporate subsidies and corporate tax evasion are always in competition for big dollar values. Not to mention unpaid wages.
Meanwhile there are POOR people getting some FOOD??!??!?
It’s pretty funny that the expectation on any man who picks up a guitar these days is not that he has a decent voice to go with, it’s that his political ideology is “correct” and cohesive and that he makes sure to convey the entire thing in a 4 minute song.
The people getting their knickers in twist over this song are lost.
I don’t think that’s what this is about. I don’t have that kind of expectation of musicians. But if a musician chooses to sing about being a chud i think they should get dunked on
What is a chud?
Sorry, I’m used to people familiar with our lingo. But, a guy who’s angry about “welfare queens” is a pretty good example. Fascists, conservatives, rascists, xenophobes, right-wingers, homophobes,
etc. are chuds. If any comrades have a better definition I’ll defer to that, but this is how I’d describe it off the top of my headCatch all term for proudly ignorant right wingers
“Why don’t people want to listen to my racist song?”
Also the song sucks
Number 1 on Apple Music US and Global top 100 charts, but yeah - your opinion is the correct one, it’s everyone else that is wrong.
Ah yes, the Apple Music top 100 charts, the objective decider of quality, how could I ever think to go against such a list
So you admit that kpop is fantastic music then, since kpop is wildly internationally successful.
I think racism is wrong. Don’t you?
Sure. Exactly which part of “Rich men North of Richmond” did you find racist?
They’re dogwhistles. The parts about “the obese milkin welfare” and “taxes not ought to pay for your bags of fudge rounds.” Literally just Reagan era welfare queen rhetoric. If you don’t recognize those as racist dogwhistles you’ve been living under a rock for at least 40 years.
But even if you don’t see the dogwhistles I hope you can understand how the song is punching down on poor people
It’s punching down on fat, lazy people, and I’m ok with that.
Unlike you, with dad’s boat dealership and the hard work you’ve done minding your manners and doing chores so you get the boat dealership someday!
Oh so you’re a chud!
no wonder you didn’t know what one was!Libs and wearing bigotry like a badge of honor, name a more iconic duo
Hahahaha so then don’t act like you don’t understand how it’s racist. The racism is what you like about it!
I will enjoy your removed by mod posts very much.
Exploitative gacha trash on phones are objectively the best made games in the world because they make the most money.
mcdonald’s has the best food and coca cola is the best drink and NFL Sunday Night Football is the greatest TV show ever made.
Dude, no one is above getting mocked. Stop it with the butthurt lol
No one would give a shit if he wasn’t doing racist dogwhistles
Why is it always race? I understand the welfare queen myth, but nothing about that song made me reflect on skin color.
Maybe it’s just you.
it’s the US, it’s safe to assume a thing about it is racist without even checking, because the US rests on a foundation of racism and it has seeped into every aspect of it.
but this one’s racist even if you do research it.
🐕🧠🫵
Valid point. Hadn’t considered that. Really stirred some self reflection in me and casual readers of this thread. Bravo.
How about replying to this: https://hexbear.net/comment/3787472
The “welfare queen” myth was always a racist dogwhistle from the jump. This is well documented. The “you’re the real racist for noticing racism” bullshit isnt going to fly here.
so since liberals seem unable to hear dogwhistles
-
the 1935 social security act excluded industries which relied heavily on Black labor. 65% of the Black workforce was excluded from the initial Social Security program (and only 27% of white workers)
-
during the Great Migration, Black people began moving north and into urban centers, and started accessing welfare in higher numbers, which results in increasing hostility towards welfare programs
-
in the 60s, the welfare movement also begins to become associated with civil rights, with a Black, urban face of poverty, rather than the white, Appalachian face of poverty that was more common previously. This further adds to the growing backlash against welfare programs.
https://www.newamerica.org/weekly/rise-and-reign-welfare-queen/
-
Most Americans see Black people as the face of the welfare system. Black people and undocumented immigrants are generally considered to be the largest welfare recipients. This is not true.
-
white people are less likely to support welfare when told that Black people might benefit from them
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/7/17426968/white-racism-welfare-cuts-snap-food-stamps
- Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform gives states greater latitude in designing their own welfare systems. As you might imagine, this results in southern states with the highest Black populations dismantling their welfare systems and paying out the lowest benefits in the nation.
https://jacobin.com/2016/10/clinton-welfare-reform-prwora-tanf-lillie-harden
https://www.theroot.com/when-states-run-welfare-black-children-are-the-ones-wh-1790854181
So, opposition to welfare is rooted in a history of racism. Most Americans, when they get upset about welfare recipients, are picturing an urban Black person. And welfare reform has historically been used to take benefits away from Black people. You might not think you’re talking about race when you complain about welfare recipients or talk about welfare reform, but you can bet your ass most people in this country are. To complain about welfare recipients and talk about welfare reform (unless you’re talking about expanding welfare) is to talk about race, even if you really are so innocent as to believe that you’re not. For this reason we are talking about the song having “dogwhistles.”
-
It’s pretty funny
This isn’t Reddit and saying “it’s funny” doesn’t hide your rage against people that weren’t born as comfortable as you were.
His political ideology is 100% the point of the song. It’s the only thing he’s singing about.
You’re acting like he did an instrumental song and people ridiculed him for past behavior instead. No. He’s complaining that poor fat people eating government fudge is ruining his life lol. He’s a fucking moron.
Songs are not often literal. When he sings about the “obese” i think he means “the wealthy” and not literally fat people.
He literally says if you’re 5’3" and 300 lbs and eating fudge. Specifically referring to an obese person on welfare. Nothing hidden here.
Maybe, but he’s also using common talking points of conservatives who do literally believe fat people on SNAP benefits don’t deserve them.
I know this guy. I mean, not exactly this guy but pretty much.
i work with this guy…the type of guy to say “i got covid like a week before it got big, im the one who gave it to everyone at work, haha.”
…yeah.
I can’t tell you how many people walked into my store at the height of that shit and said, “Well, I got the wuflu. It ain’t nothin’. Just a dang cold.”
Or, “shew buddy, China bug is about to wipe me out buddy. I ain’t never been so sick in my life. cough cough cough Whatchu wearing’ ‘at democrat rag for? You can still smell a fart cain’t yuh?”
omfg… “shew buddy”…get out. get out of my town, out of my head XD too gd real
The best part is the line immediately before it. “We got hungry people on the streets” or something similar, right before complaining about food stamps.
If giving the hungry poor and homeless people free food isn’t their solution to “we got hungry people on the streets” I wonder what is…
Also there’s a weird as fuck line where he complains that we care too much about minors on islands (Epstein) and not enough about miners. Is that really the issue? Too much emphasis on billionaire pedophiles?
I feel like I should be happy to not recognize this person.
You must not subscribe to Politcal Outrage Weekly
Same
You’re telling me that in the year of our lord 2023, people believe that welfare alone is enough to cover housing, food, and clothing? This really ought to set anyone with a brain completely off. You know how much you get from the government on welfare? Not even 500 fucking dollars
LMFAO how brainwashed can you possibly be?
He’s a Jewish conspiracy level Nazi.
And unfortunately he’s also a pretty damn good singer.
Like my hackles were up the whole time I was listening to the song because I knew this is some sort of like Republican redneck protest song against the liberals, but at the same time I had to admit the guy can fucking sing and it was a good song.
We really need to step up our protest song game.
AJJ aka Andrew Jackson Jihad has been around making protest songs for awhile.
I love AJJ, they are a mainstay on my playlists. Their songs are good to great in the lyrics department. But musically they’re not super amazing. Their lead singer also has not a great singing voice. I don’t think any of their songs could be called “catchy” - and none of them are going to get the attention this guy’s song did, and a big part of that is their songs aren’t as good - again, simply from a music standpoint.
Burnin sherman
You need to get out there and look.
Lots of revolutionary music being made, just not made by industry plants and boosted by bullshit
Tho he is a good singer, the song was basic
Fit For An Autopsy has been around for a while my dude. Look them up.
Check out David Dondero - The Filter Bubble Blues.
Yeah that first verse about how we struggle, etc. I was very interested. Then look out for miners, not minors…oook easy dunk, we can all get behind protecting kids. Then the welfare thing. Oh it’s republican talking points not a new uprising of classic country like Cash
The song on youtube does seem to have recorded much greater pipes than he actually has live in person.
Tyler Childers is the good version of this guy.
Oh that’s absolutely v i l e
And not just the highlighted one
I’m sure you can read between the lines and know exactly what voices he’s been listening to.
Fuck this bible thumpin reactionary hillbilly dork.
“But he goes after both sides!”
No, He punches down on poor people. Fuck off with that.
How do you punch down on poor people when you are living in a camper? His song is #1 on iTunes in the US/UK/Australia, #2 in Ireland and Canada. But it certainly couldn’t be because it resonates truth for the masses. No, it is because he is punching down on the poor and you are so smart to have figured it out. The few negative opinions I have seen about this song have been from people it is calling out. Tool.
Tool the band? :D
Having something resonate with a bunch of people, and saying something true isn’t always the same thing. You can say a bunch of dumb bullshit about society that resonates with people but isn’t really true, just like how he does. You have just fallen for the grift. Get his dick out of your mouth.
Did you know that iTunes play counts are hidden and he has pitiful numbers on Spotify? He’s not popular. He’s being astroturfed by fascist propaganda channels. He’s the Sound of Freedom if it was a backwoods white supremacist hick.
Yeah I don’t think many people even use iTunes anymore anyway.
Fox news viewers are more likely to use iTunes because it’s the default app on the most authoritarian platform.
Living in a camper…off the grid on 90 acres of land that he owns and plans to build a farmhouse and raise livestock on. Working class my ass…
He bought it, yes, but technically the bank owns it yet. IIRC he says he owes $60K on it, and he’s paying it off. Very common practice.
With this debt, and working a standard job, he doesn’t have the means to raise livestock atm. So yes, he’s planning to, someday.
What does this even prove? If I take out a mortgage to buy a house, the bank “technically owns” my house. Does this make me not middle class?
Well, I don’t really care for the subtle, haughty undertones in your initial statements & acting like he’s some super well-off dude that has no problems. “off the grid on 90 acres that he owns”. He’s working on owning it, he wants to own land…and he’s going about it in a modest way.
But oh my god , he’s planning to do stuff on that land. Eventually. He plans to build a farmhouse & raise livestock. The sheer audacity of these life goals. That he doesn’t have cash money for, but is working towards.
Something tells me a house he builds is probably pretty different from a house you would build. It doesn’t have to be some crazy-ass expensive mansion.
You then casually dismiss this man by saying “working class, my ass”. He’s gone through his past, IIRC a lot of warehouse/industrial work. He dropped out of high school, got his GED. I think that pretty much fits into the definition of working class. It does get a little more hairy when exploring what is middle class, because it does mention “owning land”. Okay. But there’s also emphasis on education & white collar professions…that’s not this guy at all.
And maybe his dreams of owning land, building a home, and raising livestock are the main cause of his suffering. Life is exponentially harder for him because he is actively striving for life improvement, not living in a tiny box & watching Netflix on the couch.
I think that’s the main source of his frustration that shines in his song, he’s working hard & then what little he makes is “taxed to no end”. The system makes it so hard for average, ordinary people to get ahead and actually do something of value with their lives.
Hahaha haughty? “The poor renter looking down on the middle class landowner.” Lol, what the fuck are you talking about.
Tell me, have you ever lived in a rural area? Or been a farmworker? Because I really honestly can’t tell if I’m dealing with city folk who equate farmer who owns land with farmer who does farm work, or if I’m dealing with middle class folk who don’t understand the privilege of owning property, even if “the bank technically owns it.”
Something tells me a house he builds is probably pretty different from a house you would build.
Brave of you to assume I could even consider building a house anywhere, much less buying one.
And yeah I really don’t give a shit about his past or education. Is Jay-z working class because he grew up in the Marcy projects? Is Richard Branson working class because he left school at 16?
Life is exponentially harder for him because he is actively striving for life improvement, not living in a tiny box & watching Netflix on the couch.
This tells me everything I need to know about you. “Average and ordinary” for you and “average and ordinary” for me mean completely different things. Have you ever talked to an actual poor person?
I’ve been thinking a lot about this song. And it is a real feeling that people have.
But it is also just whining.
The way he goes from talking about people without anything to eat and then talks about how someone that poor and fat shouldn’t eat a fudge round just seems to be a confused message.
Is big government the problem? Or is it lack of corporate regulations that then allow big companies to pay people less than what they need to survive.
Washington can do things to fix what he is talking about, but I would be shocked if he is interested in any policy that helps poor people or people drowning in student or medical debt.
It’s the worst of both worlds. They regulate away our right to unionize and strike.
What a great point. The regulations that are “acceptable “ are all about protecting the corporations.
And so is the corporate music machine that markets this excuse for a protest song, it’s just another culture war debate masquerading as politics.
I think he’s talking about people that have deliberately gotten themselves so fat that they get a disability check from the government for it. I definitely have a problem with where he’s placing the blame, but he’s talking about what he sees around him.
I’m from an area similar to him, and the number of people trying to line themselves up for government assistance as their career is substantial. I think it speaks to the hopelessness of the area we live in these days, on top of generational poverty. Things have always been bad around here, but they got a lot worse after mining, and its supporting industries fell apart.
You said it yourself-- the reason those people need to make weird choices like trying to find any way to qualify for more government assistance is because historically their income came from industries that don’t and can’t exist anymore. They don’t have any other choice. The solution is actually more availability of assistance resources so people from those places can have enough stability to be able to make choices like learning new skills or moving to a new place. Why can’t people like him-- who see this happening to the people around him, his neighbors, his family-- empathize?
No one has “deliberately” gotten morbidly obese.
I’m not absolving anyone of all personal responsibility for their body and what they put in it, but you should read about food deserts and similar. Many folks in this country ONLY have access to a McDonald’s and a gas station snack aisle.
deleted by creator
I doubt there’s more than five people who have deliberately gotten themselves into disability by getting themselves fat. It’s incredibly hard to get onto disability and “I am fat” doesn’t cut it, you have to be able to not move to have even a chance
But…but…the Simpsons did it
My mother is clinically diagnosed with a psychological disorder that caused hallucinations, anxiety and delusion. She tried to get disability for 30 years. She never got it even though she was institutionalized multiple times
Yeah. My brother in law has severe physical and mental disabilities which makes him unable to work at all and he can’t get on. Been trying for a decade and a half. It’s like these people think you can send a letter to the government saying “I am fat and lazy” and you’ll get money.
Aw yes because punching down never resonates with the masses. We’ve never elected politicians who distract from real issues by blaming poor people who don’t use them bootstraps…
If you want the truth instead of the myth being pushed by the fascists who are astroturfing this guy all over social media, you can watch this video. It’s long, but there’s a ton of evidence in the first 10 minutes.
How do you punch down on poor people when you are living in a camper?
You can totally hate on poor people while being poor yourself. I’ve seen it loads of times. The mentality is “I deserve welfare, but those people don’t! They’re cheating the system!”
The few negative opinions I have seen about this song have been from people it is calling out.
Short, fat people?
Fat shaming, welfare queening, both sidsing, slack jawed backwater hick bullshit. I grew up around dipshits just like him. 1, they’re hypocrites that live off the system and haven’t been able to see their own cock without the assistance of a mirror in 15 years but because they’re white it’s ok. 2, Their “color blindness” and concern trolling falls away behind closed doors. It’s empty platitudes and surface level enlightened centrist garbage and nothing more. He doesn’t mean a word of what he’s singing and the people that “resonate” with it don’t either. It’s just 4 minutes of dog-whistling and right wing propaganda.
Their “color blindness” and concern trolling falls away behind closed doors. It’s empty platitudes and surface level enlightened centrist garbage and nothing more.
Color blindness itself is basically a way to decouple yourself from the political economy you are a subject of, which is in no way “color blind” and has more or less created these system of classification. I don’t even subscribe to DiAngelo’s individualist notions of “white fragility,” I think they can even serve to reify the notion of race, but people saying they’re color blind is such a dismissal to address the world around you.
Most of the lyrics are benign and he has plenty of musical talent. But the lyrics that comment on politics are just incredibly brain dead, I don’t know what else to tell you. It is proposing welfare recipients as the reason for poverty, but what percentage of tax returns go to welfare? Obviously like, nothing. Additionally his own region of the country has some of the highest rates of welfare recipiency and if that was cut off does he really think that would improve anything?
I think the reason it leaves so many people with a bad taste in their mouths is because clearly a bait and switch is being performed. The first part draws your attention to the issues the singer is experiencing in his life such as low pay, then in the middle he goes on to talk about the “Rich men North of Richmond-” which if that is in reference to DC politicians then fair enough- in addition to welfare recipients as if those two things are related. He is just running defence for the wealthy by trying to distract people from the problems downstream from general extreme wealth inequality by trying to convince us fat people buying candy is causing everyone’s problems. Not to mention the humour there is in seeing someone that looks pretty severely overweight themselves calling out other fat people (much like how he is an apparent working class man going after over working class people.)
In my opinion the purpose of the song is just to turn poor people against each other so we won’t get any ideas about taxing the rich or anything like that. This is probably be reason why lovely people like Matt Walsh were early promoters of the song.
Yeah, because a group of people have never rallied up for something they believed is true but isn’t…wait…
The name of the song itself is a huuuuuggggge dog whistle, imo. Tells me everything I need to know about the target demographic.
How is that? I’d honestly like to know. It raises my hackles, but i can’t really explain why.
“Rich men north of Richmond”… I’m not american, so maybe that’s why i don’t quite get it
Probably has something to do with the Mason Dixon line (civil war border) and Richmond being the northernmost city of the South.
Richmond was the former capital of the confederacy. The Mason-Dixon line is actually at the Pennsylvania-Maryland/Delaware border.
North of Richmond is referencing Washington DC which has a large, fairly poor Black population and its suburbs, which are very rich and somewhat liberal.
I think its a bit of a stretch that he’s not just talking about Congress/Senate when referring to rich people in DC. That seems to be the most likely scenario.
Standard rightwingery refers to “them politicians in Washington”. When he tosses in a reference to the capitol of the Confederacy, it’s pretty clear who he’s pandering to.
I think you’re probably right due to the target audience of the song and who originally seeded its success, e.g. Matt Walsh. Although I suppose you can just argue that Richmond just sounds good put next to rich men? Though if they weren’t comfortable with it being associated with the confederacy though they just wouldn’t have used it.
If I was to disregard the confederacy association I would say it’s an OK name because if you’re referring to politicians in DC they’re a group that’s worthy of being called out. It would still be stupid though because of course many of their favourite politicians are, you know, politicians and also very rich (like Donald Trump but also many more who were born into great wealth and continued to be wealthy throughout their lives.)
Pretty sure Washington DC is directly North of Richmond. I’m not from USA but that was my natural assumption about who he was talking about just based on geography and the US centre of power.
Kinda weird when your song talking shit about politicians contains an explicit reference to the folks you’re talking about being north of the capital of the Confederacy.
Did not know that about Richmond haha
Dude is a full blown nazi, his YouTube channel had (possibly still has) a playlist of videos titled something like “videos to make ya think”, including stuff about the dancing Israelis conspiracy theory.
Anybody who uses that phrase is just so unaware of how they sound. To accuse everybody else of not thinking is just so arrogant. Oh look at me, I’m the one who figured it out, all I had to do was start thinking. No one else is thinking
Who tf is this anyway?
Apparently his name is Oliver Anthony.
Thanks friend!
