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How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

nytimes.com

31–40 of 97 posts

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#31
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the fudge round lyric is one of those typical conservative talking point comments, but the rest of his message is about class struggle and I think many people can appreciate the frustration found in them. The guy seems like a good bean but with a conservative upbringing. Most people should be focused on how washington fails them. I'm partial to this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB9n0XA8dks Full disclosu…

> fudge rounds It's a typical conservative talking point, because it's true. https://www.ebtcardbalance.com/georgia-ebt-food-list-ef9 > From the USDA guidelines above, you can purchase the following items using your EBT card. > Soft drinks > Candy > Cookies > Snack crackers > Ice cream > Seafood such as lobster and shellfish > Steaks > Bakery cakes I followed a woman in Publix the other day who used a SNAP card to pu…

I guess the point is that only conservatives care that public funds are contributing to obesity.

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#32
post #10

I would wager it struck a chord with more than "conservative pundits". Not only judging by its popularity, but messaging. It's a song about class struggle, not party politics. There are lots of people on both sides who've been hit hard economically. And even those that are doing fine can relate to not feeling represented by politicians in DC. Oh, and the guy's voice is awesome.

It's good except all the fat phobia and hate for people on welfare. So no, it's not about class struggle. It's about rich politicians who help out fat welfare slobs instead of hard working people like himself. It's a conservative fiction. Anthony claims he is center, but center in US means right-wing everywhere else. Until Anthony makes a song about the Rich Men south of Richmond, lets wait and see about the class th…

Obesity is bad.

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#33
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's good except all the fat phobia and hate for people on welfare. So no, it's not about class struggle. It's about rich politicians who help out fat welfare slobs instead of hard working people like himself. It's a conservative fiction. Anthony claims he is center, but center in US means right-wing everywhere else. Until Anthony makes a song about the Rich Men south of Richmond, lets wait and see about the class th…

> center in US means right-wing everywhere else. So? This can also be said: "The US leads the world in individual freedoms" or whatever. This unspoken implication that "everywhere else" is better is interesting; quite common assumption but not actually a point that gets discussed... we're just to assume it for the purpose of engaging in the discussion, right?

No, it really means that the US political compass is very right-wing. Also that there is a semantic difference between being left wing in the US and left wing in most of the world.

Historically, those supporting the king were on his right, and those opposing him on his left. Really basically, during the restoration, the far-right was composed of anti-Republicans (old nobles mostly), the right wanted to increase the cens, the left wanted to expand the right to vote by lowering the cens (tax to be allowed a vote in the congress), and the far-left, 'radicaux' as they called themselves, wanted a 'radical' republic, without a king.

With time this shifted, and the 'radicaux' are now center, center-right, but the idea of left-wing/right-wing is the same. Right-wing is in large part the party of old money (and to be fair small business owners who value stability, which is really fair from tel, even if it means power calcification).

I met really left-wing people in the Appalachians, fighting against a pipeline and for owners/managers of a company that caused a huge spill to be prosecuted (from what I understand, the company polluted 3 towns that had to rely on bottled water for weeks, then the company was dissolved and a new one with the same mission and same executive was created after a few months. Gotta love LLCs man.) but those weren't democrats.

Some voted Democrat by default, most didn't care and were realist and knew no place exist for left-wing discourse in the US outside of internet forums. One of them told my brother how he tried to unionize when working for a coal mine company. In France, owners and managers trying to pull the same shite would have been put in jail. But well, it's cultural, what can you do. I respect that.

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#34
No one has interest in everything that goes viral or gets popular. I mean I just tune it out, if its not interesting to me.

Which means whatever is currently at the top of any list (eg obama or trump), the Attention Economy throws up (including HN) doesn't really means what people think it means. There are lots of people who are paying attention to something totally different, cause whats available on the buffet is endless. Meanwhile those who go viral (ala obama and trump) think they are having impact.

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is incredible. Just some guy making music in the woods. Obviously the tech is one factor that makes this possible - youtube and social media. But his voice and the message were a lightning rod.

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Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#37
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> center in US means right-wing everywhere else. So? This can also be said: "The US leads the world in individual freedoms" or whatever. This unspoken implication that "everywhere else" is better is interesting; quite common assumption but not actually a point that gets discussed... we're just to assume it for the purpose of engaging in the discussion, right?

No, it really means that the US political compass is very right-wing. Also that there is a semantic difference between being left wing in the US and left wing in most of the world. Historically, those supporting the king were on his right, and those opposing him on his left. Really basically, during the restoration, the far-right was composed of anti-Republicans (old nobles mostly), the right wanted to increase the c…

> Historically, those supporting the king were on his right, and those opposing him on his left.

Kings typically didn't allow their opposition a seat at the table.

Where the right wing/left wing thing actually came from was a seating arrangement in the French Parliament during the French Revolution (in this case it was the King who didn't have a seat at the table). It only made sense for a short time even then. It was soon superseded by another seating arrangement called the "The Mountain", named because the representatives clustered together in higher tiers of seats.

The terms "right wing" and "left wing" in modern times are essentially just intellectual laziness.

Any purported mapping that puts libertarians and Nazis in the same position on the spectrum is ridiculous on its face.

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#39
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the fudge round lyric is one of those typical conservative talking point comments, but the rest of his message is about class struggle and I think many people can appreciate the frustration found in them. The guy seems like a good bean but with a conservative upbringing. Most people should be focused on how washington fails them. I'm partial to this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB9n0XA8dks Full disclosu…

> fudge rounds It's a typical conservative talking point, because it's true. https://www.ebtcardbalance.com/georgia-ebt-food-list-ef9 > From the USDA guidelines above, you can purchase the following items using your EBT card. > Soft drinks > Candy > Cookies > Snack crackers > Ice cream > Seafood such as lobster and shellfish > Steaks > Bakery cakes I followed a woman in Publix the other day who used a SNAP card to pu…

Anecdotes != data. Your one example is the exception that proves the rule.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/snap-is-effective-and-efficien...

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#40

I would wager it struck a chord with more than "conservative pundits". Not only judging by its popularity, but messaging. It's a song about class struggle, not party politics. There are lots of people on both sides who've been hit hard economically. And even those that are doing fine can relate to not feeling represented by politicians in DC. Oh, and the guy's voice is awesome.

The song was good, the vibe/message to me was somewhere between "working class hero" and that song from the Simpsons episode where homer is the manager for "lurlene" the country singer: "you work all day for some old man, sweat and break your back..." not to be taken too seriously but still representative of real feelings. The insane response in particular by rolling stone about "Reagan era tropes" and other fearmong…

Well, it is dangerous. In classic right wing fashion, it starts off talking about economic elites, but pretty quickly starts running off into welfare abusers and people who don't know how to properly feed themselves using benefits, as if this is any significant fraction of the ills plaguing our society. Half the song is about resentment towards other poor/working class people.
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