Now a procession of affluent white people get a media platform to pontificate about rioting in Baltimore. Pro tip: We already agree that it’s wrong. The people who don’t agree—as well as many others who do—don’t give a shit what you think, and why should they?
It’s comforting to believe that social dysfunction in our cities will respond to moral hectoring. The beguiling delusion that charter schools, stern father figures, the evisceration of social safety nets and mortal fear of law enforcement will give us a suitably docile and hardworking urban underclass is easy to believe as long as you don’t think about it very hard.
Can’t afford to feed your kids on minimum wage? "You shouldn’t have had them. Go back in time and warn yourself about that." So you can’t go back to school or take a second job because your employer uses just-in-time scheduling, which means you have no idea what hours you’ll be working from week to week? "Well, don’t work there. You have no leverage individually, but unions are worse than Hitler. You don’t deserve a living wage just because you put in 40 hours of hard work every week, but we’re going to protect your dignity by taking away SNAP."
Basic health care for you and your kids will be difficult if SCOTUS gets rid of ACA subsidies. "That will inspire you to better yourself. Take some Khan Academy courses in all your free time. If enough of you do that we’ll be able to get away with hiring IT staff for $9 an hour. Hasn’t all this plus endless harassment by police taught you the value of hard work and unquestioning obedience to authority?"