"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” - John Steinbeck
Today, one of my friends posted a graphic on Facebook featuring a fast food worker and an EMT with a caption stating that in Seattle the fast food worker now makes more money per hour than an EMT. Yeah, I know, stupid Facebook graphic; but none the less I was angered not by the stupidity of the graphic but by the responses it engendered.
Of course there were the usual doom-sayers whining about how all the poor people are being thrown out of work because of the increase in the minimum wage (except when they're not - unemployment in Seattle is down). Then there were the blame-the-worker comments. Apparently if you want to be able to eat on a regular basis you should be getting college or trade-school training. The idea that a minimum wage should also be a living wage is not part of the equation.
So there it was, comment after comment, from people who are my friends (and who in many cases are themselves dancing way too close to the edge of financial insecurity) angered, outraged that workers are being paid a living wage. And I thought about what an uphill battle we have to fight in this country, to get through to people that we need to start thinking and acting more like "WE" and stop tearing down fellow workers.
Sometimes I am frustrated beyond belief at how those of us in the lower and middle classes undermine each others' efforts to move ahead. So many people responded to the $15 per hour meme not with "it's about time" but rather with "no burger-flipper is worth that". Really? And what CEO is worth $200 million per annum? Yet no one ever thinks to question that grotesque sum.
So, I put this out there to fellow members of this community; how does one respond to this? How do you get people to start seeing themselves as part of a group, and that what will benefit the lowest in the group will lift everyone else in that group higher. I would like to have seen just one person respond to that graphic by saying "Good for the workers of Seattle".
