Read Part One HERE to get the full gist!
Oh yeh, the job at the Candy Factory. Back then I never thought much about unions. In fact most of what I knew was about union crooks and the corruption I heard about in the local media. Working at the factory was my introduction to why unions have a place in the world.
It was filthy for one thing. The production line consisted of old women who would weigh out candies and then pour them in plastic bag and then seal a label over the top by inserting the bag and label into a heat press. It stunk, but not only of glue. It stunk of flesh because often the women would burn their fingers. No big deal. It was just the way it was. The women knew if they complained they would be out of a job.
My job was to keep the line full of candy. I dropped a crate of malted milk balls once and they scattered all over the gooey floor. The foreman, a burly man with a permanent snarl, swore at me and told me to sweep it all up and get it back on the line. That same day a rat crawled out of the bin of valentine hearts I was bringing to the line. Everyone saw that and laughed when I screamed. Minutes later, those valentine hearts were being bagged by burnt fingers and boxed for shipment. After all, who would know? Besides throwing away the malted milk balls would have affected the profit margin. And rat hairs and dung in valentine hearts - everyone knew that was just part of things.
I went home wondering how many kids were finding rat hairs in their bags of candy. I almost quit that job, but I needed the money. That was a sad realization. Not just because of my own situation. It hit me then how many people suffer through such abuse for the sake of a wealthy man's continued wealth.
It amazes me how many people believe that the marketplace should be trusted, that by promoting corporate largesse, the rest of us will wallow in the trickle down effect of big business. It's not that I am against big business or don't understand the importance of a healthy economy. I just think that a healthy economy is more than corporate profits and trickle down platitudes.
But maybe I am just crazy or living in some altruistic dream world. To challenge myself, I listen to the talk radio "entertainers." After all to be a person of opinion and balance, I believe in listening to diverse perspectives. I am not saying it is easy to listen to Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. I might appreciate Glenn Beck's humor (he can be quite entertaining), but often my laughter quickly dissipates when I hear the arrogance of his disdain for perspectives other than his own.
What's most disconcerting, however, is not the pernicious diatribes of talk radio heads, it is the wave of callers who treat them like icons. People making 8 bucks an hour at Wal-mart call up to praise America, kiss George Bush's ring, and laud their country for being the best in the world about just about anything. They don't have health care but believe in our health care system. They will be impoverished when they retire, but prefer to rant about how the Democrats will ruin their lives.
They will listen to Limbaugh snort about how the rich deserve to be rich and the poor deserve to be poor and nod their heads like some bobble head on the car dash. They won't think about how poverty is institutionalized in our country; they won't worry about how corporations structure work hours to avoid paying benefits. Why? Because Limbaugh tells them, in his eloquent, manipulative way, not to worry about those things.
Just subscribe to true conservatism and all will be fine for everyone. Rush is not stupid. He knows that capitalism requires the failure of others so that the wealthy will achieve and sustain their wealth. The American Dream is not for everyone, only the deserving, and the deserving are defined always by those in power and those in power are, with very few exceptions, wealthy.
When is the last time you heard someone making minimum wage advocating that the minimum wage should not be raised, or that it should actually be decreased? It is consistently the wealthy who speak out against that, as if an increase in the minimum wage will ruin them. Point in fact, such institutional adjustments may slow the rapid rate of profit they believe they deserve. Gee, must be hard to take.
I am sure, however, that Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck could find a way to turn my Candy Factory experience into some wonderful expression of capitalism at its best. After all, the Candy Boss employs people, albeit old women with burnt fingers. And he provides products that people want, right? Besides, if those old woman had not been so lazy working 10 hour shifts for minimum wage, they could have become entrepreneurs themselves and enjoyed the benefits of exploiting others for personal gain.
Being a fair person, I don't want my good friend, Sean Hannity, to feel slighted. He's the one who greets his callers with "Hello, you are a fine American." I always wonder how he knows that. Is one a fine American for just calling into his show? Does he have some special gift for spotting true Americans? Maybe Sean just assumes the best in everyone. Well, at least until he discovers they have a few opinions that Sean disagrees with. Then, the list of fine Americans gets a little shorter.
I'd like to say that all of them - Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity - are liars, but that's too facile. They are, in effect, brilliant men who use their minds to lead others to dark places. I am sure they tell the truth as well as paint it with camouflage colors at times. What's worse for me is that they believe their own bullshit.
Give me a liar any day. But a person who believes their own bullshit, and can do so with skill and ardor. That's truly frightening.
Other Related Barking Dog Postings
Reclaiming America
I'm Confused (Well, Not Really)
Tired of We're the Best Spin
Patriotism and the Mythology It Creates