Why is J. D. Vance misrepresenting his ethnic background? 1) Because he’s a man with limited knowledge of his own family? or is it because: 2) If he admitted his ancestors were once “not quite white” Appalachians, he would have to confront the real historical reasons for transgenerational poverty there? or maybe: 3) By […]
It is no coincidence that “Hillbilly Face” co-existed for decades alongside Blackface. To explain why, we need to step back in time… America’s earliest cultural foundations always involved a delicate tightrope walk between the forces of God (Puritans, Massachusetts Bay Colony) and Mammon (speculators, Virginia Colony). This delineation was of course not entirely clear-cut. […]
American History 101 (or 289?) “Mr. Potts, a Master of Arts, well practised in Chirurgerie and Physique, and expert also in distillinge of waters.” In 1623, Dr. John Potts, holder of a masters degree from Oxford University in England, prepared a poison to be served in wine to the Powhatan delegation to peace talks […]
Continuum… Our local once-a-year jazz project wrapped-up last night. When considering what the USA has given the world, you’ll usually hear things like Hollywood, rock & roll, cheeseburgers, or democracy. I’m not here to defend the merits or legitimacy of those claims. But jazz. As jazz legend Art Blakey once remarked “Jazz washes away […]
In the USA, skin color and phenotype (physical appearance) have been used for over 400 years as indicators of “race”. Even worse than this, “race” is then used as a proxy for “ethnicity”. But “White” is not an ethnicity. And “Black” is not an ethnicity. These “colors” are social caste categories which have become […]
Politics in the USA has been run under a two-party system over the past century. It is easy to forget that without combined state and corporate-funded violence and corporate media propaganda, the USA might still have a Socialist or Social Democratic Party. And no, we’re not talking about Communism or Soviet-style collectivism. We’re talking […]
This website and podcast has been busy this week preparing a new podcast episode while writing about J. D. Vance and his misrepresentation of his ethnic background. I thought enough had been said. But wait. What is this all about? In 2013, while both were attending the elite Yale Law School, J. D. Vance […]
The image shown is the family tree of J. D. Vance, Trump’s pick as GOP running mate in this November’s election. I’ll explain the funny little flag symbols at the end of this shortish piece… Aside from being Trump’s new poodle, J. D. Vance is the author of the notorious New York […]
Writing the day after a young man attempted to shoot Donald Trump in the head, one question comes to mind. Whither the USA? Do decent Americans appreciate the gravity of the current political situation? The rabble have a “blood martyr” now. The sheer power of Christian nationalist ideology to make people blind to any […]
They say there are only six basic building blocks or themes behind every story ever told. Some storytellers know this, others don’t. The ones who realise this usually try harder to bring something new or surprising to the table. When it’s done cleverly, like in the Coen Brothers retelling of a 2,500 year-old story […]
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