Why is my father-in law an asshole?

Over the holidays, I was rousted from sleep by a loud exchange in my kitchen. Sis-in-law, who has dated an actual black guy, was apparently attempting a discussion involving openness in human society. Pops wouldn't have it. He sees black people on TV, and despite the black neighbor he knows and basically likes he's sure black culture is the problem.

Now, I'm no black guy. I have a dusty but genuine Arkansas Ave. ghetto pass, I dated black girls at a frequency roughly mirroring demographics, and I can make fun of you very well. I think I’m in a better position to report on ‘Black Culture’ than most of us out here with no claim to it. I grew up in Wilmington, DE, in Claymont and then near Edgemoor. There were race problems, but it was the perception of race problems that gave the problem a body. Then (1970s), there, white people found themselves at the bottom, for the first time forced into contact with the Black people. "Who the hell let them in here?"

Remember, it was in the 1950’s that Black Americans were given the right to be seen in public. The co-incidence of wild economic disparity with the arrival of an essentially new ethnic minority implies linkage in newspapers and television, which ignore socioeconomics. Strip away insinuated status, and people see themselves busting their ass and resent the influx of others chasing the same precious paycheck, devalue the other’s contribution. America has attracted people from all nations, and has hosted plenty of racism and ethnic tension. But this father-in-law’s brand is the beer-hall variety, the dishonest cry of a chronically disgruntled working class. There is no outside object, no external cause for their lament. Hell- this guy doesn’t even have to go to work anymore! He just didn’t mature, never gained the personal confidence to meet difference with serenity. He still thinks the Sharks are going to come to his neighborhood and woo the chicks (and I think he thinks he’s a Jet!).

I’m fascinated that the short period of time that brought us birth control and sexually transmitted disease, sent many to Viet nam (sent this guy to friggin’ Greenland!?!?!?!) and a few to the moon liberated only a retarded xenophobia among some blue collar types, and that so much of our culture is frozen in that period. A guy my age recently cited Hanoi Jane as a good reason to vote for George the Lesser. WTF?

My son's grandfather isn't a racist, he's lazy- more of a bigot. He's another boomer, raised with the daydream of silver spoons, rudely awakened to the truth of life in Capitalism by the 1970s economy. He and the majority of his cohort stopped believing in idealism or hope and started bitching about the bounty. Blacks, Mexicans, Jews, everybody is a problem because he never outgrew his infantile vanity to see the other people standing near him in the mirror too.

Again, he's not a racist. He's a colicky baby. He's got discomfort with the facts of his world, and he complains. He doesn't do anything to alleviate the discomfort, which is important- because he can't do anything about it, can’t even narrow his irks down to a single problem. He's confused and dummed by too much television and not enough life, and like many gravitates to other bitchy people professing common sense. Black culture is the problem. Social liberalism is the problem. The fat cats are the problem. But the fat cats aren’t pawing his daughter, so let’s look a little deeper into the blackness.

African American as an ethnic group is a minority in this country. Very few of them gain the attention of the popular media. Those people are interesting to Wall Street, to Ted Turner but not to Jane Fonda, because they are interesting to CONSUMERS who are interesting to WALL STREET. To delude himself into thinking (he's not actively deluding OR thinking, just parroting teenage angst) he understands black culture from his lengthy excursions into television programming is a thought crime. He doesn't trust the media, but uses it in place of perspective. Instead of looking and talking and assimilating into American society, he waits in his storage facility for the news to come to him. He has come to the conclusion that the people of Blackdom are drugged up gangsta thugs with no jobs, no ambition, and no respect for the American way of life. Of course, the reinforcement of that opinion is a contortion: the Rappers and comics and talk show hosts and obnoxious athletes in his complaints do have jobs, ambition, and exhibit perfectly the American way of life, if crass.

Having an opinion about Blacks, Asians, Eskimos is fine. Embracing the idea that the media is a lie, basing your life on being discomforted by change, and then slavishly attending to every dot and dash broadcast from Wall Street makes people stupid, and people who stupidize themselves are assholes. Internal inconsistency is neurosis. A reflective, critical mind wouldn't tolerate the hunger for disinformation and the mistrust of it, certainly ought to shut up with the baby complaints with no possible resolution and turn off the fucking television.

If what you want can't exist, then pick something else. Your lot in life isn't the blacks' fault. It’s life and it’s pretty good here. The Capitalists, stock brokers and speculators are the people with a stake in your opinion, and they hold a little more leverage over your satisfaction in life than TO. Would we know anything about Owens’ bad classless behaviour without the banks financing the stadiums, the manufacturers sponsoring the halftime shows, the media broadcasting his name? I called him an asshole, in front of our whole family, and I did it pretty loud. I felt bad that it wasn't in context, but now it is and I feel better.

For a scholarly treatment of the above topic, please read What’s the Matter with Kansas? By Thomas Frank.