The Demonization of Americans and Right Wing Radio

I recently read a post on the Facebook page of someone very dear to me. The gist of the post was that we should ashamed as Americans because, while we are aiding Haiti, we are not aiding those in our own country needing help the most. I must admit that I agree with some of that statement. No, I am not ashamed that we are helping Haiti. What that country went through was a tragedy on an epic scale. For 45 seconds the earth shook and virtually an entire country collapsed to the ground. America could not, would not turn its back and for that I am proud to be an American.

The part of the Facebook post that I agree with is that we, America that is, should be ashamed that we do not take care of our own. Of course the next question that I have to process is, why?
To me that is an easy one. Here I am to offer my own opinion.

The tragedy in Haiti is easy for us to process. It is on television, we see the human suffering and we reach out to help. Also, they are not citizens of the United States, where we are taught from the earliest of ages that we offer every opportunity for success. We hardly speak of the underclass in this country because it does not fit the narrative that we have bestowed upon ourselves. This allows us to open our eyes a bit and to realize that the people of Haiti need us to help and that we can do this without puncturing the myth the universal American opportunity.

It is the simple need to protect the image we believe to be true that anyone, who is a citizen of this country, who has been left behind, fallen through the economic or social cracks has so because of some failing within them and not the system that was not there to catch them. Some are, to be fair, victims of their own inaction or worse, their own destructive nature. Yet, many of them are people not in their underclass by their own choosing but are there via situations that they may not of been able to control. We do not actively choose to assist persons worthy of a hand up because the political climate today calls for these people to be demonized.

The underclass are filled with crack mothers and welfare cheats! We lump everyone into categories such as these instead of looking at the individual suffering their own personal tragedy. To be sure, there are crack mothers and welfare cheats in the world yet, not everyone of them reside in the almost permanent underclass and not everyone in that underclass can be identified by either moniker. Yet, we are informed all of the time that this is who they are. We hear how they are robbing us blind and that our tax dollars are supporting those who deserve no support. No wonder we do not help fellow citizens who need our help the most. We vilify them and make them unworthy.

The next time someone laments about how we do not help people in our own country ask them if they listen to the likes of Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh or Micheal Savage. Do they listen to or like anyone of the names listed here? Ask them to reconcile their choice of radio talk with their angst about not helping Americans in need. I will bet that they cannot.