Hope this is clear enough and make the nuances of what I want to say appearant because making indepth analysis is not easy when you have to struggle with the language at the same time.
Very clear - thank you. I admire you ability to do this in another language. Also envy it. ;-)
In writing my posts - I try to remember the language differences. Even between Americans there are problems. For example - an older guy in Arizona thought "hipster" meant "1960s hippie", no, it translates in modern times as young 20-30 something, upwardly mobile, artist or professional, often someone who follows a popular trend. (trend-setters). But this is largely determined through context.
I use a lot of slang in my posting, because I prefer the casual conversational voice - since I use the more formal voice or syntax at work. But I'm guessing the down-side of using a conversational tone - is mis-communication.
Already we have the white drug dealers. Where do these kids come from? What's their story? Is their situtation so much better than this of the projects kids? Perhaps for now - one of them is reminded he is not black and obviously they are mimicking the drug culture of the projects - but what about their own kids? What does it tell us that their models come from criminal organizations? The show doesn't answer, but opens -I think- all these questions.
Agreed. This is something I've been arguing for a long time now - with people offline. That the problem isn't racism, but classism. Racism is of course one of the symptoms. But what is happening, and you see it in the Wire - which aired between 2003-2006 at the height of the Bush era - is the beginnings of the class divide or economic gap between two groups. By the time we reached 2011, approximately 4-5% of the US population has the wealth. The middle class such as it is - is slowly disappearing. Frank, McNulty, Beadie Russell, Nick, all of these people came from that middle class. But they are slowly being marginalized.
As the middle class disappears, and formerly white collar workers find themselves in low paying blue collar jobs or worse homeless, the economy dives. Because your main consumer is the middle class. They buy the majority of your products. Also the products they buy change. Items that are popular in a depressed economy tend to be ones that provide cheap thrills or instant escape. Studies have been done that show chocolate bar sales and alcohol and cigarette sales go up during a depression. Marginalizing the middle class results in a depressed economy and eventually crime and violence.
The laid-off or depressed white workers, who used to be able to become successful - become resentful of those who take their jobs. Nick hates people like Stringer Bell (for example). The racism and xenophobia that erupts is often a side-effect of that depressed economy or a better word, is that it doesn't so much erupt and become more pronounced.
And we have become a materialistic and consumer driven society - placing personal value on material acquisition. You are successful if you have not one but two places of residence - the beach home and the city home or the city home and the country home. You own real estate. You own not one but two expensive cars. You have the big-screen tv. Etc. This results in a reaction by those who cannot afford these things...and as the gap between the working class and the rich gets wider, and the middle class dissolves...society becomes increasingly more violent and you see a broader criminal element and far more corruption.
If permitted to go on for too long with one group, the majority, feeling increasingly like the slaves of another group - the rich leisure class - War erupts, either civil or worse. Examples: The French and Russian Revolutions. Even the American Revolution to a degree, although the American Civil War is a better example - that was a direct result of the Industrial Revolution. OR as Karl Marx would state - the rise of the proletariat. The last time this happened - in the 1930s - we ended up with a rise in fascism. We see that happening again now in the US and Europe...with the Tea Party in the US. The Wire is doing a great job of depicting how this comes about and why.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 02:19 pm (UTC)Very clear - thank you. I admire you ability to do this in another language. Also envy it. ;-)
In writing my posts - I try to remember the language differences. Even between Americans there are problems. For example - an older guy in Arizona thought "hipster" meant "1960s hippie", no, it translates in modern times as young 20-30 something, upwardly mobile, artist or professional, often someone who follows a popular trend. (trend-setters). But this is largely determined through context.
I use a lot of slang in my posting, because I prefer the casual conversational voice - since I use the more formal voice or syntax at work. But I'm guessing the down-side of using a conversational tone - is mis-communication.
Already we have the white drug dealers. Where do these kids come from? What's their story? Is their situtation so much better than this of the projects kids? Perhaps for now - one of them is reminded he is not black and obviously they are mimicking the drug culture of the projects - but what about their own kids? What does it tell us that their models come from criminal organizations? The show doesn't answer, but opens -I think- all these questions.
Agreed. This is something I've been arguing for a long time now - with people offline. That the problem isn't racism, but classism.
Racism is of course one of the symptoms. But what is happening, and you see it in the Wire - which aired between 2003-2006 at the height of the Bush era - is the beginnings of the class divide or economic gap between two groups. By the time we reached 2011, approximately 4-5% of the US population has the wealth. The middle class such as it is - is slowly disappearing. Frank, McNulty, Beadie Russell, Nick, all of these people came from that middle class. But they are slowly being marginalized.
As the middle class disappears, and formerly white collar workers find themselves in low paying blue collar jobs or worse homeless,
the economy dives. Because your main consumer is the middle class.
They buy the majority of your products. Also the products they buy change. Items that are popular in a depressed economy tend to be ones that provide cheap thrills or instant escape. Studies have been done that show chocolate bar sales and alcohol and cigarette sales go up during a depression. Marginalizing the middle class results in a depressed economy and eventually crime and violence.
The laid-off or depressed white workers, who used to be able to become successful - become resentful of those who take their jobs.
Nick hates people like Stringer Bell (for example). The racism and xenophobia that erupts is often a side-effect of that depressed economy or a better word, is that it doesn't so much erupt and become more pronounced.
And we have become a materialistic and consumer driven society - placing personal value on material acquisition. You are successful if you have not one but two places of residence - the beach home and the city home or the city home and the country home. You own real estate. You own not one but two expensive cars. You have the big-screen tv. Etc. This results in a reaction by those who cannot afford these things...and as the gap between the working class and the rich gets wider, and the middle class dissolves...society becomes increasingly more violent and you see a broader criminal element and far more corruption.
If permitted to go on for too long with one group, the majority, feeling increasingly like the slaves of another group - the rich leisure class - War erupts, either civil or worse. Examples: The French and Russian Revolutions. Even the American Revolution to a degree, although the American Civil War is a better example - that was a direct result of the Industrial Revolution. OR as Karl Marx would state - the rise of the proletariat. The last time this happened - in the 1930s - we ended up with a rise in fascism. We see
that happening again now in the US and Europe...with the Tea Party in the US. The Wire is doing a great job of depicting how this comes about and why.