America's Silent Majority

(mods did not know where to put)

America's silent majority are the working class people who build everything and maintain everything in this country. They are the people who get up at 4-5 am every morning and go to the factories, get on their construction sites, go their cars shops and all the other blue collar average workingmans jobs and the average working man's life. By man I mean human and not just men, I know that probably killed a few people and injured a few others but deal with it.

These people are somewhat socially liberal, they may have their own prejudices even on some level in one way or another, some white guys may be racist, some black guys may hate white guys and the list goes on but for the most part they keep to themselves. These people believe it or not are mostly conservative in their values while still being somewhat socially liberal. They take care of their families, go to baseball games, BBQ and drink beer on the weekends, play golf, watch basketball, football, boxing and generally just live average American lives.

Now I know it may not seem like it if you spend to much time on the internet like I do, or watching CNN. In fact if you do one of those you might think social justice warrior super libs are taking over this country and turning it into one giant safe space but that just simply isn't true. See what most people don't get is that the people I'm talking about just want to go hunting with their sons, to the movies, whatever women do with their daughters and so on and so forth. The problem comes in now when that average person can no longer afford to pay for their kid to go to college, is struggling to pay the taxes on their house while the school their kid goes to get technology programs cut, while they can't get a lease on their new car because energy cost doubles, groceries went up 50% and the list goes on.

The public is really starting to feel the squeeze and people want change. That's the driving force behind this election cycle and I'm telling you right now that they don't want the same trend we've been going through to continue for the next 8 years and they want some change and if that change doesn't come there's going to be a lot of unrest in this country and I can feel it in my bones.

Well, I for one agree with you.

People seem to have forgotten that while it's not that "cool", it's ok and expected that the local mechanic might be a little racist... Or bigoted or whatever you want to call it.

And some point ideas and feelings wether expressed or not got to be considered as bad as actions ... There was a time when if the mechanic was racist you could just choose to go to the other guy... Or God forbid learn to do the work yourself.. Now a racist mechanic would probably get driven out of town due to social media and what not..


Off the mechanic tangent... Personally I'd rather people be themselves (good and band) and be family oriented than be on the internet all day parroting their favorite talking head..I read my Facebook feed and just figure most people must have boring lives with all the attention they give to things that are far from their immediate reality ... But whatever I'm just a dumb ghost driving now a borderline outdated meat suit..


a reply to: onequestion

a reply to: onequestion

I think what you are talking about is the downfall of Unions.

I know there are a lot of folks that liken Unions to everything from mafia bosses to lazy scum, but I tell you this.

The building trades unions, not private sector unions, are the ( i dont know the right word) indicator of our economy.

As more and more people demonize the unions, less people will be likely to A) join or even B) know it exists.

There are plenty of stats and graphs out there that show the union membership decline is on the negative side of ceo income.

I would go on but wife just got home.... go union or go home

Just pointing out that the silent majority is actually just a unspecified large group of people in a country who do not express their opinions publicly.

There an be several different silent majorities that hold different opinions, but they generally don't talk about their opinions.

a reply to: SteamyJeans

Yeah you got it.

The average people do all have small bias's but they keep to themselves, weather it's the mechanic down the street or the old black dude wearing his suit outside the local corner store who smiles and nods his head regardless of what he thinks.

That's the real America not the bs on tv and on the internet.

a reply to: onequestion

Just want to throw my two cents about one aspect of this thread...

I spend about 80% of my time at work on construction sites. Possibly because my sites are within one of the larger US cities, almost all the crews I work with are a mix of everything. Black, white, hispanic, etc. While it takes a little while for members of the crew to get to know each other, once there is a certain level of comfort..... the most hysterical jokes begin coming out. Yes, many, MANY of these jokes could be categorized as "racist" or "sexist" or some kind of -ist. However, and to me this is a very important point, these jokes are said with no real offense intended to the other members of the crew and the members that are on the receiving end understand that, laugh WITH everyone and give it right back. I can understand how people that aren't exposed to it on a regular basis may not understand it, but it is an absolute truth (at least in my experience).

I think that part of the reason this goes on is that when a person is working with other people who directly affect their safety, there is a certain bonding that goes on and the things that nowadays would be considered "micro aggressions" go out the window. (Actually, for people concerned about micro-aggressions, the jokes on many sites would be thermonuclear aggressions).

Along with being in the trenches in the general sense of safety, construction workers bust their rear ends all day long and when people work THAT hard together, they tend to play (joke) hard.

I want to just go a little bit further with this, if you will indulge me. Not only do I truly believe (KNOW) that these back and forth barbs have no ill will attached to them and are received as such, these guys are some of the LEAST racist people I have ever seen. They help anyone and everyone. People in the building trades know how to fix things and often know what it's like to be on the end of the stick where they need help. While of course there are certainly some scum bags among them, for the most part construction workers are some of the most sincere, honest and quite frankly, kindest people (as a group) that I've ever known.

One last point, I mentioned that 80% of my time is out on the site. Unfortunately, that leaves 20% of office work to process paperwork, close-out projects and all sorts of other "office stuff" that irritates me. To the point of my little rambling here though, out in the field, the guys are the guys and there are no holds barred and for the most part we ALL get along fantastically. In the office though.... where everyone is so uptight and scared to offend anyone else... the tension is horrible. I also suspect that the "sophisticated" directors, architects, engineers and the like have a lot more pent up race-related hate than the troops out in the field. In the field you can joke about things and get things off your chest. In the office.... it just seems to fester.

When it comes to race relations... the average white collar person can learn a hell of a lot from the average blue collar person.

That is all. Sorry if I drifted the tread a little off topic.

a reply to: eluryh22

I worked skilled trades for the last 17 years and each and every mechanic (no exceptions) could be fired for what some sensitive types may consider racist, sexist, terrorist or just general offensiveness remarks with in an hour of punching in. I don't know if the reason there are so many jokes is because the jobs you get assigned suck so bad. Some jobs suck so bad you get laughed at immediately after getting a real $#@% job. There is a reason you know your audience, and keep jokes in the shop.

Oh and the mouths on some of the guys were BAD, but what do you say after totally smashing your thumb with a 3 pound sledge?

But I disagree a little with the OP, the guys in the shop would be the first to tell you that every politician sucks. But being a gen-Xer there was very little in the real racism from any flavor of human my age. Older guys yep some different opinions. From my perspective they were stuck in some other world, and I walked when 2 crotchety old hens got together and started to cluck. Don't need any more negativity in my life, it's too short.

a reply to: seasonal

Oh i totally agree they would be the firs to tell you especially on a 1 on 1 basis but not in media or social media.

They will tell you face to face. I had a conversation about it with a guy at the shop today he pissed he cant afford to put his kid through a school that you cant get loans too and he makes too much money to qualify for any grants. It's for driving a truck, not a regular truck though like a huge dump truck i forget what it's called I'm tired.

a reply to: onequestion

Just an aside, the only and I mean only way things will change is when I can vote for the guy you just said can't get a grant.


OR

When we see that guy who can't get a grant in a demonstration (peaceful or other wise) with 500,000 others just like him. Cause if 500,000 of guys like him ain't at work guess what happens. No power, no trash pick up, no cops, no firemen, no trash pick up and no food. Collective UT-oh.

They need us more than we need them.

a reply to: seasonal

I do believe you and I are speaking the same language.

a reply to: seasonal

Oh dude its crazy they gave all the opportunities to the people who do nothing to earn it yet the families who pay all the taxes get nothing back out of the system

i promise you its going to hit a breaking point soon

a reply to: onequestion

Cold and hungry will be the breaking point.

And there are still 200,000,000+ fire arms out there, if there is a conspiracy to take over everything, someone skipped a kinda important step. Hold it is that part of the conspiracy?

Rabbit hole.

a reply to: seasonal

Oh no... they made sure gun culture was solidly ingrained deeply into our culture, the patriots of that era.

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: seasonal

Oh no... they made sure gun culture was solidly ingrained deeply into our culture, the patriots of that era.

Is that good or bad?

I see it as a positive but with any freedoms, it is imperative to have a strong (not necessarily religious) morals.

a reply to: seasonal

its good, regardless of weather or not terrorist or nutbags alike have guns or nut they find ways to kill people

just ask timothy McVeigh

a reply to: eluryh22
No. Tell me it aint so. People actually "get along" with each other ? You need to turn on TV and listen to the media. Or talk to your politicians. They paint a much different picture of life . (of course , they are not "exposed" to this thing called daily life)
End vicious , venom dripping , sarcasm,
Wish I could give a million stars for that one post.

a reply to: tinner07

Ive worked construction. Union guys dont do # and leave the jobsite at 2:45. Come back from lunch at 1.

I can't believe you, OP, nor the rest of you, aren't Democrats. I seriously don't get it. From what you wrote in your OP you sound like a Democrat.

Me and my neighbor friend here, as well as others, have gone round and round on this and I still don't know how to properly phrase this.

Our idea is that "you people" (rural and or in the S or SW US) just do not properly understand what the "true conservative" is. To put it simply: They're Fascists.

We're Hipsters here, we live on the W side of Chicago. Are we crazy weirdos? Well, you can decide. Why we are here is because we came from suburbia which is lock step conformity all the way. You will clone up to the borg or get right the hell away from there. They don't want you. They don't want anyone who isn't exactly like them.

These are the true conservatives. And their masters who have more money and control. And they don't want you. Hunting? Mechanics and such? If you accidentally mistyped that and meant Golfing and VP of Marketing, then you're OK. Otherwise you're garbage to them.

You're either Biff Football Star who's now a Corporate Stooge or Trixie Cheerleader who's now Soccer Mom or you are not one of them. LOCK STEP conformity.

You have a problem with being PC? You won't get along with these people then. Not only do they not like anything "other", you wear white after Labor day or you went to Purdue or drive a Ford and you may as well be Satan himself.

And these types probably do outnumber any of us. The suburbs of anywhere in the US contain a lot of people. And I've heard it's the same all over.

I (and plenty like me who I've discussed this with) all say the same thing and we are baffled by why rural, blue collar, and Southern US people would be Republican. I guess this is why they went after the religious and racist types, to get their numbers up.

These people are rotten assholes and liars and they do not like anyone who isn't exactly like them. THESE are the sheep which so many speak of.

I think you have to maybe experience it, or maybe you already have experienced it. I think you can see that some of this "anti PC" rhetoric is really just anger for some, over not being able to be racist or sexist. Which should go to show you that they really don't like many people. And are all about their rules and conformity. And if a gay person, or even a liberal person makes them mad - just remember - a lot of people make them mad.

I have some other thoughts, on "being PC" and sexism and those things.

First of all, some of the construction thoughts here are interesting. Myself and my friend here discuss this a lot, we both are thinking of becoming construction workers. We both studied mechanical engineering in school. And worked in that arena, as Corporate Stooges, and it sucked, VIVA NAFTA!, I went into the arts, friend went into business.

AND WE''RE BOTH GIRLS!

I always wanted to be an Architect and our idea is that we will get junk houses and work on them ourselves. She has two so far, I have one. We do not know anything about construction. She's more keen on this than I am, but I could see doing it. I do know how to read and draw construction plans. And also various maps and have some knowledge of environmental issues. She understands the biz end. We can both do grunt work, ripping stuff out, hauling garbage, painting, cleaning, things like this. We also both know most of the paperwork as I said. We are working on this.

Friend says that because she's close to 6 foot and 160 lbs, this is the same size as a medium sized guy so why shouldn't she be able to do this? Same for me, I'm the same size. If Mexicans can we can. We will have to get "pros" for the things we don't know, but there are books and DIY vids for that too.

So why shouldn't we do this? People are sexist and you'd likely not get a "regular job" at this. But if you own the property then you can.

She was sick too! Nearly died from a bad illness. That's how I met this girl, saw her staggering down the street here looking like a concentration camp victim.

Here's a good illustration of WHY you should be "PC" or at least have some manners: I thought that, if I would've said so, I might have offended her, because she is Jewish, so it's a good thing I didn't say that, right? Or else I might have missed out on a new friend.

Here is another thing, about people talking "jokes" and like that, and some are too sensitive. Ok, why we're looking at ATS at all is because I saw a thread about "Fathers Day" and neither one of us had a father. They split. And this is yet another issue with that Lock Step Conformist lifestyle I was speaking of, which I'll get back to.

But say you just wanted to "make a joke", people shouldn't "take it so seriously", how about something like this, speaking of construction: Do you know how copper wire was invented? It was two Jews fighting over a penny.

Groan. Yeah we've all heard that one. Well you repeat that and you might offend a Jewish person. And you might offend an Atheist who belongs to no religion, and has had to work hard for themselves, they didn't even have a family let alone a ton of money, don't you think that might rub them the wrong way?

It might lead to discrimination also. You think they have money. Or you may think they're some kind of shifty person looking to rook you.

You could say the same for me, I'm thinking sexism. As I mentioned, both of us studied engineering and we like cars. Wait, did someone say mechanics? I can take my Jag apart and put it back together, don't worry. You hear "women don't understand tech things" or "her husband bought her that" (both of which I have heard), not only does that diminish all the work you did do, and yes may be "hurtful", forget that - it also negates any skills you have and may translate into paying you less by others.

These type of thoughts, whether they are "jokes" or not, often translate into how people are treated.

Another thing I find interesting here, the various thoughts about "lazy construction workers". No wonder, for my neighbor here, two different construction biz's offered her a job. She's paranoid that they're "trying to hit on me". The one guy probably is. Otherwise they probably are impressed at what a hard worker she is. We live in 'fixer uppers' here and I get some of the same people for more complex repairs, they have complimented me as well.

Wow, are people so lazy? Another thing I've heard is that a lot of people are dirty. We clean when people are coming! Goes for phone techs and plumbers, anyone. And we move things out of the way and get everything ready, paper towels, garbage can near by, like that. My friend said, she had to get one of the construction guys to fix the toilet because it broke all of a sudden and she saw them down the street and ran to get them. She had everything ready and said that Mr. Boss Man (she gets him personally, yes, he likes her) was pretty much shocked that she had put a fan in there for him, because it was hot.

Well, speaking of simple courtesy....
Wouldn't anyone do that?

People seem shocked by such things. Or even people who work. Or even make a few gestures to help.

Anyway, back on PC and sexism, I'm not sure what I was going to say, I think it was on behalf of this friend, like "don't assume Jews have money" ok, something like that, goes for me too, don't assume I have a trust fund (there was a rumor here going around about me along those lines), or my parents have money, I work you know.

How do you think a person feels who was abandoned by their family? And then is called a Feminazi for just trying to work and survive? Two of us right here, and many more that we know of.

My other thoughts on that. Using myself as example and many people I know. Our parents were the Conformist Suburbanites, our mothers did not "pick crappy men", they had the education and jobs (and the women too, thankfully), and it was the men who pushed for this life. And then they left.

And this was after the so called "sex revolution" of the 60s and 70s, after that. My idea being that it was then easier or more accepted for people to choose an "alternative path", but these people did choose the traditional path. And then crapped out on it.

And guess who was left with the wreckage?

This is why too I believe Liberalism is the correct path. To PROVIDE these outlets! Let people be Gay! Or Mr. Party Guy or a hermit or drunkard or whatever they want to be.(Maybe a Mechanic who wants to take his son hunting too.) When you FORCE people into LOCK STEP CONFORMITY - that's not for everyone and the ones who can't hack it are going to leave DISASTER in their wake. Including innocent people who didn't ask for the mess.

Also remember, and my biz educated friend told me this and others too and it's obvious: Those looking to put you into the lock step conformist lifestyle - that's for them, not you. It's to keep you controlled and so they can make money off of you. And they get plenty of fearful takers, those who think that if they can make their lives resemble Pinterest somehow things will work. A lot of it is based off of fear.

Just remember: Those who attempt to clone up and then see it too late, and or get sick of their wife and kids - guess who's left with the mess. Better that it should be OK for people to "opt out" to begin with, I think.

a reply to: lightedhype

you are blowing smoke out your ass too.

Ive worked construction. Union guys dont do # and leave the jobsite at 2:45. Come back from lunch at 1.

You worked construction? oh really where and for how long? What was your trade? Summer help but it was to hard for you? Mommy called in for ya?