An eerily accurate prediction of working-class MAGA from nearly 60 years ago
>America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain't no disgrace to be poor, but might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'If you're so smart, why ain't You rich? ' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child's hand-glued to a lollipop stick and, flying from the cash register.
>Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times.
>Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.
~ Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five (1969)
I'm no historian or sociologist, so take my analysis as pure speculation. I don't think he actually predicted the MAGA movement. He was very astute, however, in observing his contemporary society, and verbalizing what he saw. The trend he described, the propensity of the working class to self-loathing, was very prevalent in the 1960s. Since then, however, there has been a split. Between those willing to educate themselves and strive for better life, and those who would willfully stay blind to any kind of progress. The latter worship the Epstein class, and I think Vonnegut did a very good job explaining why.
The lesson of this story? Understand the enemies of progress and push directly against their beliefs. Love yourselves. Perhaps create a mythology of virtuous poor individuals who prevail against the odds. Keep on learning and teaching, and ignore mechanisms that are actively preventing people from leaning, such as AI slop, social media algorithms and doomscrolling. Actually, stop reading now, turn off your screen and go to the local library.