Name-Calling From the Left Doesn't Help
I like Jim Horn’s wit, and his empathy for students and teachers certainly come from a good heart. But when he resorts to the same kind of shock jock name calling of his pet bogeymen, (e.g., Beck and Limbaugh, et al) he insults and potentially turns off many of the same regular folk who we need on our side in the fight against the corporatization of the public sector.
Today he justifiably went after Indiana’s Mitch Daniels, but unjustifiably attacked its poor white rural residents as “hate-filled Indiana hillbillies who get lathered up daily watching Fox and listening to Clear Channel.” Certainly we should be concerned about the near monopoly on public opinion held by right-wing media, but it is overly simplistic to blame them for Americans’ misdirected anger. If our unions were doing their jobs, people would be much better organized and educated about working class issues. They’d have a sense of solidarity and, instead of only 9% of the workforce being unionized, virtually all workers would be members of unions and willing to fight