The Angry White Male, revisited

[senseandsensibility]

I know some here at DU feel that the "angry white male" is a myth, invented by the corporate media, or a stereotype that is unfair to males. I don't. I am perfectly aware that not all males are angry, conservative mentally challenged jerks. But some are. And they vote for repukes.

I have almost no contact with this type of individual, since I can see them coming a mile a way and steer clear. But recently, I have encountered two of them in business/work situations. They are TRULY angry. They are on the edge angry. Their voices shake. They are distainful of me because I am a woman and they have to deal with me in a business situation and can't just tell me what to do. Their rage is barely under the surface, and boils over occasionally, but stops short of violence. They sneer and pout. But most of all, they feel that they have been WRONGED, and someone else is to blame.

I forgot about this type. I have arranged my life so that they no longer affect me. But they're still out there. And instead of blaming * for their economic problems, or themselves for their personal problems, they blame us. Scary, isn't it? Oh, and yes, I know they are not all white.

[_testify_]

1. I am an angry white male.

But the difference is I'm angry about the same things you are.

[senseandsensibility]

2. Great!

Peace.:)

[cantstandbush]

37. I bet you anything they are angry about the same things you are angry

about but just won't say so. They know that they have been sucker punched by the RW conservatives and the Republicans that they voted for. They just can't bring themselves to admit it. They hate us but they hate being duped and played like a fiddle more.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. You described them perfectly.

I have a brother in law that blames all things democratic for his failure to be grossly successful. Granted, he did everything right. He has a PhD, even if it is from one of the lesser known colleges, but he sat and bitched and moaned about Affirmative Action jeopardizing his job for decades, and his son and daughters heard it so now they too are poisoned.

Each time we visited, he would talk about fearing he was about to get canned because of AA. He put his kids through parochial school, which was not a big deal because his wife was a teacher there, so tuition was very low. But I got to see a transformation happen in 17 years. The wife was a good Christian Catholic who associated with the poor and downtrodden, but in the period that passed, she soon learned to blame everyone who came to America who expected to jump on the welfare dole, and that was everybody who was dark, btw. They didn't want to pay a penny to put anyone's kids through public school and it was just a constant hatefest conversation with anybody who was a member of a minority.

Then, during the Bush years, the right-wing Christian rightest sister in law got to them. I think she's evangelical, but she generally hated that side of the family because they were too liberal, white trash to her. However, in the Bush years, that all changed. Suddenly, the too liberal, Catholic white trash side of the family and the right-wing Christian nut found common ground. It was obvious that they didn't care for me the way their voices were lowered when I walked in the room, and their kids were absolute crap about hiding their feelings. I finally cut them all out when the right-wing Christian nutter thought she had enough power to denigrate my children.

But, I have seen them find their karma. The story, if written, would be tragic indeed the way these people's hate and fears were used to bring down this country and everything they loved.

[senseandsensibility]

6. I'm sorry that this has divided your family

I can relate. I suppose that tragic is the only word to describe it. Misguided anger has done so much damage to our country.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. We angry white guys aint all bad

Here are some you may like. We had a rally in San Francisco a few years ago. I still have the t-shirt.
http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/rocka.html

[senseandsensibility]

9. Now that's my kind of angry white male!

Great story. I hope everyone clicks onto it. I'm married to exactly that kind of AWM, so I know that they exist, thank God.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. I don't know what color or gender they are

but the shitheads driving those monster trucks with the oversized tires and the calvin peeing on (fill in the blank) stickers seem awfully pissed off.

[senseandsensibility]

8. Not to mention dangerous!

;( And maybe a little deranged.

[Yavin4]

7. Ask Your "Angry White Males" A Question

With conservatives running the government, Fox News, and right wing radio, why are they so angry? They control the presidency, the Congress, and the courts, so who is making their lives so miserable that they have to walk around angry all of the time? What Liberal or Liberals have any power in this country?

[Binka]

11. Shitty Narcissist Can't Control Themselves

They are just angry little fucks.

[LizMoonstar]

19. it's our secret conspiracy! we control everything by being powerless!

[atommom]

21. And we pull all the strings by letting the Repubs have control

of the White House, Congress, the media, and the business community. Oh, we're tricky little devils. :evilgrin:

[treestar]

23. Good point. I think they demand 100% agreement, as long as

there is one person on earth not following their complete party line they will complain.

[undergroundpanther]

10. bully personality

They think the world OWES them. The Alpha narcissist,

Is this the person you discribe?

http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/serial.htm

[Binka]

13. I Just Read Your Mind

[senseandsensibility]

14. Yes

eom

[atommom]

22. That's an excellent website, and I recognise a lot of those qualities

in people I know (or knew). These people are chilling.

sometimes displays a seemingly limitless demonic energy...

[Ksec]

12. Well, Im a Lib and Im mad as Hell

And Im not gonna take it anymore.

Which one of you heemen want some of this?

15. some women are "scapegoats" for things changing

and feeling out of control to these guys. Also when people are used to getting things their way, and then it changes, they react from an emotional place, even if it doesn't stand the test of reason (like the Sunnis). However throughout the millenia, any person who was true to themselves and acted contrary to society, had to fight this kind of treatment, so it is nothing new.

[deminks]

16. All you have to do is turn on Imus every morning.

Or Limpballs, or Faux. They are there. They are legion. They hate. They are afraid. They are self-loathing. They have no hope. They have no soul. They are evil. They are sociopathic.

[senseandsensibility]

17. I agree, but I haven't listened to those shows in years

It's jarring when you avoid angry white males on TV, radio, and in real life for a long time. Then you experience it again, and it's like a thumderbolt. Oh yeah...that's what they're like... and they're STILL like that. The idea that they haven't learned anything from the * years is telling.

[bloom]

29. It's got to be part of the propaganda

MSNBC didn't want a reasonably angry Phil Donohue on - No - he's not angy about the "right" things. It's got to be men who are angy because supposedly they (white men) are victims (of people other than other white men). We couldn't have people on TV who are angry about what white men are doing to the rest of us.

The sad thing to me is - that there are "angry white men" on "both" sides - like Larry Flynt. I don't see him as representative of the left, myself - but some people do. Anger can be whipped up against others through racist and sexist cartoons - just like it can through other means. And Flynt doesn't seem to have a problem with treating women like complete crap.

Robert Jensen and Stan Goff are other white men (in addition to Donohue) who get angry about things other than how white men are supposedly victimized. So it's not like they are all idiots - but the idiots sure get a lot of attention - which creates more idiots. All the better to continue wars and such. At least that's how it looks from here.

[jus_the_facts]

18. Yep...tried tellin' my fundie uncle who'd lost so much buisness after 2000

....his construction co. was almost bankrupt and would be bankrupt NOW if Katrina hadn't decimated south La....that his idol *ush was the cause of all his troubles as his buisness boomed in the 90's...told him about Carlyle and he said they were a MYTH...there is no reasoning or logic with these types and I'm still considered the *crazy liberal* of my entire family even when the evidence is as crystal clear as can be. :nopity:

[porphyrian]

20. Florida's awash in these fuckers. - n/t

[MrPrax]

24. Hate to be a killjoy...

BUT--this is a really dishonest observation or whatever...

1) You tell us that other people don't believe this 'angry white male' complex, but you never really explain it, other than 'angry, conservative mentally challenged jerks'...that doesn't really dispel the doubt.

You then go on to:

2) explain the 'state' in the entire second paragraph, as you say, 'this type of individual'.

But then describe a 'state' of 'angry' that could be descriptive of anyone including women, men, white, Asian, African-American, Gay or Straight...a lot of people CAN be "on the edge angry"..."voices shake".."rage is barely under the surface"..."sneer and pout"?

3) "But most of all, they feel that they have been WRONGED, and someone else is to blame." don't want to be rude, but...how the fuck do you know?

You read minds?, you have a case profiles?--why the judgement call? What evidence are you putting forward that they are 'distainful' of you as a woman? Maybe your a shitty worker? Maybe be the things that they "can't just tell me what to do" are things you should be doing and that is the source of their treatment of you...

How do we know?

Could be some people have ever right to be angry in their personal and ESPECIALLY work lives?

But let's face it--you simply wanted to post the term 'angry white male' with derogatory intent.

[Heddi]

25. pot..meet kettle

Strange how you ask if the OP was a mind reader, had case profiles, etc....then go right ahead and make the same comments about her that you critized her for making about her coworkers


But let's face it--you simply wanted to post the term 'angry white male' with derogatory intent.


how do YOU know this? Do you read minds? You have her case profile? Why the judgement call? What evidence are YOU putting forward that she "simply wanted to post the term 'angry white male' with derogatory intent?"

[MrPrax]

33. I summized it...

Since what is written doesn't hold water or even discussed in any specifics, I then assume that the point was simply to post the term and don fireproofing.

The writer is obviously angry and indeed one of the best things about the internet are chatrooms, where people can solicit feedback to a particular problem they are having--it's a great place to go for advice.

But it seems a little disingenious for somebody who seems as angry as the people they criticize to not offer something constructive, so that others, with similar work-related problems, might lend assistance.

Dealing with shitheads at work is not the exception and many many times 'angry' lies deep for reasons that have little to do with gender, sex, race, orientation, religion, etc.

My two cents...

[seabeyond]

26. i am still reeling from my angry white brother tirade, he used abused

white male. literally. i know this is who he is, so i pretty much handle conversation so we dont go there. but today, an hour of good conversation and all is well, talking about increase in homeless and his desire to get huge building make individual rooms for men who are poor, distitute and help, yea i say.... good for you. i told him my dream, helping women preg and a while after they have babies, teach them parenting, budgeting, being responsible. he got so mad. went into such a rage. that i would help those women that spread their legs and allow a man to invade. how dare i help them. no one helps the white male..... no one

my brother, an alcoholic and raising his two boys is working for my father and gets a wage. my father pays all his bills, bought him a big 3 bedroom trailer, and has bought him his vehicles and pays the insurance. i found out today he is getting free lunches and breakfast from the school for his boys

my brother went off so hard, yelling about who i am, all my ills, all my faults, how dare i want to help female, that i would exclude male.... well when men have babies..... i say

he yelled and pointed and stood over me, cussed as my children walked in and out

and it was all my fault.

yup

still breathing to come back to peace..... from the angry, picked upon, white male

[senseandsensibility]

28. I'm sorry that you had to go through that

It's painful when it's your own relatives, isn't it? There' nothing I can say. I wish there was.:hug:

[Cerebral_Assassin]

27. The Angry White Male Myth.

Well, one day, maybe a white male will get elected president and their troubles will be over. Oh wait a minute.....

[senseandsensibility]

30. LOL

We could say that to them, but then again, they don't "get" irony, do they?

[Cerebral_Assassin]

32. LOL

We could say that to them, but that would involve conversing them, which would involve an exchange of dialogue, which, since they are not capable of exchanging dialogue like grown folks are, they will simply resort to a chorus of "FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAAAAD!!" (Yes, Virginia, there are books like Animal Farm in Mississippi!) which is something that just gives me indigestion. It's much easier on the stomach, and a lot more fun, to just give them indigestion. Here are some suggestions:

gaze longingly at a Picture of Hillary Clinton

say something like, "don't worry guys, things will be much easier for you when the women take over and the men are kept in an underground facility for breeding purposes."

AWM are also very homophobic. So...

tell them that gay marriage will soon be mandatory company policy, and all employees must be married to someone of the same sex by the end of the month or a partner will be selected for them.

Since March Madness is upon us, say, "So you're going home to watch a bunch of young athletic men in shorts and sleeveless shirts all out on the floor together at something called The Big Dance?"

have fun!

[newyawker99]

35. Hi Cerebral_Assassin!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[hfojvt]

31. how many instances does it take to "prove" the myth?

Say that 5% of white males fit this stereotype of the AWM. Does that justify using it as a broad-brush smear against white men? The whole idea behind the AWM myth is that a large percentage of white men fit that stereotype or that a majority of Republican voters do.

Would the same thing be tolerated on DU if I started a thread called "the lazy black worker" followed by "some people think that is a racist myth and I usually avoid them ...." The fact that my two black co-workers are painfully poor workers and trouble-makers certainly does not justify propagating a generalized slur.

But I am expecting a lock.

[SmokingJacket]

34. I read their LTTEs every day.

They ARE angry.

They thought they would MAKE IT in America. But since they didn't, they have to blame someone.

[Burning Water]

36. Sure, some white males are

angry. So are some non-white males, and females of both persuasions.

The most evil, back-stabbing bitch I ever knew was an Asian woman, who, thank God, I now longer have to associate with in any manner. But the second most evil person was a white male who extraordinarily un-angry and laid back.. He just liked stirring up shit for other people.

Both, by the way, voted Democratic, and were great Bill Clinton fans. If I personalized politics, it would have been enough to cause me to vote R forever. Fortunately, I don't.

But a person's political affiliation is no guarantee of her personal character.