Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North Of Richmond
youtu.be
When I first came across Oliver Anthony and his music, I was blown away to say the least. He had a whole collection of songs that I could listen to for hour...

This is blowing up on YouTube right now. Probably because of how true it is.

  • couragethebravedog@lemmy.mlOP
    211·
    11 months ago

    I’m pretty sure he’s not hating on welfare as a whole, just people who are using it who don’t need it. I know a handful of people who under report earnings just so they can get food stamps and take advantage of other government programs.

    • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      191·
      11 months ago

      I know a handful of people who under report earnings just so they can get food stamps and take advantage of other government programs.

      Good for them. Get that bag.

      • couragethebravedog@lemmy.mlOP
        28·
        11 months ago

        I was trying to figure out why you were such a POS, then I noticed you’re from hexabear. Just gonna block you real quick.

        • Hexagons [e/em/eir]@hexbear.netEnglish
          171·
          11 months ago

          He’s right though, the song is basically saying “life is hard for conservative cishet white men because of the got dang politicians taxing us”, and that’s a fundamentally reactionary view of the world.

          If you want recommendations for good, actually working class country songs, might I recommend Woodie Guthrie? Or Peggy Seeger? They’re a little more on the folk side, but they’re really good.

          • couragethebravedog@lemmy.mlOP
            24·
            11 months ago

            I lean about as far left as you can go and the song resonates with me. I thought the song was a little deeper, talking about how the rich men (I’m assuming politicians) aren’t looking out for people. I feel like saying the song is only about taxes is taking a lot away from it. He talks on important issues like homelessness, male suicide rates, and that no one pays a living wage.

            • betelgeuse [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
              12·
              11 months ago

              I don’t know why other people are giving you a hard time. I’m about as far left as you can go as well. This is absolutely a far-left song. This is the kind of thing Mao would have played when liquidating landlords or Stalin would have used as a soundtrack to confiscating Kulak farms.

              This is probably the anthem of the far left and I’m glad you, as a fellow far leftist, enjoy it.

            • purahna@lemmygrad.ml
              11·
              11 months ago

              I’m pretty sure he’s not hating on welfare as a whole, just people who are using it who don’t need it

              I lean about as far left as you can go

              you know there are people who think everyone should have welfare, right? And that they’re dramatically to the left of you?

              • couragethebravedog@lemmy.mlOP
                21·
                11 months ago

                Oh yes, I’m a major supporter of UBI.

                Edit: I’m not hating on people who use welfare, earlier I just stated what I thought he meant in his song by the phrase “milking welfare” to mean people who do not currently need it, using it.

                  • couragethebravedog@lemmy.mlOP
                    3·
                    11 months ago

                    No, not because his ideas and beliefs don’t align with mine. In fact a lot of what I have seen does fall in line with mine, but because I haven’t actually read up on most of his ideas in detail, I’ve just casually heard about them.

                    Edit: lmao I thought you meant Andrew Yang before I googled that term

            • Hexagons [e/em/eir]@hexbear.netEnglish
              9·
              11 months ago

              As far left as you can go, huh? I’d suggest trying to push that envelope a little bit. Instead of being disappointed/mad/sad that rich people aren’t looking out for other people, try asking why rich people exist in the first place? Where did their wealth come from? And should they be allowed to keep it?

    • purahna@lemmygrad.ml
      4·
      11 months ago

      Consider this perspective: People work for seven, ten, fifteen dollars an hour. The companies they work for - Walmart, Kroger, Amazon, McDonalds - have a bottom line that amounts to hundreds of dollars per employee hour. Welfare is paid for by taxes that everyone pays (except corporations, who have the lowest tax rates of any entity, including the poor) and inflates the effective income of these low wage folks to maybe twenty an hour.

      Through this lens, welfare transfers income from middle and lower class people to only lower class people to keep them barely floating above destitution, while most of the actual profits that the working classes produce with their labor go into corporate coffers, upper class stock holders, and executive’s pockets. Welfare is a corporate bailout because it means corporations can pay less to workers and the difference is made up for by the working class.

      When we think like this, there are 2 very natural conclusions:

      1. Anything that anyone can get through welfare is legitimate, because anyone eligible for it is so screwed over by corporations that they deserve whatever they can get
      2. Welfare as a system is built to favor the rich, and ultimately needs to be replaced by a system that favors the poor and funds the necessities of everyone from those who have benefitted the most from everyone else’s work (corporations and the wealthy)