The regressive worldview on poverty

See this Randi Rhodes blog post. Representative Ryan just can't help himself. He's hooked line and sinker to a regressive worldview that cannot see past its ideology. Hence now he's making blatant racist remarks about poor inner city black men, that they are raised in a culture averse to work and likely never will. Thing it, most of US poverty is in rural areas, and most of those poor are white. Randi cites articles with the stats; she's really good at that. Also see the section on Ryan on her homework page.


What's worse, Ryan is using Charles Murray as a source to support his thesis. Murray is the guy that wrote The Bell Curve, which states outright that the reason black men are poor is due to racial inferiority. Yes, being born into poverty with poor nutrition and education will certainly affect one to have a lower mental capacity and interfere with healthy social adjustment, white or black. But born that way due to racial inferiority?

This is what Ryan cites? And manipulating it so that the poor whites resent and blame the poor blacks for their poverty?  I'd like to believe that Ryan and his regressive comrades don't believe this stuff and intentionally manipulate their ignorant base with this sort of spin. But I think manipulators like Ryan, and his intended audience, cannot even see the racism inherent to their worldview with this sort of framing.