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Selective Compassion and the Pathologies of Inequality
"We believe in second chances and second opportunities,"
declared the senior vice president for marketing from the Cleveland
Cavaliers. This pronouncement
accompanied the offer of an announcing job to Ted Williams, the homeless man
whose "golden" voice and impoverished visage went viral on a YouTube
video. Beyond his elevation by the
media to visible and viable economic status, Williams became a clear example of
the selective compassion of both corporate America and its consuming public.
Jan 07, 2011
"We believe in second chances and second opportunities,"
declared the senior vice president for marketing from the Cleveland
Cavaliers. This pronouncement
accompanied the offer of an announcing job to Ted Williams, the homeless man
whose "golden" voice and impoverished visage went viral on a YouTube
video. Beyond his elevation by the
media to visible and viable economic status, Williams became a clear example of
the selective compassion of both corporate America and its consuming public.
More than 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded
us that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not
haphazard and superficial. It
comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." What
is this edifice that generates the millions of homeless that populate our
cities? Why has poverty now grown
to an unprecedented modern level of almost 50 million, exceeding even the
statistics and reality of what Dr. King observed in the 1960's?
Clearly, the inequality deeply embedded into the variety of
contemporary capitalism practiced in the United States is the source for this
continuing and growing rate of poverty. As noted by the recently passed social
critic, Tony Judt, in his essential text, Ill
Fares the Land: "Inequality, then, is not just unattractive in itself; it
clearly corresponds to pathological social problems that we cannot hope to
address unless we attend to their underlying cause." Yet, we remain, to a great extent, paralyzed by our own
individualistic and privatized response to those social problems.
Compounding those problems, from homelessness to poverty, is
the runaway growth of inequality in the last decade. The top 1/10 of 1 percent of Americans now earn as much as
the bottom 120 millions of us. The
expanding inequality is further evident in the exceptional fact that the top 1
percent owns 70 percent of all financial assets. Not only is there no political effort to address this massive
inequality, there is, in fact, a counter movement by both political parties to
embrace a politics of austerity that would impose even more financial burdens
on the poor and working class in the United States.
This same corporate-controlled political class deliberately
eschews addressing another key source of the economic imbalance that
impoverishes our federal budget - the ballooning expenses of the maintenance of
empire. Beyond the 700 billion
dollar Pentagon budget, the costs of wars and far-flung military bases around
the globe, accounts for trillions of dollars. The indictment that Dr. King made in the same cited speech
above retains its moral urgency: "A nation that continues year after year to
spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is
approaching spiritual death."
It is hard to imagine that the slide towards spiritual death
will be salvaged by the redemption of one person at a time. Irrespective of the feel-good nature of
the salvation of Ted Williams, we need to address the larger context of the
persistence of pathological inequality.
If we cannot mount the collective effort to transform this system from
the extremes of wealth and poverty, there will be no second chances for our
nation and our democracy.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
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"We believe in second chances and second opportunities,"
declared the senior vice president for marketing from the Cleveland
Cavaliers. This pronouncement
accompanied the offer of an announcing job to Ted Williams, the homeless man
whose "golden" voice and impoverished visage went viral on a YouTube
video. Beyond his elevation by the
media to visible and viable economic status, Williams became a clear example of
the selective compassion of both corporate America and its consuming public.
More than 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded
us that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not
haphazard and superficial. It
comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." What
is this edifice that generates the millions of homeless that populate our
cities? Why has poverty now grown
to an unprecedented modern level of almost 50 million, exceeding even the
statistics and reality of what Dr. King observed in the 1960's?
Clearly, the inequality deeply embedded into the variety of
contemporary capitalism practiced in the United States is the source for this
continuing and growing rate of poverty. As noted by the recently passed social
critic, Tony Judt, in his essential text, Ill
Fares the Land: "Inequality, then, is not just unattractive in itself; it
clearly corresponds to pathological social problems that we cannot hope to
address unless we attend to their underlying cause." Yet, we remain, to a great extent, paralyzed by our own
individualistic and privatized response to those social problems.
Compounding those problems, from homelessness to poverty, is
the runaway growth of inequality in the last decade. The top 1/10 of 1 percent of Americans now earn as much as
the bottom 120 millions of us. The
expanding inequality is further evident in the exceptional fact that the top 1
percent owns 70 percent of all financial assets. Not only is there no political effort to address this massive
inequality, there is, in fact, a counter movement by both political parties to
embrace a politics of austerity that would impose even more financial burdens
on the poor and working class in the United States.
This same corporate-controlled political class deliberately
eschews addressing another key source of the economic imbalance that
impoverishes our federal budget - the ballooning expenses of the maintenance of
empire. Beyond the 700 billion
dollar Pentagon budget, the costs of wars and far-flung military bases around
the globe, accounts for trillions of dollars. The indictment that Dr. King made in the same cited speech
above retains its moral urgency: "A nation that continues year after year to
spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is
approaching spiritual death."
It is hard to imagine that the slide towards spiritual death
will be salvaged by the redemption of one person at a time. Irrespective of the feel-good nature of
the salvation of Ted Williams, we need to address the larger context of the
persistence of pathological inequality.
If we cannot mount the collective effort to transform this system from
the extremes of wealth and poverty, there will be no second chances for our
nation and our democracy.
"We believe in second chances and second opportunities,"
declared the senior vice president for marketing from the Cleveland
Cavaliers. This pronouncement
accompanied the offer of an announcing job to Ted Williams, the homeless man
whose "golden" voice and impoverished visage went viral on a YouTube
video. Beyond his elevation by the
media to visible and viable economic status, Williams became a clear example of
the selective compassion of both corporate America and its consuming public.
More than 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded
us that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not
haphazard and superficial. It
comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." What
is this edifice that generates the millions of homeless that populate our
cities? Why has poverty now grown
to an unprecedented modern level of almost 50 million, exceeding even the
statistics and reality of what Dr. King observed in the 1960's?
Clearly, the inequality deeply embedded into the variety of
contemporary capitalism practiced in the United States is the source for this
continuing and growing rate of poverty. As noted by the recently passed social
critic, Tony Judt, in his essential text, Ill
Fares the Land: "Inequality, then, is not just unattractive in itself; it
clearly corresponds to pathological social problems that we cannot hope to
address unless we attend to their underlying cause." Yet, we remain, to a great extent, paralyzed by our own
individualistic and privatized response to those social problems.
Compounding those problems, from homelessness to poverty, is
the runaway growth of inequality in the last decade. The top 1/10 of 1 percent of Americans now earn as much as
the bottom 120 millions of us. The
expanding inequality is further evident in the exceptional fact that the top 1
percent owns 70 percent of all financial assets. Not only is there no political effort to address this massive
inequality, there is, in fact, a counter movement by both political parties to
embrace a politics of austerity that would impose even more financial burdens
on the poor and working class in the United States.
This same corporate-controlled political class deliberately
eschews addressing another key source of the economic imbalance that
impoverishes our federal budget - the ballooning expenses of the maintenance of
empire. Beyond the 700 billion
dollar Pentagon budget, the costs of wars and far-flung military bases around
the globe, accounts for trillions of dollars. The indictment that Dr. King made in the same cited speech
above retains its moral urgency: "A nation that continues year after year to
spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is
approaching spiritual death."
It is hard to imagine that the slide towards spiritual death
will be salvaged by the redemption of one person at a time. Irrespective of the feel-good nature of
the salvation of Ted Williams, we need to address the larger context of the
persistence of pathological inequality.
If we cannot mount the collective effort to transform this system from
the extremes of wealth and poverty, there will be no second chances for our
nation and our democracy.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.