That's because a lot of Americans are under the impression that poor people are poor because they're lazy, and not because they're victims of oppression. They even cling to this absurd belief when they themselves are the victims of similar oppression. Must be lead in the water or something…
Picture of Oliver Anthony singing with the caption above: "When the government gives more of your tax money to corporations but you're mad someone used EBT to buy snacks"
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Someone here mentioned this dude lives in a camper as somehow proof of his working class bona fides. Yeah…he lives on 90 acres of land that he wants to build a farm on and raise livestock. Doesn’t exactly scream “working class.”
Not that it matters. He could’ve written this song sitting down at the bottom of a mine at the end of his shift right before he was diagnosed with black lung and it still would’ve been a shitty racist song.
Also has anyone looked into how this shit got so popular? At least Jason Aldean is a known guy so it makes sense that song got popular, but with all the talk of industry plants this Oliver Anthony guy feels extremely sus. Especially for some nobody living off the grid somewhere in the middle of Virginia
id be willing to wager a $20 he used A.I. software and tweaked it for these lyrics. everyone commenting has been skirting, what i think, to be just a new trend in bait music.
The song is bad yet just cognitive enough to cause a stir.
I likes the song when I saw it on Tik Tok. Now I'm getting videos for right wing politics. I just thought it sounded good. Had no idea that it would become a nazi war cry.
You’re telling me that in the year of our lord 2023, people believe that welfare alone is enough to cover housing, food, and clothing?
This really ought to set anyone with a brain completely off. You know how much you get from the government on welfare? Not even 500 fucking dollars
The best part is the line immediately before it. "We got hungry people on the streets" or something similar, right before complaining about food stamps.
If giving the hungry poor and homeless people free food isn't their solution to "we got hungry people on the streets" I wonder what is...
Also there's a weird as fuck line where he complains that we care too much about minors on islands (Epstein) and not enough about miners. Is that really the issue? Too much emphasis on billionaire pedophiles?
Let's conflate the prime thrust of the song with just the one line where he refers to food stamps and crucify him / not hold those sewing poverty and anxiety into society to account
Definitely not defending Oliver Anthony because aside from this song, don't know donkey about him but take this for what it's worth as a die hard libertarian in the rural south who has also lived in urban areas.
I get how the song is appealing to actual working class people in the south. "Your dollar ain't shit," "overtime hours for bullshit pay," applies to a lot of living conditions here. Employers want college degrees in these areas for $12-15 an hour. Normal people that haven't went to trade school or college because they can't afford it, got pregnant, had to help with bills, etc. have very slim chances of getting one.
There are legitimately people in this area who have always been on top, that now are making 80k+ per year, who still draw food stamps and have medical cards. So yeah, if you're a normal Joe trying to be honest, it sucks dick. Because you spend 60+ hours of your week preparing to/teaching kids who are taught from birth that school is stupid and will never do anything for them, get paid $30k a year, as a good job, and your take home is less than 2000 a month. Houses start at 200k, milk is $5 a gal, gas $3.50, groceries are at an all time high because of profit margins, I get why it resonates with working class people here. If you aren't actively gaming the system (the Welfare hating as critics of the song are calling it) the way 40% of the area does, you're shit out of luck.
Again, don't know anything about the dude, but know a lot about the rural south, and they're underpaid, overworked, and the biggest victims of the government in this country because the government actively keeps a majority of them in learned helplessness and the remainder can't get ahead because with everyone having a medical card or EBT, jobs assume they don't have to pay shit.
It's pretty funny that the expectation on any man who picks up a guitar these days is not that he has a decent voice to go with, it's that his political ideology is "correct" and cohesive and that he makes sure to convey the entire thing in a 4 minute song.
The people getting their knickers in twist over this song are lost.
You could be mad at both.... why is this a black and white issue? EBT abuse is real.
I have seen people literally sell the milk they get from EBT that was intended to be used for their baby. They bragged about being able to get the new iphone with it. I have seen homeless who buy bottled water on SNAP only to dump and resell the bottles so they could get cash for their addictions. Why would i not be mad at that just as I am at how corporate bailouts didnt help anyone except the top .01% of society?
Edit: so many hexbears. I dont care to respond to Kremlin bots.