the classism of America is well buried underneath issues of race
Americans like to think they're beyond classism, something they escaped by leaving Europe, but issues of class are real and not talked about much.
That's pretty odd, given the evidence anyone sees of class (struggle) every day, regardless of the country they're in. You would have to do a lot of ignoring to keep deluding yourself.
The reality is that everyone in America thinks they're middle class even if they're struggling to pay the bills.
unfortunately, this seems to be the complete and utter truth, anecdotally speaking. i have some friends from hs who work two/three jobs and barely make more than 20K/yr, and yet they insist that they "are not poor" because they "work and work all the time, and poor people are lazy and live off the government." basically, there's this weird unexamined notion that you aren't poor in america if you work hard, and you are really just part of the "struggling middle-class" instead. they'll tell me, "i got a decent truck and this laptop, and i go to the bar every weekend, i definitely ain't poor and you're rich asshole to even suggest it" to which i point out that they're below the federal poverty line, and they go "oh, well, that's what the government says, and that's just something the liberals make up to support their gubmint programs." JESUS HELL YOU SAD BASTARDS.
(on the other hand, ANY attempt by a librul to get them to see the larger picture is treated as sanctimonious gladhanding from a cultural enemy pushing political snake oil, and will ALWAYS get rejected.)
basically, "poor" equals "someone you look down upon." they believe the only folks who look down on them are LIBRULS, who are by nature wrong about everything, and the very rich. therefore, they are middle class, because they themselves look down on the quasi-mythical "lazy welfare monkeys."
