mspurlin's Blog

Not the people, but the term itself, and all that it implies.

I was watching one of the cable news channels the other day and some of the talking heads were discussing how Sen. Obama needs to woo "working class Americans."  You know how he defined them?

As Americans without a college degree.  This is a fairly common talking point that i see again and again. 

So what I want to know is what exactly is it about not having a college degree makes somebody a harder worker than me?  And because I WORKED HARD to get TWO college degrees, one of which was a MASTERS, does that mean these so called working class Americans are TWICE as hard workers as me?

Since I am not a "working class" American, what does it make me?  A LAZY class American?

I sure don't think so.  And if any of my bosses think I am lazy because i have two degrees, they certainly haven't told me in the nearly two years i have been with my company.

I find this term offensive and I believe people who say it sound stupid.  If you say it, then I would suggest you clarify what you mean.  Perhaps you should use the terms "blue collar" and "white collar" which describe a type of work rather than a character quality of the person who is doing the work.

And if I hear Obama or any of his campaign staff talk publicly about trying to get "working class" people to vote for him, he dam well better be talking about me, cuz despite how long I spent in college, I ALSO work for a living.