Being in Granbury and Fort Worth last week probably wasn’t good for me. It reminds me of just what a social and cultural shit-hole Lubbock really is, even by Texas standards. Being of “humble origin” (though not noted for humility) I am especially bothered by the abject contempt displayed for wage workers here in Lubbock. Many of our professionals, even low level ones, and manager-owner types seem to believe that working for a wage is a sin and working people deserve to be ridiculed, insulted, and slandered for it. I see people every day who work very hard for a meager living, yet I am surrounded by smug assholes who condemn these people as lazy and stupid, and who aren’t shy about sharing these opinions with those who cannot fight back for fear of losing their jobs. The really unforgivable part, the thing that enrages me, is that most of these aristocrat wannabes are only 2 or 3 generations removed from impoverished sharecroppers themselves. Their predecessors benefited from unions, free education, and egalitarian attitudes that they, themselves, now regard as works of the devil. Most of Lubbock’s arrogant status seekers and fake aristocrats are grifters and deadbeats who stand on the shoulders of more worthy generations and who benefit from a privileged position that is not of their making. They would be helpless, pigs for the slaughter, if we had unions who could provide the real producers with a level playing field.