An interesting article was published today regarding the unemployed and their lack of a loud voice in the public discourse. While this article does a great job at discussing how labor and unions were once loud and influential in our society, I think it missed an important point: Shame.
I would contend that shame is a very powerful emotion that is both isolating and debilitating. Many people have not only been hit with unemployment, but they've lost their home as well, which can be a double dose of shame. Compound bad event after bad event and you find people who have become quite reclusive.
Please take a look at this Yahoo! Tumblr site and you'll see that the unemployed are out there talking, but their stories are those of despair and heartache. Their energy has gone into finding employment, not screaming at a political system that is cozy with the very establishment that has just thrown them out on the street.
Del, thanks for calling my attention to your blog and website through your comment on my own blog. You have made an excellent point. I have been unemployed now for 15 months, and many times I have been driven, sometimes to rage, more often to tears, by the roller coaster of emotions that this has brought about. Add in the so-called "liberal" (LOL) media that so often carries the message that it is our own fault, that we are underskilled (12 years at my last job before layoff), undereducated (I have a PhD!), lazy, entitled, etc. not to mention the barrage of advertisements spreading the gospel of conspicuous consumption and it's no wonder that so many of us jobless are reluctant to speak out.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate what you are doing here and look forward to following your blog!
Dan (www.newsforsquirrels.blogspot.com)
Thanks Dan! I know how you feel. MA degree here, lived abroad, speak 2 languages, etc. Keep the faith. I keep telling myself that this can't last forever!
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