My Years With Proust - Day 427

"But it's a superb position.  If it wasn't for the travelling, it would be a dream.  I'm the only one still on the shelf.  But you never know.  We're a lucky family; perhaps one day I shall be President of the Republic.  But I'm keeping you babbling" (I had not uttered a single word and was beginning to fall asleep as I listened to the flow of his).  "Good-night, sir.  Oh! thank you, sir.  If everybody had as kind a heart as you, there wouldn't be any poor people left.  But, as my sisters says, 'there must always be poor people so that now that I'm rich I can shit on them.' You'll pardon the expression.  Good-night, sir."

Marcel Proust, Cities of the Plain, p. 1012

We've now moved into "Chapter Three" or "Part Two" or Cities of the Plain, which opens up with an odd exchange between a very sleepy Marcel and a page, and not the lift-boy, in the elevator.  The page explains his own family's aspirations, while also sharing his sister's theory on the need for the poor: "so that now that I'm rich I can shit on them." It is one of the peculiarities of history that the group which has traditionally shown the most disdain for the poor is the group which last climbed out of poverty itself.  At least in the US this might be nothing more than a perverse misreading of the Protestant work ethic, but my supposition is that it simply makes them feel better about themselves; we all need someone to shit on.  In the US the situation is made more complicated by the racism that links not very far beneath the surface at all times.  Just look at so many of the people who voted for Trump.  There lives have been destroyed by corporate greed and a the avarice of the 1%, and yet they are driven by an all-consuming hatred of blacks or Mexicans or Muslims; groups which have done essentially nothing to them.  On Twitter yesterday I was following a thread where an Islamic scholar, in response to questions about the faith, was suggesting a number of books about Islam.  Suddenly several trolls jumped in and posted pictures of bacon and called Muhammad a pedophile. Of course, they had pro-Trump statements on their home page.  Now, what exactly had any Muslim ever done to these people?  If they are poor folks in America their situation has doubtlessly been made worse by the actions of corporate America and the 1%, and their hero has been busy destroying the very social safety net that was allowing them to hang on - but they devote their time to savaging, and then essentially fist-bumping other Twitter racists, a scholar who was trying to do nothing more than answers questions about his faith.  Yes, it's Islamophobia and it's racism, but it's also something more.  Somehow they felt better about themselves based on their ability to shit on someone else.