Pretty sure Washington DC is directly North of Richmond. I’m not from USA but that was my natural assumption about who he was talking about just based on geography and the US centre of power.
Richmond was the former capital of the confederacy. The Mason-Dixon line is actually at the Pennsylvania-Maryland/Delaware border.
North of Richmond is referencing Washington DC which has a large, fairly poor Black population and its suburbs, which are very rich and somewhat liberal.
I think its a bit of a stretch that he’s not just talking about Congress/Senate when referring to rich people in DC. That seems to be the most likely scenario.
Kinda weird when your song talking shit about politicians contains an explicit reference to the folks you’re talking about being north of the capital of the Confederacy.
How do you punch down on poor people when you are living in a camper? His song is #1 on iTunes in the US/UK/Australia, #2 in Ireland and Canada. But it certainly couldn’t be because it resonates truth for the masses. No, it is because he is punching down on the poor and you are so smart to have figured it out. The few negative opinions I have seen about this song have been from people it is calling out. Tool.
Having something resonate with a bunch of people, and saying something true isn’t always the same thing. You can say a bunch of dumb bullshit about society that resonates with people but isn’t really true, just like how he does. You have just fallen for the grift. Get his dick out of your mouth.
Did you know that iTunes play counts are hidden and he has pitiful numbers on Spotify? He’s not popular. He’s being astroturfed by fascist propaganda channels. He’s the Sound of Freedom if it was a backwoods white supremacist hick.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this song. And it is a real feeling that people have.
But it is also just whining.
The way he goes from talking about people without anything to eat and then talks about how someone that poor and fat shouldn’t eat a fudge round just seems to be a confused message.
Is big government the problem? Or is it lack of corporate regulations that then allow big companies to pay people less than what they need to survive.
Washington can do things to fix what he is talking about, but I would be shocked if he is interested in any policy that helps poor people or people drowning in student or medical debt.
I think he’s talking about people that have deliberately gotten themselves so fat that they get a disability check from the government for it. I definitely have a problem with where he’s placing the blame, but he’s talking about what he sees around him.
I’m from an area similar to him, and the number of people trying to line themselves up for government assistance as their career is substantial. I think it speaks to the hopelessness of the area we live in these days, on top of generational poverty. Things have always been bad around here, but they got a lot worse after mining, and its supporting industries fell apart.
I doubt there’s more than five people who have deliberately gotten themselves into disability by getting themselves fat. It’s incredibly hard to get onto disability and “I am fat” doesn’t cut it, you have to be able to not move to have even a chance
My mother is clinically diagnosed with a psychological disorder that caused hallucinations, anxiety and delusion. She tried to get disability for 30 years. She never got it even though she was institutionalized multiple times
Yeah. My brother in law has severe physical and mental disabilities which makes him unable to work at all and he can’t get on. Been trying for a decade and a half. It’s like these people think you can send a letter to the government saying “I am fat and lazy” and you’ll get money.
You said it yourself-- the reason those people need to make weird choices like trying to find any way to qualify for more government assistance is because historically their income came from industries that don’t and can’t exist anymore. They don’t have any other choice. The solution is actually more availability of assistance resources so people from those places can have enough stability to be able to make choices like learning new skills or moving to a new place. Why can’t people like him-- who see this happening to the people around him, his neighbors, his family-- empathize?
I’m not absolving anyone of all personal responsibility for their body and what they put in it, but you should read about food deserts and similar. Many folks in this country ONLY have access to a McDonald’s and a gas station snack aisle.
Fat shaming, welfare queening, both sidsing, slack jawed backwater hick bullshit. I grew up around dipshits just like him. 1, they’re hypocrites that live off the system and haven’t been able to see their own cock without the assistance of a mirror in 15 years but because they’re white it’s ok. 2, Their “color blindness” and concern trolling falls away behind closed doors. It’s empty platitudes and surface level enlightened centrist garbage and nothing more. He doesn’t mean a word of what he’s singing and the people that “resonate” with it don’t either. It’s just 4 minutes of dog-whistling and right wing propaganda.
Their “color blindness” and concern trolling falls away behind closed doors. It’s empty platitudes and surface level enlightened centrist garbage and nothing more.
Color blindness itself is basically a way to decouple yourself from the political economy you are a subject of, which is in no way “color blind” and has more or less created these system of classification. I don’t even subscribe to DiAngelo’s individualist notions of “white fragility,” I think they can even serve to reify the notion of race, but people saying they’re color blind is such a dismissal to address the world around you.
he lives on 90 acres, he’s living in a camper as a choice because he thinks it’s fun and aesthetic. Both before and after this song came out he could afford a 5,000 sq. ft. home
Aw yes because punching down never resonates with the masses. We’ve never elected politicians who distract from real issues by blaming poor people who don’t use them bootstraps…
How do you punch down on poor people when you are living in a camper?
You can totally hate on poor people while being poor yourself. I’ve seen it loads of times. The mentality is “I deserve welfare, but those people don’t! They’re cheating the system!”
The few negative opinions I have seen about this song have been from people it is calling out.
If you want the truth instead of the myth being pushed by the fascists who are astroturfing this guy all over social media, you can watch this video. It’s long, but there’s a ton of evidence in the first 10 minutes.
Most of the lyrics are benign and he has plenty of musical talent. But the lyrics that comment on politics are just incredibly brain dead, I don’t know what else to tell you. It is proposing welfare recipients as the reason for poverty, but what percentage of tax returns go to welfare? Obviously like, nothing. Additionally his own region of the country has some of the highest rates of welfare recipiency and if that was cut off does he really think that would improve anything?
I think the reason it leaves so many people with a bad taste in their mouths is because clearly a bait and switch is being performed. The first part draws your attention to the issues the singer is experiencing in his life such as low pay, then in the middle he goes on to talk about the “Rich men North of Richmond-” which if that is in reference to DC politicians then fair enough- in addition to welfare recipients as if those two things are related. He is just running defence for the wealthy by trying to distract people from the problems downstream from general extreme wealth inequality by trying to convince us fat people buying candy is causing everyone’s problems. Not to mention the humour there is in seeing someone that looks pretty severely overweight themselves calling out other fat people (much like how he is an apparent working class man going after over working class people.)
In my opinion the purpose of the song is just to turn poor people against each other so we won’t get any ideas about taxing the rich or anything like that. This is probably be reason why lovely people like Matt Walsh were early promoters of the song.
Fuck this bible thumpin reactionary hillbilly dork.
“But he goes after both sides!”
No, He punches down on poor people. Fuck off with that.
The name of the song itself is a huuuuuggggge dog whistle, imo. Tells me everything I need to know about the target demographic.
How is that? I’d honestly like to know. It raises my hackles, but i can’t really explain why.
“Rich men north of Richmond”… I’m not american, so maybe that’s why i don’t quite get it
Pretty sure Washington DC is directly North of Richmond. I’m not from USA but that was my natural assumption about who he was talking about just based on geography and the US centre of power.
Probably has something to do with the Mason Dixon line (civil war border) and Richmond being the northernmost city of the South.
Richmond was the former capital of the confederacy. The Mason-Dixon line is actually at the Pennsylvania-Maryland/Delaware border.
North of Richmond is referencing Washington DC which has a large, fairly poor Black population and its suburbs, which are very rich and somewhat liberal.
I think its a bit of a stretch that he’s not just talking about Congress/Senate when referring to rich people in DC. That seems to be the most likely scenario.
Kinda weird when your song talking shit about politicians contains an explicit reference to the folks you’re talking about being north of the capital of the Confederacy.
Who tf is this anyway?
Apparently his name is Oliver Anthony.
Thanks friend!
How do you punch down on poor people when you are living in a camper? His song is #1 on iTunes in the US/UK/Australia, #2 in Ireland and Canada. But it certainly couldn’t be because it resonates truth for the masses. No, it is because he is punching down on the poor and you are so smart to have figured it out. The few negative opinions I have seen about this song have been from people it is calling out. Tool.
Having something resonate with a bunch of people, and saying something true isn’t always the same thing. You can say a bunch of dumb bullshit about society that resonates with people but isn’t really true, just like how he does. You have just fallen for the grift. Get his dick out of your mouth.
Did you know that iTunes play counts are hidden and he has pitiful numbers on Spotify? He’s not popular. He’s being astroturfed by fascist propaganda channels. He’s the Sound of Freedom if it was a backwoods white supremacist hick.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this song. And it is a real feeling that people have.
But it is also just whining.
The way he goes from talking about people without anything to eat and then talks about how someone that poor and fat shouldn’t eat a fudge round just seems to be a confused message.
Is big government the problem? Or is it lack of corporate regulations that then allow big companies to pay people less than what they need to survive.
Washington can do things to fix what he is talking about, but I would be shocked if he is interested in any policy that helps poor people or people drowning in student or medical debt.
It’s the worst of both worlds. They regulate away our right to unionize and strike.
What a great point. The regulations that are “acceptable “ are all about protecting the corporations.
And so is the corporate music machine that markets this excuse for a protest song, it’s just another culture war debate masquerading as politics.
I think he’s talking about people that have deliberately gotten themselves so fat that they get a disability check from the government for it. I definitely have a problem with where he’s placing the blame, but he’s talking about what he sees around him.
I’m from an area similar to him, and the number of people trying to line themselves up for government assistance as their career is substantial. I think it speaks to the hopelessness of the area we live in these days, on top of generational poverty. Things have always been bad around here, but they got a lot worse after mining, and its supporting industries fell apart.
I doubt there’s more than five people who have deliberately gotten themselves into disability by getting themselves fat. It’s incredibly hard to get onto disability and “I am fat” doesn’t cut it, you have to be able to not move to have even a chance
My mother is clinically diagnosed with a psychological disorder that caused hallucinations, anxiety and delusion. She tried to get disability for 30 years. She never got it even though she was institutionalized multiple times
Yeah. My brother in law has severe physical and mental disabilities which makes him unable to work at all and he can’t get on. Been trying for a decade and a half. It’s like these people think you can send a letter to the government saying “I am fat and lazy” and you’ll get money.
But…but…the Simpsons did it
You said it yourself-- the reason those people need to make weird choices like trying to find any way to qualify for more government assistance is because historically their income came from industries that don’t and can’t exist anymore. They don’t have any other choice. The solution is actually more availability of assistance resources so people from those places can have enough stability to be able to make choices like learning new skills or moving to a new place. Why can’t people like him-- who see this happening to the people around him, his neighbors, his family-- empathize?
No one has “deliberately” gotten morbidly obese.
I’m not absolving anyone of all personal responsibility for their body and what they put in it, but you should read about food deserts and similar. Many folks in this country ONLY have access to a McDonald’s and a gas station snack aisle.
deleted by creator
Fat shaming, welfare queening, both sidsing, slack jawed backwater hick bullshit. I grew up around dipshits just like him. 1, they’re hypocrites that live off the system and haven’t been able to see their own cock without the assistance of a mirror in 15 years but because they’re white it’s ok. 2, Their “color blindness” and concern trolling falls away behind closed doors. It’s empty platitudes and surface level enlightened centrist garbage and nothing more. He doesn’t mean a word of what he’s singing and the people that “resonate” with it don’t either. It’s just 4 minutes of dog-whistling and right wing propaganda.
Color blindness itself is basically a way to decouple yourself from the political economy you are a subject of, which is in no way “color blind” and has more or less created these system of classification. I don’t even subscribe to DiAngelo’s individualist notions of “white fragility,” I think they can even serve to reify the notion of race, but people saying they’re color blind is such a dismissal to address the world around you.
Mentioning weight isnt needed if we are talking about him being a shit human being
His song mentions weight.
he lives on 90 acres, he’s living in a camper as a choice because he thinks it’s fun and aesthetic. Both before and after this song came out he could afford a 5,000 sq. ft. home
Aw yes because punching down never resonates with the masses. We’ve never elected politicians who distract from real issues by blaming poor people who don’t use them bootstraps…
Living in a camper…off the grid on 90 acres of land that he owns and plans to build a farmhouse and raise livestock on. Working class my ass…
You can totally hate on poor people while being poor yourself. I’ve seen it loads of times. The mentality is “I deserve welfare, but those people don’t! They’re cheating the system!”
Short, fat people?
If you want the truth instead of the myth being pushed by the fascists who are astroturfing this guy all over social media, you can watch this video. It’s long, but there’s a ton of evidence in the first 10 minutes.
https://youtu.be/3M6ZjYfp-B8
Most of the lyrics are benign and he has plenty of musical talent. But the lyrics that comment on politics are just incredibly brain dead, I don’t know what else to tell you. It is proposing welfare recipients as the reason for poverty, but what percentage of tax returns go to welfare? Obviously like, nothing. Additionally his own region of the country has some of the highest rates of welfare recipiency and if that was cut off does he really think that would improve anything?
I think the reason it leaves so many people with a bad taste in their mouths is because clearly a bait and switch is being performed. The first part draws your attention to the issues the singer is experiencing in his life such as low pay, then in the middle he goes on to talk about the “Rich men North of Richmond-” which if that is in reference to DC politicians then fair enough- in addition to welfare recipients as if those two things are related. He is just running defence for the wealthy by trying to distract people from the problems downstream from general extreme wealth inequality by trying to convince us fat people buying candy is causing everyone’s problems. Not to mention the humour there is in seeing someone that looks pretty severely overweight themselves calling out other fat people (much like how he is an apparent working class man going after over working class people.)
In my opinion the purpose of the song is just to turn poor people against each other so we won’t get any ideas about taxing the rich or anything like that. This is probably be reason why lovely people like Matt Walsh were early promoters of the song.
Yeah, because a group of people have never rallied up for something they believed is true but isn’t…wait…