Joe Bageant

Tranquilized by corporate consumerism

Joe,

Great stuff . . . again as always. You've been told this before but I'll say it again -- you're the best writer on the net that I've read and I've spent ten thousands of hours trolling for the good stuff. Keep it up and I want to thank you for giving me free food for thought and lots of laughs at our culture's and our own expense.

Students today won't debate anything

Dear Mr. Bageant,

I'm a 26-year-old graduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno. I have been reading your articles for some time. I enjoy them very much, and although I don't always agree with your analysis, I think many of your observations -- especially concerning the white working-class -- are very astute. And your sense of humor and polemical style cracks me up. I expect to buy your book when it is published.

Contemplations from the Cheap Beer Zone

Two kingpins of the sweating class deconstruct popular culture, Jon Stewart as opiate of the liberal masses and the Lake Tohopekaliga Bassmaster five-fish Classic.

"Now you take Dick Cheney, a goddamned drunk if ever I saw one. How else would a man confuse a little bitty quail with a Texas judge? But Cheney better be careful, cause you go to pouring booze over a pacemaker, you’re asking for trouble, I don't care how much you paid for the pacemaker or the booze."
-- Virgil Jenkins, retired bulldozer operator.

By JOE BAGEANT

You could say my friend Virgil Jenkins is an erudite and insightful student of American culture. You could say he has honed his understanding of America through decades of serious reading and contemplation. But it would be a damned lie. Mostly, Virgil does just what I do, drink and talk and watch television. Still, the dirt-eating truth of the situation is this: He's got more common sense and insight than 99% of the people who run this country. We seem to have gotten different results from the same regimen.