Banger of a song. He's right, we need to talk about these issues:

1. Working overtime and getting shitty pay

2. Feeling like the life is being wasted paying bills, and the little bit of joy we get is through substance abuse

3. Politicians enriching themselves by screwing Americans over

4. Inflation being too high and what money that we do get in our paychecks having 30% taken out by the government.

5. Politicians not looking out for the working class, but befriending and partying with Epstein trafficking minors.

6. Young men dying at absurd rates due to suicide

I have been, just because I'm challenging how you've viewed this song doesn't mean I've been hostile.

while accusing me of bias.

I asked if you had a bias. The fact you think this is hostile and refuse to answer is curious....

but then spend half the song

Once again, hyperfocusing on one line is not 'half the song' and when you put it in context, he's simply saying that those people that need welfare aren't getting it, while others are abusing the system. It's not just about making laws to help poor people, it's about ensuring that it gets to the people that need it.

I don’t think I can really keep engaging with you if you’re going to engage in such bad faith as to quote me saying he’s not a piece of shit and respond with “so you’re saying he’s a piece of shit”

Come on man, you just said 'I'm not saying he's a POS but he's showing that he is' Like, that's the classic 'I didn't say she's a bitch, she's just acting like one.'

I haven't been hostile to you, I've been extremely civil, and I think we've done a good job quoting each other and responding to each others statements but you can see how that statement came across, right?

I think you're just using this one sentence of my statement showing that you're being dishonest when representing this man and his song to try and get out of a good discussion. It's a bit ironic, huh?

I also want to note my statement in my last comment: Honestly, if you only respond to one thing, can you please answer this question: Do you honestly think you have 0 bias in your interpretations of his song because of how he appears and the type of music he’s playing?

He’s being paraded and propped up by conservative media.

It's a bluegrass song that talks about issues throughout America. Is Mr. Gambino's "This is America" inherently left wing because it was huge amongst left wing circles? Does this make Mr. Glover a left wing spy?

You're the only one bringing in conservative/liberal ideologies. We talk about it on reddit/lemmy all the time, in our society it's rich vs poor. This is a poor man seeing issues around him, that we all see too. That poverty is rampant, addiction to deal with it is rampant, we're working too many hours, we aren't getting paid enough, and from what we do get paid 25% goes to Uncle Same, while the people in Washington and their buddies pay 10%. Are these not the issues you see, too?

You see this redneck hillbilly bitch about the issues in the U.S. and you just chalk it up to him being a conservative. That furthers our divide and helps the people he's attributing the issues to: Rich men North of Richmond.

The song title is 'Rich men north of Richland' - it's about how the politicians are fucking up America - both inner city and rural America.

That is the underlying theme for the song, so him saying people are starving while there are some milking the system doesn't make sense. Increase welfare, or fix it, help those that need it.

Trust me, I really really wish he didn't have that line, because he talks about so many bigger issues that the left agrees with, but now they can just discredit this redneck hillbilly as being an alt right industry plant. But i feel even if that line wasn't in the song, that y'all would bitch about him calling out epstein and just say he's a Qanon freak.

Okay, I'll play along with your assumptions of this guys policy proposals based on a 3 minute song that just talks about observing common issues.

Taxes being too high

No, he says taxes too high for him, a working class man. Don't you agree? Do you think someone making 60k/year should be paying 25% taxes when the politicians making 10x that amount are paying 10%?

welfare benefits being too generous.

Really? He said 'we have too much welfare'? No - he says that there are a ton of people starving, who aren't getting welfare, but then we have people abusing the system getting that funding. The people that need funding aren't getting it, do you agree or disagree?

Again, not exactly a stretch to see the implied recommendation is tax cuts and welfare state cuts, pretty much the core planks of the Republican Party platform.

No, your lens of how you perceive him, make you believe he's saying these things that he's not.

don’t wish he had policies drawn up at all

Good, your wish came true, he doesn't mention any policies, but that's your problem, that he didn't and now you can assume his policy proposals, you're ridiculous.

reveal policy preferences

Once again, he doesn't. You assume based on the music he's playing and the way he looks. You're just being prejudiced.

Not that this guy is necessarily a piece of shit or anything, it’s just that what’s being revealed about him through this music

So you're saying you perceive him as a piece of shit because your assumptions of his policy proposals that are based on your assumptions of one line that he's saying in a vacuum?

Honestly, if you only respond to one thing, can you please answer this question: Do you honestly think you have 0 bias in your interpretations of his song because of how he appears and the type of music he's playing?

“welfare queens”

Where are you quoting this from? You aren't quoting it from the song, because he didn't say it. It's you quoting some left wing talking point.

Look at the lines, he says there are people dying of starvation, because the welfare we're supposed to receive is being misallocated. Have you ever been to the rural south?

That family getting $400 a month in food stamps is not the reason everything sucks right now.

Yeah, we all know that. And he didn't blame them.

Can you quote where he's blamed minorities for his issues with poverty, and addiction?

You’re pointing to the various ways in which he speaks to legitimate complaints about the difficulties of life, which I’ve already agreed are valid. The problem is nothing the explicitly or implicitly suggests doing about those problems would actually help,

So we agree that the song touches on a lot of legitimate complains. What's your problem? That a man living in a trailer doesn't have policy written out on how to address these?

and indeed the implied recommendations

What 'implied recommendations'?? You're just making this shit up now. He's observing problems, I think the likely reason you hate it is because of how he looks, and you assume he's a MAGA hillbilly.

There's nothing wrong with music, that generally has more appeal to the right to talk about issues that affect an average person.

I'm a big believer that if you want to see the issues affecting working class, you listen to the music that they listen to. Rap has been talking about the issues with cyclical poverty since the 80's, has been talking about gang violence, has been talking about drug addiction. It was ignored, and now look at what's happening 40 years later, crazy crime issues, cyclical poverty and absurd drug addiction killing hundreds of thousands and ruining tens of millions of lives. Did they have policies drawn up? No, they just saw issues and made music about them.

Why can't someone with a more bluegrass vibe do the same? He's seeing issues that he's personally experienced and y'all freak out because you don't like the way he looks.