Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North of Richmond
Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North of Richmond
This is blowing up on YouTube right now. Probably because of how true it is.
What’s unfortunate is that he’s a great songwriter and has a fantastic voice. Then he goes and uses those gifts to write a song signaling to the most wretched among us.
Also, this is blowing up because far-right agitators like Matt Walsh and co. timed a coordinated promotion. The only part that’s “true” is that everything sucks. The real reasons aren’t in the song.
19Yup, it's so obviously astroturfed it's not even funny
11
Lmao this guy is such a fucking clown.
Sure buddy, it's definitely fat people on welfare who are holding you back on your 90 acres of property, dipshit
18And he lives in a camper on that 90 acres, so it's not like he's living some extravagant life on his land.
-2https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Merriwood-Farms-Rd-Farmville-VA-23901/2065396588_zpid/
Here's 54 acres of undeveloped land in the town he lives in for $475K. He could parcel his 90 acres ($792k at this rate, and by far not the most expensive lot per acre I found when browsing), build a 5000 sq. foot home with a 3 car garage with 100% contractor labor, and keep 20 acres to have it on.
7
I'm pretty sure he's not hating on welfare as a whole, just people who are using it who don't need it. I know a handful of people who under report earnings just so they can get food stamps and take advantage of other government programs.
-9Consider this perspective: People work for seven, ten, fifteen dollars an hour. The companies they work for - Walmart, Kroger, Amazon, McDonalds - have a bottom line that amounts to hundreds of dollars per employee hour. Welfare is paid for by taxes that everyone pays (except corporations, who have the lowest tax rates of any entity, including the poor) and inflates the effective income of these low wage folks to maybe twenty an hour.
Through this lens, welfare transfers income from middle and lower class people to only lower class people to keep them barely floating above destitution, while most of the actual profits that the working classes produce with their labor go into corporate coffers, upper class stock holders, and executive's pockets. Welfare is a corporate bailout because it means corporations can pay less to workers and the difference is made up for by the working class.
When we think like this, there are 2 very natural conclusions:
- Anything that anyone can get through welfare is legitimate, because anyone eligible for it is so screwed over by corporations that they deserve whatever they can get
- Welfare as a system is built to favor the rich, and ultimately needs to be replaced by a system that favors the poor and funds the necessities of everyone from those who have benefitted the most from everyone else's work (corporations and the wealthy)
4
Oh yay, the guy being astroturfed and loved by mask off fascists like Matt Walsh.
This shit is garbage
8This astro turfed guy again? Yikes
8Also, the song is mediocre at best.
5Just looking at this guy’s shitty beard upsets me.
2I thought lemmy would be free of scumbags like him. Guess not. These phony working class pricks are the worst
2This song hits on so many levels.
-7Only if you sincerely think that punching down at overweight Americans eating Debbie Cakes is an accurate criticism of anything worthwhile.
Try listening to Sturgil Simpson Turtles all the Way Down instead. Or Holy Shit by Father John Misty.
Or if you just want to listen to newer bluegrass and country/western that isn't astroturfed by wealthy capitalists or white nationalist influencers, you can check out Tyler Childers - the entire album Ballad of Janita and the Dood is a masterpiece. Michael Davies is also an incredible musician and vocalist that "Oliver Anthony" could never be.
5