Abstract

RUST & RAGE IN THE HEARTLAND

The article offers a firsthand look at the attitudes of blue collar workers in the United States as of September 2004. I was there for the steel-mill shutdowns in the late 1970s and later collaborated on "Journey to Nowhere," about ruined steelworkers in Youngstown, Ohio, and the new homeless who were the victims of deindustrialization. A dozen years later, my collaborator, photographer Michael Williamson, and I returned to Youngstown, and traveled again across America. What was different, and startling, was the level of anger that we discovered. Defeat had morphed into wrath. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I found was that anger had now combined with fear, and together they had become a dangerous brew. Fear alone, of another terror attack, is a strong force in American politics. But fear connected with anger is an especially volatile combination. Prick the anger whose surface may be pro-Iraq war and anti-Arab, dismissive of Abu Ghraib, and one hears of ruined 401(k)s, poor or no healthcare, lost work. There are 1 million fewer jobs today than when President George W. Bush took office, and the loss of higher-paid manufacturing jobs has been stunning. This group of Americans harbors deep-seated anger over corporate fraud, their lack of healthcare and good jobs, yet in interview after interview I found they are often the most fervent in their support of Bush and his tough rhetoric.