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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Jeld-Wen files to go public with stock offering ... Massive rehearsal planned for Northwest mega-quake, tsunami ... Ashland man allegedly held woman captive with paintball gun ... Jeld-Wen files to go public with stock offering ... Massive rehearsal planned for Northwest mega-quake, tsunami ... Ashland man allegedly held woman captive with paintball gun ... COMMENTARY Jeffrey Gillespie: Ballad for the angry white male Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Jun. 3, 2016 at 12:01 AM Posted Jun. 3, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News The middle-aged, middlebrow, soft-middled white American male doesn't think he's getting any respect, and he probably doesn't deserve any. Certainly, his behavior has been appalling by any standard since he stopped trying to clear the high bar set by his predecessors in the Greatest Generation. The example set by those who fought and won World War II would make any subsequent fellow wince at the prospect of having to live up to his obligations as a "man" — whatever that's supposed to look like — in any successive generation. While raping, pillaging and misogyny may have been just as pervasive in the era before 24-hour media coverage, the rise of the constant news cycle has thrown abundant light onto the problem of male aggression in a culture that has long been silently dominated by such behavior. When your average male Trump supporter spews that subliminally vitriolic slogan, "make America great again," it would be quite a stretch for any thinking citizen to find an appreciation for his pain. When exactly was America "great," in the mindset of the Trump demographic? It was never that great for blacks, women, Hispanics or Latinos, non-white immigrants or people earning minimum wage in the poorer states in the Union. For the angry white male, American "greatness" conjures an era when he and his cohorts could get away with more at the expense of others: unchecked predatory sexual behavior, casual racism, easy access to opportunities denied everyone else and a "status quo" mentality preserved at the expense of millions of people who happened to not be middle-aged white guys. After years of angry white males thinking their country has been "taken away" by the marauding horde — a completely fatuous claim in light of the fact that white Americans still made up almost 73 percent of the population as of 2010 — the door has now opened for an overweight, angry, blustering, regressive, isolationist candidate to rake in far more votes than he probably deserves based on a propensity for xenophobic sound bites and finger-pointing. Remarkably, Donald J. Trump may mark the end of an era of a specific kind of white male dominance in America. So absurd is he, so much a caricature of his target demographic, that it is the solid opinion of this columnist that, come November, he and his antiquated ideology will be sent packing by the American Iron Lady. But what of the wreckage left behind? What of the anger? What of the 300 million guns in private hands? What of the venom directed at so many people who are not part of the white male club that Trump has so successfully inflamed? That mega-fraternity of anti-Semitic (witness the backlash against Jonathan Weisman of The New York Times for daring to call Trump a neo-fascist), anti-immigrant, anti-female pooches of war who are armed, irritated and always responsive to dog-whistle politics? They won't blame their emperor-commander for having no clothes, any more than they can muster the critical capacity to blame the real cause of their woes — a combination of ever more globalized capital, coupled with the avarice of investors committed to financial performance over national allegiance. Trump voters are drinking the snake oil because they believe they have no other means of advancement. The man before them — while running his businesses and his life with exactly the sort of contempt for the bottom 99 percent that should have his Hamelin-like acolytes beating him to a pulp with his own oiled pipes — has easily charmed them into submission by strumming their pain with his (allegedly) stubby fingers. When he loses, there will be a massive psychological vacuum that the nation will have to address, and quickly, lest it fill up with armed and angry citizens who have lost what they see as their last, great hope for redemption. Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Daily Tidings columnist, arts reviewer and freelance writer. Email him at gillespie.jeffrey @gmail.com. MailTribune.com Writer Posted Jun. 3, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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