Pardon Me, But Your Slip Is Showing… aka Mike Rowe v. The Press

Mike Rowe gets mail!

Albert Samos writes…The media has recently been stating that Donald Trump's key supporters didn’t graduate from college. They constantly refer to these people as "uneducated white men.” As an electrical contractor who happens to be a white guy with six employees but no college, I find this vaguely offensive and somewhat confusing. What do you think of the media characterizing people this way?

Many of you may be familiar with Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs and Deadliest Catch fame. He also has one of those voices that is sought after for narration, so if you haven't seen him, you've almost certainly heard him. Anyhow, ever since those Dirty Jobs days and maybe even before, he's been a big advocate of the blue collar man and blue collar America. He is also keenly aware that America has an issue with filling out her blue collar jobs. In no small part, this is because we suffer from a lack of work ethic and belief in our schools that everyone must go to college, so that sort of work is beneath them.

So the kids who might really benefit from a life path into those jobs are being steered away from them and into being saddled with college debt attempting to earn a degree they might not be best to get while those kids who might be otherwise perfectly suited to using those jobs as a means to escape poverty often do not either know of their existence or lack the work ethic to hold them down.

Anyhow, Albert's question prompted an epic rant on the media and its contempt for those who do not have degrees and the penchant for labeling them as "uneducated."

If the media is referring to Trump supporters who happen to be male caucasians suffering from a lack of knowledge brought about by an absence of formal or practical instruction, than I guess “uneducated white men” is a fair description. However, if the Trump supporters in question are being dubbed “uneducated,” simply because they didn’t earn a four-year degree, I’d say the media’s slip is showing.

He starts by asking which the media really means to illustrate the false equivalence the media wants to draw between someone who does and does not have a 4-year degree or better. Often this is not case as many who do not have a formal college degree lead successful lives that require lots of knowledge and experience acquired through other means than college. A list of top entrepreneurs who made it without college. But he's not even talking about them. Instead he's talking about small time contractors and businessmen and women who didn't need a business degree to open their own businesses, or they used trade apprenticeships and experience.

If the media didn’t care about the lack of college among black men supporting Obama, why do they care so much about the lack of college among white men supporting Trump? Moreover, when exactly did a lack of college become synonymous with a lack of education?

He also points out the double standard between Trump and Obama with the press. No one cared when Obama had the support of so many black men who did not have college degrees, so why should it be an issue when those without college degrees are white? He wraps this up by pointing out that it's because those in the press who do this want to influence the election, so they WANT people to connect lack of diploma with lack of knowledge and think that a vote for Trump is really a mark of stupidity which, of course, is why they did not take this route with Obama.

No reporter would dare imply that blacks are stupid in a similar way.

If you’re only “vaguely offended” by this Albert, maybe it’s because you’ve seen it all before. Never mind the fact that you run a successful business. Never mind your years of training, your skill, your knowledge, your diligence, your commonsense, and every other quality that allowed you to succeed. In this political climate, none of that matters. These days, you’re just another white guy who never made it to college, voting for the “wrong candidate.”

It’s impossible for me to have this conversation and not think of my grandfather. Pop never made it to college. In fact, he never made it out of the 7th grade. But he never stopped learning or studying. He started as an electrician’s helper, became an apprentice, a journeyman, a master electrician, a contractor, and then a small business owner. Later, as an electrical inspector for the state, he was responsible for guaranteeing the safety of hundreds of buildings in Maryland, as well as all the rides on the carnival midway at the State Fair. He was a modest man of real intelligence, admired and respected by everyone who knew him. But today, he’d be right there with you, Albert - swelling out the ranks of “uneducated white men.”

Rowe points out quite rightly that this is why Albert finds this vaguely insulting because even though he knows darn good and well that he isn't a stupid or uneducated man, either one, the media has made that implication about him in their insinuations. They have, in fact, insulted Albert. They also insulted Rowe's grandfather too, who, for an uneducated white man, had an awful lot of responsibility in his life and was responsible for the personal safety of a lot of people in Maryland. Who knew that they let uneducated idiots oversee that, but that's what the press's insinuations would have you believe.

Rowe then goes into his standard pitch for blue collar jobs of which there are many that need to be filled.

But he wraps up with this:

Anyway Albert, that’s a long way of saying you have every reason to be “vaguely offended and somewhat confused.” The media has minimized your work, insulted your intelligence, and ignored your contribution to civilized life. Try not to take it personally. Just keep doing what you do. Run your business. Vote your conscience. Keep the lights on for the rest of us. And the next time some hack writer impersonating a journalist attacks a candidate by calling their supporters “uneducated” - simply because their base of knowledge isn’t memorialized on a sheepskin - send them this picture and tell ‘em their slip is showing, and one lousy hatchet job deserves another...

Rowe is a good guy.

He really needs to be in politics. we need more like him.

Mike Rowe is a great guy. But are we really going to go through the 150,000,000 eligible voters cherry-picking good-guys and bad-guys that support this candidate or that as justification for our choices?

Pick your candidate and defend them based on their own merits.

...and I continually disappointed that some people choose to get their politics from celebrities. (Good or bad)

a reply to: Leonidas

No, what he did is point out the very real fallacy of the press referring to a voting base as "uneducated" based on lack of degrees in order to influence elections.

Do you think someone is stupid if they do not have a degree?

Now, we can argue about whether or not a person is making an informed choice. That's what man on the street videos show, but plenty of those people have college degrees, certainly plenty of them show that college kids have about as much of a claim to lack of pertinent information as anyone else.

a reply to: ketsuko

He's good people.

...and he's spot on with his critique of the media. All too many of them have precisely the attitude he just described.

a reply to: ketsuko

Formal education level is just one way statisticians differentiate demographics. Might as well be offended that they put you in groups of gender, age, race, religion, marital status, and income. Saying someone is "uneducated" IN THIS CONTEXT, simply means they didn't go to college. It doesn't mean or imply that they're stupid, not educable, or anything else... I like Mike Rowe just fine, but I think he's seeing offense where none is intended. Obviously, college isn't the only way to become educated! But the other ways aren't measurable for the purpose of studying demographics.

I think he's being a little *sensitive*...

a reply to: ketsuko

As a skilled trades man, we are treated as knuckle dragging idiots. That is until that line that makes 80 cans of product per minute breaks down. Oh those cans of product sell for 40$ a piece. 80 units a minute X 60 minutes= 4800 units per hour. 4800 units X 40$ 192,000$ per hour is "lost" when that line is down. And yes that is 4,608,000$ per 24hr run.

It's the way it is, I make a real good living changing conveyor belts, welding and fabricating. But the computer programmer who makes half of what a master craftsman makes thinks we are somehow beneath them. I don't think that of him, or a janitor for that matter.

Ever open a bathroom stall and see a mess? If not thank a janitor, their job is super important too.

Wait til the toilet won't flush, and you can fix it, you are a hero then.

originally posted by: seasonal
As a skilled trades man, we are treated as knuckle dragging idiots.

Oh, my God! Who treats you like that?

But the computer programmer who makes half of what a master craftsman makes thinks we are somehow beneath them.

Why do you say that? How do you know what they think of you?

Sound like some serious assuming is going on...

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

For the press this cycle, it does. Don't even try to say otherwise. This attitude is even on display with certain posters here on this board.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Ever hear the term ... Redneck?

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

The problem is that people are using that data(formal education level) to make assumptions about people. We even had thread here on ATS last week parading the fact that Hillary has more college educated voters. So yes it is being spun as proof.
It is an alright metric, they should ask education level and if the person is in the private or public sector. And they should ask the major. There are two types of majors, the working professional major and the government drone major.

Who is more educated a master electrician or a gender studies major?

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

But that's exactly what the media and other social commentary hacks are implying when they they say that.
To deny it is being willfully disingenuous.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Oh, my God! Who treats you like that?

17 years of new managers on average of 14 months, means managers from other areas of the company. This brings in predetermined notions of work ethic. An example.

The factory complex sits on 180 acres, and we use taylor/dunn electric carts to move tools and equipment. The first thing a new manager says is all you guys do is ride around in those carts all day. About a month in they don't say that anymore. We usually knock the rough edges off of replacement supervision in 90 days.

The company also charges our time for a work order by the hour, it fluctuates, but is in the area of 180$ an hour per tradesman. So if we aren't a-holes and elbows at all times we are ripping the dept were the work is being done off. We are a cost.

My brother in law works in computer services in this same complex, and there is a big disconnect between white and blue collar employees, has been for the 17 years I have worked there. See we get dirty, real dirty when we work, white collar workers are in AC, and go home clean. I think it's a perceived class thing.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

They imply precisely that. If you haven't got a college degree, you rate less than someone with one.

Not sure why a master machinist who not only reads the design specs of something, but can build the thing rates less than the designer simply because the designer has a piece of parchment, and the master machinist learned as an apprentise, then a journeyman, then a master of his craft doesn't.

No, Rowe has it spot on.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Ever hear the term ... Redneck?

Well, of course. What's that have to do with anything?

originally posted by: jellyrev
a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

The problem is that people are using that data(formal education level) to make assumptions about people.

Do you think people without a college education should be exempt from having assumptions made about them? Lots of people make the assumption that college-educated people are "snooty" and "elite"... EVERYONE has assumptions made about them! Women, black people, Muslims, gay people, men, southerners, New Yorkers, Christians, Asians, Hillary-supporters... You name it! Everyone has to deal with assumptions.

Don't be so sensitive!

We even had thread here on ATS last week parading the fact that Hillary has more college educated voters. So yes it is being spun as proof.

And there have been many posts here that deride and criticize the "elite" educated.

Who is more educated a master electrician or a gender studies major?

As I said, it can't be measured. The only education that can be measured and put into a statistic is whether or not a person graduated from college, and is, therefore, college-educated.

You guys are being MUCH too sensitive, taking this personally and thinking it MEANS something. It doesn't mean any more than your religion, your income or your sexual preference.

reply to Leonidas


I could be wrong, but I thought I read Rowe saying he dislikes both Hillary and Trump, and that he was not disclosing who he was voting for. I think his point is that the media belittling people without college degrees is ridiculous, regardless of who they chose to vote for.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

I've seen it and heard it in convos many times personally.

I've seen people who were much more qualified for a job, but did not get it due to lack of a degree, go to some young kid, fresh out of college, who ends up screwing up the job and getting canned.

The bias is there. Not everyone has it. Not everyone does it. But it does exist.



I think what really gets me about this election is: we see more of people and the media going after the supports this cycle than I have ever seen in any cycle in my 50 years of life.

I saw them really go after the Bernie supporters. Now I see them really go after the Hillary supporters.

I think the Trump supporters get beaten up the most by the media however.

And the indies.....man....people just laugh at them, and the media just ignores them (might be a blessing in disguise though).

It just gets worse every election cycle.

I have 2.9 degrees.I iz az smartaz yu alll.
I am wondering who here KNOWS the difference between INTELLIGENCE and SMART?
The answers will be telling.

Just more Divide and Conquer bull#.

The media-machines are really stretching it seems trying to create rifts within society where none currently exist.

What's next? McDonald's vs Burger King?

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Ever hear the term ... Redneck?

Hey , long time certified card carrying "hold my beer and hey y'all watch this" Georgia redneck here . Dang proud of it. I work for one of the largest tech firms in the universe. Never went to college.Whats wrong with that ?