CommonDreams.org (reprinted from NewsDay): Our Modern-Day ‘Grapes of Wrath’ – by Les Payne
. . . President George W. Bush was introduced to the film “The Grapes of Wrath” as a student at the Harvard Business School, where he got admitted on his family’s name. “I wanted to give the class a visual reference for poverty and a sense of historical empathy,” macroeconomics professor Yoshi Tsurumi told a researcher for Kitty Kelley’s book, “The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty.”
“George Bush came up to me and said, ‘Why are you going to show us that commie movie?'” Tsurumi recalled. “I laughed because I thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t. After we viewed the film, I called on him to discuss the Depression and how he thought it affected people. [Bush] said, ‘Look, people are poor because they are lazy.’ A number of students pounced on him and demanded that he support his statement with facts and statistics. He quickly backed down because he could not sustain his broadside.”
The incident and a semester of exposure burned into Tsurumi’s memory a disturbing view of the future president. “His strong prejudices soon set him apart…. Most business students are conservative, but they are not inhumane or unprincipled. George Bush came across as totally lacking compassion, with no sense of history, completely devoid of social responsibility and unconcerned with the welfare of others.”
This is why I oppose ever letting rich people into public office. Bush is far from unique in having such ignorant and prejudiced views, but he is the president and supposedly represents us all, so that is why I’m highlighting this.
Thanks to TomJoad.org for link.
It’s not wealth exactly. It is ignorance and stupidity.
Some folks belive all people should have a couple years of mandatory military service — not usually to build up the army, but so that people get a perspective that they otherwise wouldn’t get.
The same thing is true here. Maybe a requirement that people spend a year living with the poor before they could take a high public office would be enlightening to them.