re: #47 The Ghost of a Flea

When the exact same process happened in Appalachia, but with white miners and oxycontin, the same phenomenon was and is presented sympathetically…right up until the moment that discussion of sociogenic conditions of addiction points to solution that require greater civic investment, at which point conservatives started embracing the notion that Appalachia was culturally-broken and further descent into poverty and crime was inevitable.

And even still the emphasis is on fearing the drug instead of the (white) addict. Oxycontin was supplanted by fentanyl in the same way crack was a supposedly super-powered version of cocaine and cops started passing out from panic attacks due to incidental exposure. However even with cops acting like they’re facing chemical WMDs while on duty in a war zone it’s still mostly just unarmed Black users at the margins who are being shot and choked to death. While white Appalachian addicts get the sympathetic Hillbilly Elegy treatment because humanizing them, and them alone, is a good stepping stone into politics.