Dying of Whiteness with Jonathan Metzl

Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast

MS NOW, Chris Hayes

News, Versant Media, Versant, Ms Now, Nbcnews, Why Is This Happening?, The Chris Hayes Podcast, Chris Hayes, Politics, Government, Society & Culture, Msnbc, Withpod

4.6 • 8.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2019

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Life expectancy in America has gone down three years in a row. You might expect to see a decline in average life expectancy in the aftermath of war or famine – to witness it in an industrialized nation in the middle of an otherwise prosperous era, however, is unprecedented. It is a distress signal that something has gone horribly wrong. Jonathan Metzl traced that distress signal to its origin and found something remarkable. He writes that the policies promising to Make America Great Again, policies rooted in centering and maintaining the power of whiteness, are shortening the lives of the white Americans who vote for them. From supporting conceal carry to cutting social services, Metzl explores just what policies white voters are willing to risk their lives for. **This conversation explores death by suicide and gun violence** Email us at [email protected] Tweet using #WITHpod Read more at nbcnews.com/whyisthishappening

Transcript

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0:00.0	Because Tennessee didn't do the expansion,
0:02.5	it cost every white citizen in the state
0:05.8	two to three weeks of life,
0:07.3	just because of this ideology.
0:09.0	And it's ironic that the people I interviewed for the book
0:12.3	who were the staunchest supporters
0:14.4	of blocking Obamacare
0:16.9	and telling me about the witch doctor, Obamacare,
0:19.5	all these kind of things,
0:20.7	those were the same people who were giving away
0:23.2	three weeks of their life in support of these politics
0:25.9	and voting for people who did so.
0:30.6	Hello and welcome to Why is this happening with me, your host, Chris Hayes.
0:35.6	So when do you think the last time that life expectancy
0:41.1	in the United States fell for three years in a row?
0:45.6	Think about that for a second.
0:47.2	Life expectancy is one of those just sort of gold standard indicators
0:51.2	of the progress of a society,
0:53.3	along with things like material wealth or per capita GDP.
0:57.3	One of the things that happens,
0:58.4	societies they get wealthier,
1:00.4	they grow and people live longer.
	...

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