Things are going really well at mikeroweWORKS. Grateful recipients are thanking me every day for helping them start a new career, big companies are reaching out to see how they can help, and my mother keeps calling to tell me how pleased she is to see me doing something “worthy of my unlikely celebrity.” It’s times like these, that I like to revisit a sub-Reddit page I bookmarked nine months ago, just to remind myself that in reality, I’m a failed actor turned corporate shill who got rich off the backs of the working class.
I’ve attached a link to a long yet ponderous video that outlines the extent of my guile, presented by an anonymous muckraker who holds me in the lowest possible regard. This man, whoever he is, recently discovered a few ancient facts that have been a matter of public record for the last two decades. Specifically, the fact that I attended a four-year college, sang for several years in the Opera, appeared in a bunch of commercials, and made friends along the way with a few wealthy businessmen. In the course of his research, this intrepid reporter also “discovered” that I have no actual bona fides in the skilled trades and never worked full time on any of the 350 jobs I got famous for profiling. For these reasons, my anonymous critic has determined that I am a fraud, a phony, a hypocrite, and an anti-union scab whose true agenda must now be revealed. Which is probably why he’s drawn a circle around my head and a red line through my face.
Several years ago, on Bill Maher or Glenn Beck (or someone in between,) a clip went viral of me mouthing off about unions.
“Unions are a lot like universities,” I said. “Some are better than others. Some are more effective, more scrupulous, more relevant, and more honorable. It’s a mistake I think, to celebrate them all, or condemn them all.”
Shortly after that comment, articles and videos began to appear like this one, produced by labor groups who objected to my comments. The cognitive dissonance was just too much for them. How could a man with a college diploma criticize the cost of a college degree today? How could a man with no real mechanical skill, talk about the upside of learning a trade, and the importance of closing the skills gap? More to the point, how could The Dirty Jobs Guy be anti-union?
Initially, I defended myself with the facts, because I thought the people I had angered were simply uninformed. They probably didn’t know that I had featured dozens of union workers on Dirty Jobs, or spoken at dozens of union events over the years, or awarded millions of dollars in scholarships to hundreds of young men and women who went on to join a trade union. These people probably didn’t know that I was a union member myself. Surely, if I enlightened them with all the facts, we could be friends, right?
Wrong! Turns out, people who draw circles around heads and red lines though faces are not interested in facts. Neither are they not interested in nuance, or context, or perspective. Such people see the world as “us vs. them.” There is no middle ground, or partial fealty. In matters of solidarity, it’s all or nothing. Which is why I’m fairly confident the man who made this video will refuse my invitation to appear on my podcast…
Sir – I don’t know how to contact you, because you didn’t identify yourself in the attached video, and the comments beneath your sub-Reddit have been disabled. I did leave an invitation on your YouTube page, but haven’t seen a reply. So I’ll make one last attempt here. If you’d like to have an actual conversation about the role of organized labor in modern society in front of an actual audience larger and more diverse than the one you’re accustomed to addressing, reach out. I’m easy to find and easy to talk to, though maybe, not as easy to slander, face to face.
As for the hundreds of people who watched your video and took your allegations and mischaracterizations at face value – and then shared their contempt for me in the comments – they are not welcome on my podcast. However, they are welcome to listen. Moreover, if any of those courageous keyboard warriors are open to the possibility that their happiness will ultimately have less to do with their greedy bosses and more to do with their capacity to accept responsibility for their own choices, please direct them to mikeroweWORKS.org, where they can apply for a work ethic scholarship. I don’t grade on a curve, but neither do I hold a grudge.
Mike
PS. The last week has been hectic, and I forgot to thank the two hundred or so union members who made me feel so welcome in Quincy, Mass, earlier this month. Suffolk Construction is building a massive terminal for 100 electric busses outside of Boston, and the facility is a great example of multiple guilds coming together to build something truly extraordinary. Big thanks to John Fish, owner of Suffolk, who presented my foundation with a check for $100,000, much to the delight of all in attendance. (Photos in the comments.) That money has already been deposited and will be spent next year on another round of scholarships to help train the next generation of skilled workers. Union and non-union alike.
Video: How Mike Rowe Betrays The Working Class – This Video Was a “Dirty Job” But It Had To Be Done