Entire libraries worth of ink have been poured in an effort to understand, mythologize, and explain the behavior of white rural voters — why they are so attached to former President Donald Trump, […]
You’re not entirely wrong. But it goes deeper. There are minority Republicans. What motivates Cuban Americans? Or Black Evangelicals? They are motivated by hierarchy and authoritarianism, all under the structures of capitalism. Capitalism needs hierarchies and wealth inequality to exist. Racial Capitalism
Entire libraries worth of ink have been poured in an effort to understand, mythologize, and explain the behavior of white rural voters — why they are so attached to former President Donald Trump, […]
Personally, I think it’s more than a little reductive to try to eliminate all nuance to every situation, especially politics, but it certainly makes the world seem a lot simpler.
Second time I’ve seen that article pop up in the last couple days. It’s got a lot right, but def not all of it. I grew up rural and stayed that way for most of my life, and on thing I think that was left out (or I missed it) is the cultural momentum and good old fashioned peer pressure. Everyone around you behaves in a certain way, you will behave the same way or you don’t fit in. When there’s no escape from your situation it’s not good to buck the system.
It also doesn’t explain the unwillingness to accept that the choices they make at the voting booth work against them other than flailing wildly in anger and voting with their middle fingers.
There’s plenty of movie and TV tropes that still push the simple “country wisdom” way of thinking that mock city dwellers by reductionist simplicity and “git’er dun” vs the overcomplicated and often shifty city slicker trying to upend rural life. Politically and socially that way of thought is still held up as some kind of ideal, unfortunately the result is “don’t actually think about what’s happening, reject nuance” instead of “you’re overcomplicating a situation”, the latter of which rarely happens in political solutions because it deals with lots of different people or rules.
Anyway. The article is interesting, but it’s got some gaps.
I mean, yes and no. It’s not as if those who vote for Donald trump aren’t people worthy of empathy… But when a helping hand is offered and refused, what then? Can’t have my kids getting a few lunch when those “other” kids get one too. Sorry, my empathy died up
I’ve def gotten much more in the habit of reading the fucking articles since i left reddit. Glad i did! That was an interesting one, thanks for sharing!
The article focuses on a “culture war” when in reality the reason rural communities are so fucked are class and economic issues. There’s no funding for bumfuck America, once the “elites” start funding outreach programs that aren’t tied to the church you’ll see a lot of the christian right go away. But nobody wants to do that because culture war benefits the landed gentry and upper class elites.
I didn’t have running water until I was 5 and no water heater till I was 11. The reason was booze and pills, there are still kids out there growing up how I grew up. And they’ll continue to, because the only outreach programs out there are funded and run by the church and they don’t help out drug addicted single moms.
Harm reduction programs, funded by taxes and managed at the federal level so there’s no local political fuckery. That’s the only way forward for rural America.
Uhhh what? I’m rural and the vast majority will still vote red all the way down, including for Trump. The voting democratic maps are widely available. And they show conclusively that cities vote blue and rural votes red, everywhere. Plenty of conservative rural folk very much dislike Trump, they aren’t happy with the GOP, but they would rather not vote or vote third party than ever vote blue.
“Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (perjorative, perjorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (perjorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect!”
I guess I was too focused on the topic of the title. It did literally just end the piece saying rural will always vote red. I misinterpreted “rural people shouldn’t vote red; so one might assume that could mean they are open to blue”.
What will happen to Ted Cruz after he loses in November? Will he become a consultant or lobbyist? Maybe a board member for Haliburton?
I don’t think he has the brains or talent to have his own show on Fox, but I can see him popping up to give his opinion like a canker sore that keeps coming back.
What pisses me off is somehow people like him are more worthy in our society of basic necessities, like owning a home. I’d have to perform a miracle on my employer’s dead mother to even be considered for a raise, let alone live comfortably even with a degree.
You can also form a union. On top of the raise and CoLA you and your coworkers negotiate into your contract, you make people like Cruz, Trump, and Christie seethe
I wanted to keep it regional, but yea this lumber war is known for the Grabow massacre that killed 3 union members and wounded 50.
The overarching coal wars (to those just now learning about this, yes there were multiple) in general are fascinating. Bloody Harlan is another good example
I don’t think he has the brains or talent to have his own show on Fox, but I can see him popping up to give his opinion like a canker sore that keeps coming back.
I guess democrats calling them a basket of deplorables and then calling them dumb racist white supremacists for two years straight was not really an insult.
To be fair Democrats never called rural people deplorables or racists. That was attributed to Trump’s bedfellows. Rural America just bought that it was aimed towards them wholesale.
A lot of propaganda aimed at conservatives paints liberals as bad, so it is natural to assume that the reverse may be true. Also, liberals often talk in an extremely high-handed manner, see e.g. Bill Maher. Also, the vast majority of Obama’s economic stimulus dollars went towards cities rather than farmers. The list goes on and on.
It REALLY didn’t help when McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate - she made fun of the liberals ruthlessly, and was made fun of by them in turn, and also the media including comedy shows. So the “stupid conservatives” meme… regardless of having some actual basis in fact, is something that they do not enjoy being portrayed as. I know, I know, best not to dish it out if you cannot take it in return but… either way, there it is, a fact that now needs to be worked around. Conservatives are killing people including women and children… but you can’t SAY that, without them getting mad.
So how should this be handled when a group cannot be criticized without getting their feefees hurt but left to their own devices will actively and antagonistically hurt everyone including themselves?
I don’t actually think that there is a solution possible. I think that either we will come to, if not an actual Civil War, then at least a constitutional crisis of some kind. Or at least one side will just sort of give up on the other entirely and move on. Case in point: the USA used to have the nationwide Roe v. Wade, whereas now it is left up to each state to decide. Liberal states might want to lock in protection for abortion now while they can, although even that much may not prevent encroachment if Trump wins the next election, picks another Supreme Court Justice, and shifts the entry country even further Rightward.
Never forget - and this is something that I think that conservatives actually do better than liberals: there is no “should” in politics, there is only what you can make happen. As my actual hero Jon Stewart once said: “liberal media aims to be correct, while conservative media aims to be effective”. As you pointed out, how do you even begin to fight against that, especially if we choose to remain ineffective - e.g. how many liberals have already stated that they will under no circumstances vote for Biden in the next election, b/c of Gaza. Okay sure, there’s time, so I am supposed to just “trust the system”? Just like we did in 2015?
To be clear, I was not saying that liberals should just let conservatives have their way. But any problem begins with a diagnosis - and realizing that the “other side” is sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming “naw naw I can’t hear you” at the top of their lungs means that merely talking is not likely to do much. e.g. we could point out Trump’s literal and actual dictatorial verbage… which somehow many conservatives still claim to have never heard? (or perhaps do not believe… or something, I dunno) Anyway, I am saying that liberals would benefit from acceptance of the situation as it is, rather than as someone perhaps wishes that it might be.
Weren’t they calling themselves deplorable with those shirts, as well as outing themselves for both deplorables AND dumb racist white supremacists with their own behaviors?
Article is about their politics not their speech. It was about empty performative politics coming from politicians who actively vote against their constituents best interests. The reason Ted Cruz is the cover image is because they specifically use as an example him going to Cancun while rural conservative Texans were freezing to death.
Though incoherent, your comment does point to a major cause of conservative voters constantly voting against their own interests: reading comprehension & general education.
The article is about how Republican politicians are just openly doing absolutely nothing for their constituents and that this act is more insulting than political speech about them can possibly be. The article is arguing the opposite of what you seem to think. It argues that we are paying too much attention to the what conservatives say and how we talk about them and not enough to the actions of their politicians and how brazenly they disregard their voters’ needs.
Thank you for at least attempting to be polite. The other responses make me realize that Trump is going to win, when even this bastion of liberalism on Lemmy remains mired at the level of discourse that seems to me to be about kindergarten level.
First, this article is EXTREMELY thin - it says nothing that I have not heard for literal decades - e.g. I liked this one (explaining, among other things, that e.g. a “2-party system” is nothing new in world history), and more recently this series, or for a more mathematical bent watch this one (but ngl, this related one may really fuck you up… seriously, you were warned).
Second, the attitude of the Greek stoics is that we cannot control what lies outside our purview, but we MUST control what lies within that (if we claim to be responsible… and yet not a hypocrite). I did not think that I was making 10-D chess moves here to say that we might want to try acting like grown-ups. Like for one thing, there are ~80% of Americans that lie somewhere between the two extremes of far-left and far-right, but even if only 2% could be swayed to vote to R v. D, that actually might be enough to turn the rudder of this entire whole ship, b/c that’s just how plurality rules voting works (within the constraints of the electoral college).
I guess democrats calling them a basket of deplorables and then calling them dumb racist white supremacists for two years straight was not really an insult.
My absolute hero, Jon Stewart, once said: “liberal media aims to be correct, but conservative media aims to be effective”. I suppose it is too much to ask that we hold ourselves to a higher standard, in at least an attempt to be both?
Or, you know, we could stick our fingers in our ears and cry “nah nah I can’t hear you”, attempting to gain solace in being “correct”, while downvoting and criticizing people (in this case, MataVatnik@lemmy.world) who even so much as dares to voice an opinion that the flavor of the month crowd decides is “bad”? Again: this is why Trump will win. B/c while conservatives may argue amongst themselves, at the end of the day they pull together and vote as a block, while liberals instead eat our own. Which convinces me that whatever may come from the next election, we fucking brought it upon ourselves, by refusing to live in reality, e.g. if we cannot even talk politely amongst ourselves here, then what hope is there for the wider election audience?:-(
Are you just too young to remember libtard, feminazi, etc? Or are you deliberately telling lies to craft some kind of narrative where the side you support is the poor put upon victim that couldn’t possibly be expected to have responsibility for a god damned thing?
I can’t imagine what could possibly have turned you from being interested in how this all started and who we ought to really place the blame on into just trying to be the biggest dipshit.
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