The Problems Of Rural Christian White Americans

[ronburgundy]

Trump's own racism proves that white racists do exist in the cities (a fact no one has ever questioned). But the fact that Trump's racism found far more support from rural areas areas proves that white racists are far more prevalent and in fact dominate in rural areas. The fact that rural voters ignored that Trump is a rich, urban, NorthEast "elitist" whom they would typically despise only shows just how much they loved his message of hateful racism, sexism, and xenophobia.

Even if a significant majority of all hard core racists live in cities, they aren't going to be the dominant demographic in those areas. Rural areas are so gerrymandered that even if hard core racists are not in the majority, they will dominate politically.

Gerrymandering has no relevance to Presidential elections. With some exceptions in CA, Trump won the large majority of votes in almost every US county (not gerrymandered district) that would count as "rural".Meanwhile, he lost almost all major Urban areas regardless of ethnic make-up and by margins that required majority support from urban white voters. For example, Manhattan NY is 60% whites, yet Trump got less than 10% of the vote there. IOW, less than 1 out of 6 white voters in Manhattan voted for Trump, in contrast to the 4-5 out of 6 white voters who voted for Trump in most rural counties, even in NY state.

Trump also lost many of the mostly-white suburbs closest to major urban centers. For example, Trump won Michigan by getting huge majorities in the most rural areas, but lost not only Detroit by a 37% margin but also losing neighboring suburb counties that are 75% white. The counties where Trump won by the largest margins where those farthest from urban areas and surrounded by other rural counties. The Upper Peninsula of MI has a single "city" with over 20,000 people. Like most of the UP, it is over 90% white. Yet, as the only non-rural area in the UP it is also the only county that didn't vote majority Trump.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

What is bigotry, what is racism, but refusing to recognize the common humanity in those who differ from ourselves?

You're absolutely right. And I'm seeing people (not you) in this thread saying that those inbred racist ignorant country folk don't even qualify for "common humanity."

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

I would argue that someone who can be so easily tricked into acting so grossly against their own most important self-interests is indeed worthy of ridicule.

Much of the error is in your assuming to know what they deem as their most important self-interests. Some of it is them being fooled, yes. But that isn't all there is to it. Some of their most important self-interests are not what yours would be if you swapped places with them.

I am telling you, it’s because health care, education and jobs is LESS IMPORTANT THAN STATUS to them. The proof is in the vote. They will vote for anyone who seeks to tell that that the white that they are born with gives them status over others. They care MORE about having status over blacks than having jobs over blacks.

No. The millions of people who voted Trump to the point that he won the election are not all just evil racists out to flaunt status over black people. It is almost amusing that you think that.

They do prioritize some things over what we see as "their interests", but it isn't all about race. It is issues such as abortion, gun control, religion, etc. Race may come into it a little as a factor (there are definitely some racists about), but it isn't even a shadow of what you are making it out to be. It is also very much about raising a middle finger to the establishment, demonization of the left (which is helped immensely by the over the top SJWs seen on TV and in news articles they read), and basic media brainwashing. Many of them actually BELIEVE that Obamacare made things worse for them and not better and hate Obama for it. They fear "socialism" because they equate it to communism and atheism.

This is a hell of a lot more complicated than wanting to feel superior to black people. Again, remember how many who voted for Trump this time voted for Obama last time.

 

[RavenSky]

I remember reading about disaffected white American quite awhile ago. It's collective plight is a very real thing. Those people deserve help just like anyone else does.

But here's where they lose me: they vote against their own interests. Yeah, that's not some great revelation; we all know that. But what kind of sympathy are we supposed to have for that, particularly when that stupidity has a very real effect on all of us?

You say you're dirt poor and there's no opportunities and that you can't afford to see a doctor? My response to that is okay, let's do something about that. But then when you vote for people who so fucking obviously are working to achieve the opposite of what you want, what do you expect?

Don't pour 10 gallons of gasoline on your floor, light a match to it, and then complain that your house is on fire. And certainly don't do it in the hopes that it'll catch your neighbors house on fire too and then turn around and demand that people respect that decision.

You actually can vote for people who, if they exist in large enough numbers, will actually provide you the help you want. So fucking vote that way. Don't vote for an orange blowhard and call it good because you're fucking over your perceived enemies.

Deep red states have been deep red for a long time now. How is that anyone's fault but theirs?

^^^ This is pretty much where I am on the topic; but to the OP article, I think there is a strong element of a particular brand of religion, too.

I also have to wonder how much is them (collectively) voting against their own interests vs gerrymandering.

I'm a little bit tired of these maps that show vast areas of mountain ranges and deserts colored red as though Trump won that surface area. PEOPLE are responsible for creating the society they want to live in, and most of the rules to be established for that society are going to be voted on based on where the PEOPLE are.

And the people voted for Clinton. Trump won because of the electoral college and gerrymandering. The real problem with rural christian white americans is that they hold a disproportionately large amount of political power relative to their actual population.

aa

agree!

 

[RavenSky]

stick “3 percenter” on their trucks.

???

 

[Toni]

Trump's own racism proves that white racists do exist in the cities (a fact no one has ever questioned). But the fact that Trump's racism found far more support from rural areas areas proves that white racists are far more prevalent and in fact dominate in rural areas. The fact that rural voters ignored that Trump is a rich, urban, NorthEast "elitist" whom they would typically despise only shows just how much they loved his message of hateful racism, sexism, and xenophobia.

Even if a significant majority of all hard core racists live in cities, they aren't going to be the dominant demographic in those areas. Rural areas are so gerrymandered that even if hard core racists are not in the majority, they will dominate politically.

Gerrymandering has no relevance to Presidential elections. With some exceptions in CA, Trump won the large majority of votes in almost every US county (not gerrymandered district) that would count as "rural".Meanwhile, he lost almost all major Urban areas regardless of ethnic make-up and by margins that required majority support from urban white voters. For example, Manhattan NY is 60% whites, yet Trump got less than 10% of the vote there. IOW, less than 1 out of 6 white voters in Manhattan voted for Trump, in contrast to the 4-5 out of 6 white voters who voted for Trump in most rural counties, even in NY state.

Trump also lost many of the mostly-white suburbs closest to major urban centers. For example, Trump won Michigan by getting huge majorities in the most rural areas, but lost not only Detroit by a 37% margin but also losing neighboring suburb counties that are 75% white. The counties where Trump won by the largest margins where those farthest from urban areas and surrounded by other rural counties. The Upper Peninsula of MI has a single "city" with over 20,000 people. Like most of the UP, it is over 90% white. Yet, as the only non-rural area in the UP it is also the only county that didn't vote majority Trump.

For that matter, Trump lost the popular vote. Full stop. End of story.

Gerrymandering does make a pretty significant difference as far as state elections go, and state elections do matter on the national stage. For instance, if Trump had won but the Dems had a majority in the Senate and in the House, as they might well have without gerrymandering, Trump would be much more impotent than he is given the dysfunction of his own party.

 

[Elixir]

Gerrymandering has no relevance to Presidential elections. With some exceptions in CA, Trump won the large majority of votes in almost every US county (not gerrymandered district) that would count as "rural".Meanwhile, he lost almost all major Urban areas regardless of ethnic make-up and by margins that required majority support from urban white voters. For example, Manhattan NY is 60% whites, yet Trump got less than 10% of the vote there. IOW, less than 1 out of 6 white voters in Manhattan voted for Trump, in contrast to the 4-5 out of 6 white voters who voted for Trump in most rural counties, even in NY state.

Trump also lost many of the mostly-white suburbs closest to major urban centers. For example, Trump won Michigan by getting huge majorities in the most rural areas, but lost not only Detroit by a 37% margin but also losing neighboring suburb counties that are 75% white. The counties where Trump won by the largest margins where those farthest from urban areas and surrounded by other rural counties. The Upper Peninsula of MI has a single "city" with over 20,000 people. Like most of the UP, it is over 90% white. Yet, as the only non-rural area in the UP it is also the only county that didn't vote majority Trump.

For that matter, Trump lost the popular vote. Full stop. End of story.

Gerrymandering does make a pretty significant difference as far as state elections go, and state elections do matter on the national stage. For instance, if Trump had won but the Dems had a majority in the Senate and in the House, as they might well have without gerrymandering, Trump would be much more impotent than he is given the dysfunction of his own party.

The effects of gerrymandering are profound, and yes, they do impact national elections, though not in the direct manner that they effect congressional races. The ability of the congressional majority to shape national dialogue is not trivial - witness the #releasethememo fiasco. It saves the 'pugs the money it would take to win those seats honestly, and that money can go to the presidential race. Etc etc etc.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

The millions of people who voted Trump to the point that he won the election are not all just evil racists out to flaunt status over black people. It is almost amusing that you think that.

They do prioritize some things over what we see as "their interests", but it isn't all about race. It is issues such as abortion, gun control, religion, etc. Race may come into it a little as a factor (there are definitely some racists about), but it isn't even a shadow of what you are making it out to be. It is also very much about raising a middle finger to the establishment, demonization of the left (which is helped immensely by the over the top SJWs seen on TV and in news articles they read), and basic media brainwashing. Many of them actually BELIEVE that Obamacare made things worse for them and not better and hate Obama for it. They fear "socialism" because they equate it to communism and atheism.

This is a hell of a lot more complicated than wanting to feel superior to black people. Again, remember how many who voted for Trump this time voted for Obama last time.

That's what it comes down to, the attitude of "I know what is best for you." Growing up poor and Hispanic, I saw that attitude on the face of every single smug progressive out to "help". I never saw an exception. Politicians and social workers, all of them started with "I know what is best for you" and ended with "you don't know what is best for you." If you disagree with what is best for you, then you don't know yourself as well as they know you, you don't know your needs as well as they know your needs, you don't know your values as well as they know your values.

I wish I could tell you I met progressive do-gooder who didn't meet that description. And if I made a choice they didn't approve of, it was because I "agreed" that they knew what was best but chose otherwise to spite them.

Since these Trump voters voted by a different value system, they don't actually know their own value system. They don't know it but they "share" the value system of the Trump opponent and only voted Trump in order to deliberately do the wrong thing.

 

[ronburgundy]

I don’t disagree that the Dems should reach out to the masses of voters who do not vote.

Keep in mind that Trump won in districts that Obama had won before. Twice.

Russian interference and fake news played a bigger role than we like to acknowledge. Personally, I think that Hillary lost the election with the deplorables remark. And deserved to lose.

Her remark was factually accurate. The evidence is overwhelming that a large % of those who were firmly in support of Trump were and are the deplorable racists and sexists she noted they are. Note that she said "half" his supporters, which amounts to about 13% of Americans. That is a generously low estimate of the number of Americans highly motivated by those deplorable views, so only those sympathetic to those views would have been upset by her remark. And certainly anyone more upset by it than by the clear racist and sexist remarks of Trump and his alt-right allies are deplorable by definition. It is unlikely a single person voted for Trump who otherwise would not have if she hadn't made that comment.

For the most part, people vote their pocketbooks.

Somewhat, but white Union workers voted Dem in the past mostly because of Dem support of Unions, despite themselves being far closer to the GOP on social and cultural issues.
What changed is that economically realities made it impossible for the Dems or any candidate to save those regional Union manufacturing jobs. So now, those workers have lost their only reason for voting Dem and made them to those who give voice to their own desire to use their bigotries as a way to attack scapegoats. Plus, the rust belt areas are actually doing better than before Obama, so their embrace of the GOP's racist nonsense about him can reflect nothing but the racist underbelly of those areas.
So, at best could only be voting for Trump to improve their pocketbook, if they already believed his racist nonsense about the causes of the economic woes.

Outlying areas and the rust belt lagged behind in the economic recovery.

Those areas fared better under Obama than Bush, so their switch to a Trump-led GOP cannot be explained simply by economic concerns.

Some will not recover for...generations. Consolidation (corporate, political) will see to that. That is a painful reality. Much more painful than you realize,

I realize it much more than those who live there and bought into Trumps nonsense, because I realize that their Union jobs are never coming back and there is no party or candidate who can ever bring them back. That's why I realize that Trump sold them on lies so obvious, and coming from a man and a party with decades of disdain for Union workers, that only people who found him personally appealing could delude themselves into believing those lies. What people would find a racist, sexist, xenophobe appealing? Those who shared those views all along but only voted Dem in the past because Dems have clearly been more Union friendly even if they cannot save regional manufacturing jobs.

this of you who so casually cry out at the bigotry of small town and rural America

I don't do it casually at all. I do it after reflecting upon the mountain of evidence that rural America is and has long been more highly prone to racist, sexist, xenophobic ideology that it masks with religion and monikers like "traditional values". In large part it is an inherent byproduct of the more racial and cultural homogeneity of rural areas compared to urban ones, combined with dominance of religions which promote such ideologies. Polls show that the majority of rural whites say that "Christian values are under attack", and I hope I don't need to explain what bigotries that is code for.

As for the idea that the Fed is ignoring rural areas in favor of cities, that view is predictably held mostly my rural whites but not rural minorities whose economic situation is even worse. The reason for this is obvious. The idea of the Fed favoring cities is just code for giving welfare to minorities, so its mostly a view held by people prone to view racial minorities as less deserving.

Rural America strongly favored McCain over Obama prior to the recession and when whatever negative impacts were being felt were under 8 years of the GOP. So, the overall rural-urban split on Trump has nothing to do with rural areas being left behind in the recovery. Rather it has to do with what the GOP was in 2008 that it became even more of in 2016, which is the party that directly caters to racism and xenophobia.

 

[ronburgundy]

Gerrymandering has no relevance to Presidential elections. With some exceptions in CA, Trump won the large majority of votes in almost every US county (not gerrymandered district) that would count as "rural".Meanwhile, he lost almost all major Urban areas regardless of ethnic make-up and by margins that required majority support from urban white voters. For example, Manhattan NY is 60% whites, yet Trump got less than 10% of the vote there. IOW, less than 1 out of 6 white voters in Manhattan voted for Trump, in contrast to the 4-5 out of 6 white voters who voted for Trump in most rural counties, even in NY state.

Trump also lost many of the mostly-white suburbs closest to major urban centers. For example, Trump won Michigan by getting huge majorities in the most rural areas, but lost not only Detroit by a 37% margin but also losing neighboring suburb counties that are 75% white. The counties where Trump won by the largest margins where those farthest from urban areas and surrounded by other rural counties. The Upper Peninsula of MI has a single "city" with over 20,000 people. Like most of the UP, it is over 90% white. Yet, as the only non-rural area in the UP it is also the only county that didn't vote majority Trump.

For that matter, Trump lost the popular vote. Full stop. End of story.

Gerrymandering does make a pretty significant difference as far as state elections go, and state elections do matter on the national stage. For instance, if Trump had won but the Dems had a majority in the Senate and in the House, as they might well have without gerrymandering, Trump would be much more impotent than he is given the dysfunction of his own party.

The effects of gerrymandering are profound, and yes, they do impact national elections, though not in the direct manner that they effect congressional races. The ability of the congressional majority to shape national dialogue is not trivial - witness the #releasethememo fiasco. It saves the 'pugs the money it would take to win those seats honestly, and that money can go to the presidential race. Etc etc etc.

If you take all white Americans living in rural counties not near any major cities, they voted close to 3 to 1 for Trump. Gerrymandering of districts has almost nothing to do with that. And most rural areas would go GOP no matter how you created districts. Gerrymandering affects outcomes in mostly suburban areas that create the mixed border between urban Dem strongholds and rural GOP strongholds. In those mixed areas, how the lines are drawn can make the difference.

Rural voters don't hear racist, sexist, xenophobic dialogue because of the makeup of Congress. They hear because that is the dialogue they prefer, which is why they tune into only Fox News and why they attend churches where that kind of ideology is promoted.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

That's what it comes down to, the attitude of "I know what is best for you." Growing up poor and Hispanic, I saw that attitude on the face of every single smug progressive out to "help". I never saw an exception. Politicians and social workers, all of them started with "I know what is best for you" and ended with "you don't know what is best for you." If you disagree with what is best for you, then you don't know yourself as well as they know you, you don't know your needs as well as they know your needs, you don't know your values as well as they know your values.

I wish I could tell you I met progressive do-gooder who didn't meet that description. And if I made a choice they didn't approve of, it was because I "agreed" that they knew what was best but chose otherwise to spite them.

Since these Trump voters voted by a different value system, they don't actually know their own value system. They don't know it but they "share" the value system of the Trump opponent and only voted Trump in order to deliberately do the wrong thing.

It amazes me how they can be so patronizing and self-centred as to insist you must view the world as they do, and yet claim to be "progressive", inclusive, empathetic and liberal.

 

[Elixir]

Rural voters don't hear racist, sexist, xenophobic dialogue because of the makeup of Congress. They hear because that is the dialogue they prefer, which is why they tune into only Fox News and why they attend churches where that kind of ideology is promoted.

I think you underestimate the power of confirmation bias, when it comes from sources on high such as congresscritters. If said critters were to come out and let their constituents know that FOX News is State media that lies to support the administration in power, they might (or might not) begin to consider the genesis of their own beliefs, and even emotions. But why would you do that, when FOX News is telling those same rubes to vote for you?

 

[bilby]

It's not hatred. It's fear.

People are terrified of that which they do not understand, particularly when they are told by those they trust that they have good reason to be.

It's easy to make a person fearful. It's even easier if they are not well traveled, or well educated, and have had little exposure to reality outside their bubble.

Black men will rob you or rape you (or both). Immigrants will take your jobs and your women. Obama will take your guns. Everyone is out to get you, to take what is yours and to leave you with nothing. Just look around - see how everything is going to shit? Of course it is. People are taking YOUR STUFF. Taxes are THEFT. Atheists are trying to KILL BABIES. Muslims want to blow you to smithereens. EVERYONE who isn't like you is out to get you. But it's OK, because Trump will protect you from all of that. He will build a wall; He will drain the swamp, and fill Washington with people who CARE about these terrifying things that are lurking out there waiting to get YOU.

The fact that your fears are largely imaginary, and that therefore anyone who claims to be able to protect you from them is either a lunatic, a liar, or both, is impossible to grasp, when every part of your life experience points to things you should be terrified by.

You NEED those guns, for your own defence - despite the fact that people in the rest of the developed world don't have guns for self defence, and don't get robbed or raped any more than your people do.
You NEED that religion; Satan is trying to get your immortal soul - despite the fact that there's no evidence that you even own such a thing.
You NEED that border wall; Those illegals are bad hombres who don't send their best - despite the fact that illegal immigrants in the US contribute far more to the nation than they take out of it.

You NEED to be terrified; Everything different or remote is seriously scary shit, and it is coming to get YOU.

The Trump base (And the One Nation voters in Australia, and the Brexiteers in the UK) are all dangerously paranoid lunatics. They are the salt of the Earth - Hard, square, and bad for your health. But the problem is not that they hate (most don't). It is that they FEAR.

A strange dog won't bite you because it hates you - It can't hate you because it doesn't know you. It bites because it fears you - and wants to get its retaliation in first. That doesn't make it any less dangerous to you, but it does (perhaps) give you the start of a strategy for dealing with the danger. Fox News and AM radio are like the kids who have been throwing fire-crackers at the stray dog, making it terrified and jumpy. They make sure that it is constantly reminded that anything unfamiliar is a threat. The first step to opening any kind of non-hostile relationship is to remove those constant psychological attacks. Until that happens, there's no possible solution that doesn't end with one or both parties getting hurt.

But there's nothing so certain to grab people's attention than informing them of a threat. And as long as getting people's attention en-masse is as hugely lucrative as it is currently for organizations like Fox News, they will keep on inventing and exaggerating threats for profit. Today's US Citizens are perhaps the safest humans who have ever lived. But they are scared of terrorists, or immigrants, or atheists, or communism, or fluoride, or taxation, or miscegenation, or satan, or D&D, or Rock n Roll, or any of dozens of things that are not a real threat to them at all. And most of all, they are scared of smart people, of book-learning (other than from the Bible, of course), and of education. Because if you want to keep people scared of things that don't exist, it's vital to condition them to avoid asking searching questions.

 

[braces_for_impact]

I think the rural, white Christian America that most of us are talking about definitely does exist, and on and off, I've lived in it. I do much prefer urban life for me and my children. It should go without saying, but of course not everyone that lives in rural areas, or is Christian or white has the same views that we're really talking about in this thread. But we are talking about a select group of people, that do tend to gather in rural areas and believe the same things. In fact, pick any topic you like, and it will be a very highly correlated prediction about many other topics you could discuss. Do a poll in rural areas, and get someone's opinion on abortion, gun rights, climate change, abortion, religion or gay rights, even on who suffers more from racism (blacks or whites) globalism, or economics, and you'll know with a pretty high degree of certainty their other positions on any other of those topics.

Especially in left circles nowadays, there are many that (rightfully) cry foul and warn about identity politics. Rural, white Christian America is the original and most potent from of identity politics. Yet, I've seen many on the left condemn identity politics in their own spheres of influence, but call for calm and understanding and kids gloves for the version on the right. That seems hypocritical to me.

 

[SimpleDon]

I would argue that someone who can be so easily tricked into acting so grossly against their own most important self-interests is indeed worthy of ridicule.

Much of the error is in your assuming to know what they deem as their most important self-interests. Some of it is them being fooled, yes. But that isn't all there is to it. Some of their most important self-interests are not what yours would be if you swapped places with them.

I am telling you, it’s because health care, education and jobs is LESS IMPORTANT THAN STATUS to them. The proof is in the vote. They will vote for anyone who seeks to tell that that the white that they are born with gives them status over others. They care MORE about having status over blacks than having jobs over blacks.

No. The millions of people who voted Trump to the point that he won the election are not all just evil racists out to flaunt status over black people. It is almost amusing that you think that.

They do prioritize some things over what we see as "their interests", but it isn't all about race. It is issues such as abortion, gun control, religion, etc. Race may come into it a little as a factor (there are definitely some racists about), but it isn't even a shadow of what you are making it out to be. It is also very much about raising a middle finger to the establishment, demonization of the left (which is helped immensely by the over the top SJWs seen on TV and in news articles they read), and basic media brainwashing. Many of them actually BELIEVE that Obamacare made things worse for them and not better and hate Obama for it. They fear "socialism" because they equate it to communism and atheism.

This is a hell of a lot more complicated than wanting to feel superior to black people. Again, remember how many who voted for Trump this time voted for Obama last time.

My brother in law in rural Missouri voted for Trump. He is not a racist. He doesn't watch Fox News and has no computer and only a vague idea what Facebook is. He is not religious and doesn't care about abortion. He is literally live today because of ObamaCare. He had stage 4 cancer and had three surgeries and a year of chemotherapy, paid for by ObamaCare. He is now on Social Security disability and Medicare, his son is on SNAP, the same programs that are 1, 2, 3, and 5 on the Republican hit list, he doesn't receive any foreign aid.

He voted for Trump because he thought that Trump would shake things up in Washington. He doesn't believe that Hillary would do anything but to continue the same feed the rich policies that have dominated political life in Washington DC for his whole adult life. I haven't talked to him since October when he was down here, but as of then he was still happy with Trump because Trump had a lot of people upset.

I spite of his and a large part of his families dependence on government programs that the Republicans want to end he is still happy with his votes. He sees no contradiction in this, because there is no way that the Republicans could end these programs, a very astute observation.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

That's what it comes down to, the attitude of "I know what is best for you." Growing up poor and Hispanic, I saw that attitude on the face of every single smug progressive out to "help". I never saw an exception. Politicians and social workers, all of them started with "I know what is best for you" and ended with "you don't know what is best for you." If you disagree with what is best for you, then you don't know yourself as well as they know you, you don't know your needs as well as they know your needs, you don't know your values as well as they know your values.

I wish I could tell you I met progressive do-gooder who didn't meet that description. And if I made a choice they didn't approve of, it was because I "agreed" that they knew what was best but chose otherwise to spite them.

Since these Trump voters voted by a different value system, they don't actually know their own value system. They don't know it but they "share" the value system of the Trump opponent and only voted Trump in order to deliberately do the wrong thing.

It amazes me how they can be so patronizing and self-centred as to insist you must view the world as they do, and yet claim to be "progressive", inclusive, empathetic and liberal.

It amazes me how first I can post the Cracked article, and then I can post my personal experience, and people in this thread are STILL saying that it is all about fear and racism because that is how their own value system judges it.

 

[scombrid]

Since these Trump voters voted by a different value system, they don't actually know their own value system.

Oh, they know their value system.

So do the Islamists and every other fundamentalist religion that has ever taken its society down the shitter while the rest of the world passes them by. They cling to their values and blame the rest of the world for their problems.

The Corporatists know how to push their buttons too and their religious leaders Billy Graham and company have totally sold their asses out to the multinational oligarchs.

 

[Rhea]

Where do you think that Donald Trump grew up? Seriously?

Donald Trump grew up in a segregated rich white society in NYC.

Mostly people are biased when they don't know other groups of people. That happens everywhere, not just in rural areas. Rural America does not look like it did a generation ago. There are many more people of color in small towns and rural areas, many more immigrants.

Not in my rural town. We now have 2 people who are black. Not 2%, 2 people. There used to be 3, but their son went to college. There are 2 Asian people. They are the adopted children of a white family.

All. Of the rest are white. 75% are registered as Republican.

But they are still people. People do tend to be suspicious and fear and dislike people they don't know, especially if they look different or speak a different language or have one of those funny religions.

Hence the common knowledge that rural areas, which tend to be less diverse, also tend to act tribal and more bigoted.

Not all Trump voters were in rural areas.

But most rural areas voted Trump. You know this.

Rural areas were hit pretty hard by the economic downturn of 2007-8 and have been much slower to recover. Much of what anchored rural areas is disappearing as things like Walmart take over, drive out local businesses and jobs dry up for people. Economic insecurity magnifies all other insecurities. It's easy to pin a problem on (not you) and the more (not you ) doesn't obviously resemble you, the easier it is to pin it on (not you).

Right. Bigotry, paranoia, fear voting.

Look at this thread: plenty of people are quite willing to pin racism and Trump on rural voters who are obviously ignorant bigots or else they would have been smart enough to move to the big cities where they would have learned not to be racist, despite the fact that racism is alive and well in big cities.

What? No. No one said they should have moved to a city. Just said that their racism is what drove their vote, not their economic hardship.


I’ve lived in towns with populations under 3000 for 40 of my 53 years. I live in one now, I’m raising my children here and have been for 20 years. I served as an elected official here. I’m not talking about what I think they might think based on stopping at a flea market or spending a week there. I _am_ the “they” in this equation. And I know why 300 of my fellow towns people voted Dem and why 900 of them voted Repub. I’ve heard them stand up in the town hall and expound on it. Over and over.

- - - Updated - - -

Most stereotypes are fairly well accepted. That's the problem.

Question: Who do you suppose performs most of the manual labor related to agriculture?
Where do you think they live?
Where do you think they were born?

In the rural agricultural area where I live, the work is done by either poor white people or by transient immigrants (possibly many illegal) who are kept apart in work camp housing that does not allow interaction with the local white people.

Why are the transient farm workers kept apart so that they do not interact with local (white) people?

Who decided that?

I guess the people who built the trailers so far from the town that they couldn’t walk there.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Since these Trump voters voted by a different value system, they don't actually know their own value system.

Oh, they know their value system.

So do the Islamists and every other fundamentalist religion that has ever taken its society down the shitter while the rest of the world passes them by. They cling to their values and blame the rest of the world for their problems.

The Corporatists know how to push their buttons too and their religious leaders Billy Graham and company have totally sold their asses out to the multinational oligarchs.

What is a "corporatist"?

 

[Rhea]

What is bigotry, what is racism, but refusing to recognize the common humanity in those who differ from ourselves?

You're absolutely right. And I'm seeing people (not you) in this thread saying that those inbred racist ignorant country folk don't even qualify for "common humanity."

No, you’re seeing people say that those country folk who are racist donb’t even understand “common Humanity”