I am a white working-class rural female voter. And I am also a Democrat. I work in heath care and I watched in real time as my neighbors went from joyous relief at the arrival of the covid vaccine, thrilled to get their lives back, to "Hell, no I'm not letting them inject their 5G wireless tracking devices in me. Besides, covid is a hoax to get more money for hospitals."
A lot of those folks died. So many, in fact, that our 26 bed hospital had to convert our cafeteria into a morgue for two years. We had covid patients refuse any treatment except Ivermectin. Then we pulled a sheet over their faces, rolled their dead bodies down to the cafeteria, and made room for the next guy in a red hat, knowing he'd be in the cafeteria in a day or two also.
They're a dying breed. They die in droves from disinformation and alcohol and despair, and in 20 years we'll look back and say "THAT was a weird time, wasn't it?
I don't know. It's not my job to challenge their politics, it's my job to keep them alive for another 12 hour shift. But I know they're not nihilists. They have families who sit by their bedsides and beg them to live. Brainwashing? I wish I knew.
partisanship is very powerful; when people are told by their leaders that their partisan identity is linked to ivermectin and covid denial—or to gun ownership—they will embrace those things, even at a risk to their own lives. they're literally dying for fascism. it's nightmarish.
I think it’s a factor of how the garbage is wrapped or packaged.
When reality exceeds peoples comfort level of complexity, then they, we, tend to be vulnerable to simpler solutions.
We have all been three years old when changes of plan drives us crazy until we grow out of it.
Therefore, we can all regress back there under enough stress.
We have all been two years old when to be told no! Drives us into a rage of shame and opposition.
So when MAGA models for us how easy it is to go back to those simple ages when More powerful people were in charge, we are all vulnerable unless we learned complexity through maturity.
For this veteran of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, the resurgence of racism is too disheartening to be borne. Sometimes it seems that all that work just resulted in more minorities being in TV commercials. What you say in this analysis seems too true and ties in with so much more we see today.
eye-opening, I had no idea...particularly noting that the myth of rural purity, of white communities untainted by other races not bc they have defended their communities from invaders of color but bc they have relentlessly expelled nonwhites from them...and Jefferson as the promulgator of the myth of rural whites as the *real* Americans...tangent, but I am so sick of the general treatment of Dems as remedial children who need to be guided on when to be worried and when not to—we're always either "bed-wetters" who freak out like Una O'Connor in Bride of Frankenstein, or we're too stupid to be sufficiently alarmed about some supposed threat or other. such stories often begin with the pundit saying, "okay, Dems, time for some tough love." Can not recall a single instance of GOPs being similarly coached in their emotional states, which are apparently always appropriate and properly calibrated...
::White supremacy is popular among white rural voters, as it is with many white urban voters. That is the problem for Democrats in rural areas, and it is not a problem they should fix by becoming more like the GOP.::
Ain't that the truth! My Maternal Grandma who lives in San Diego, CA, who I loved dearly, was...a bigot, no two ways about it. My Uncle, who I haven't spoken to in decades and who lives in a small town on the South Dakota/Minnesota border, is also a bigot. Guess which one dropped N-bombs into casual conversation, and which one whispered "code words", when talking about Black people?
My Uncle, who lives in a town so White that an Italian family that's been there for two-three generations is considered "colored", and only sees a Black person when he travels to Minneapolis, Arizona or Hawaii, has no problem using the N-Word. My Grandma, who lived in a mid-sized city with a huge U.S. Navy presence and one of America's biggest cities less than two hours away, hasn't used that particular racist slur in at least four decades, and possibly longer—because she saw and interacted with Black people all the time, sometimes even having them as her immediate superiors at work.
So yeah—White people, especially older White People, are gonna Bigot. It's just a LOT easier when everybody around you is White, too.
Really on target, I can attest. I live in one of the most segregated cities in the country and really that's saying a lot. But they don't talk about the reason for the concentration of POC in the urban areas ever locally, even on the occasions we are discussing the long-term effects of prior discrimination like red-lining and building expressways through their communities. But the numbers say it better. 44.2% of the African American population of the state live in my county but when you shrink it down just a little bit it jumps to 52% of the population live in the Louisville Metro Area. That's kind of amazing just to see it so clearly. And it's disheartening when I think about our state government's priorities lately and even our Democratic city government and their focus.
Amen. Well said. That Politico article was so weak. It's so difficult to make that "the rural community is special and not being courted correctly" when the race elephant in the room so obviously looms and is being ignored. It astounds me that writers keep trying.
There is one piece of Jefferson's approach that I like, if you just take out the "white" part. I like the idea that rural voters are the "heart of the country". That is, all rural voters, and Noah points out that Democrats need to speak to ALL of them. Somehow.
I tried to find the same information about Illinois and I couldn't easily, but looking at Chicagoland demographics compared to the rest of the state, it's just as stark as Kentucky and might be moreso.
I am resistant as well when it's termed as "Real Americans." I live in full-on suburbia and really do not care for it. I would like to live in the heart of a large city, the one I'm most familiar with being Chicago. Either that or actually living in the country, with property to take care of and perhaps start my own farming.
For some reason, it seems important to me to let these people know that at least I see them? If the intent of Republicans is to convince these people that I am their enemy, I feel the need to counter that personally, because there are real issues affecting these people that "government" is not addressing, most importantly, jobs. Or at the very least make an attempt to explain globalization in a way most people can understand.
I don’t know. Biden’s policy wins have paid off the most for rural, red-voting states. They are getting a lot from the blue states they despise. Maybe we should open their eyes somehow. Their MAGA red representatives vote against their interests all the time, then take credit for positive changes that result when the bills pass in spite of them. If a person’s motivation to vote is based on racism and homophobia, it won’t matter how much Democrat policies help them.
Exactly, and that's where I come in and ask the question, "What is the best way to educate voters?". I do not belong to a political party, but it is obvious that Biden is doing what you say in helping red states (and he should). But what is the prevailing message, the piece that helps connect with these voters? I don't know, but I think it starts with emphasizing that we are not looking at a liberal vs. conservative playing field like before, rather liberal vs. illiberal.
I think you're just looking to cut off our collective nose to spite your face. There is no reaching these people, because they're bigots at heart.
OK, not ALL of them are bigots— but the vast majority are, and we just need to work around them until they die off. Those who weren't necessarily bigoted are more than likely the kind of corporate types who support Trump anyway because he doesn't demand all those pesky regulations and gives them lots of lovely tax breaks
Wow, that last paragraph is such a fine condensation of this entire excellent article!
You nailed it. The points here finally moved a tired old discussion off the dime.
Can’t thank you enough!
💯
I am a white working-class rural female voter. And I am also a Democrat. I work in heath care and I watched in real time as my neighbors went from joyous relief at the arrival of the covid vaccine, thrilled to get their lives back, to "Hell, no I'm not letting them inject their 5G wireless tracking devices in me. Besides, covid is a hoax to get more money for hospitals."
A lot of those folks died. So many, in fact, that our 26 bed hospital had to convert our cafeteria into a morgue for two years. We had covid patients refuse any treatment except Ivermectin. Then we pulled a sheet over their faces, rolled their dead bodies down to the cafeteria, and made room for the next guy in a red hat, knowing he'd be in the cafeteria in a day or two also.
They're a dying breed. They die in droves from disinformation and alcohol and despair, and in 20 years we'll look back and say "THAT was a weird time, wasn't it?
What happened to them? How can an otherwise thinking person fall for so much garbage at such a high risk to themselves? It’s chilling.
I don't know. It's not my job to challenge their politics, it's my job to keep them alive for another 12 hour shift. But I know they're not nihilists. They have families who sit by their bedsides and beg them to live. Brainwashing? I wish I knew.
partisanship is very powerful; when people are told by their leaders that their partisan identity is linked to ivermectin and covid denial—or to gun ownership—they will embrace those things, even at a risk to their own lives. they're literally dying for fascism. it's nightmarish.
I think it’s a factor of how the garbage is wrapped or packaged.
When reality exceeds peoples comfort level of complexity, then they, we, tend to be vulnerable to simpler solutions.
We have all been three years old when changes of plan drives us crazy until we grow out of it.
Therefore, we can all regress back there under enough stress.
We have all been two years old when to be told no! Drives us into a rage of shame and opposition.
So when MAGA models for us how easy it is to go back to those simple ages when More powerful people were in charge, we are all vulnerable unless we learned complexity through maturity.
Thanks for asking a good question.
For this veteran of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, the resurgence of racism is too disheartening to be borne. Sometimes it seems that all that work just resulted in more minorities being in TV commercials. What you say in this analysis seems too true and ties in with so much more we see today.
Shorter version: use your energy to motivate your friends don't waste it trying to convert your enemies.
eye-opening, I had no idea...particularly noting that the myth of rural purity, of white communities untainted by other races not bc they have defended their communities from invaders of color but bc they have relentlessly expelled nonwhites from them...and Jefferson as the promulgator of the myth of rural whites as the *real* Americans...tangent, but I am so sick of the general treatment of Dems as remedial children who need to be guided on when to be worried and when not to—we're always either "bed-wetters" who freak out like Una O'Connor in Bride of Frankenstein, or we're too stupid to be sufficiently alarmed about some supposed threat or other. such stories often begin with the pundit saying, "okay, Dems, time for some tough love." Can not recall a single instance of GOPs being similarly coached in their emotional states, which are apparently always appropriate and properly calibrated...
Fantastic piece. It really puts the BS myth to rest.
::White supremacy is popular among white rural voters, as it is with many white urban voters. That is the problem for Democrats in rural areas, and it is not a problem they should fix by becoming more like the GOP.::
Ain't that the truth! My Maternal Grandma who lives in San Diego, CA, who I loved dearly, was...a bigot, no two ways about it. My Uncle, who I haven't spoken to in decades and who lives in a small town on the South Dakota/Minnesota border, is also a bigot. Guess which one dropped N-bombs into casual conversation, and which one whispered "code words", when talking about Black people?
My Uncle, who lives in a town so White that an Italian family that's been there for two-three generations is considered "colored", and only sees a Black person when he travels to Minneapolis, Arizona or Hawaii, has no problem using the N-Word. My Grandma, who lived in a mid-sized city with a huge U.S. Navy presence and one of America's biggest cities less than two hours away, hasn't used that particular racist slur in at least four decades, and possibly longer—because she saw and interacted with Black people all the time, sometimes even having them as her immediate superiors at work.
So yeah—White people, especially older White People, are gonna Bigot. It's just a LOT easier when everybody around you is White, too.
Really on target, I can attest. I live in one of the most segregated cities in the country and really that's saying a lot. But they don't talk about the reason for the concentration of POC in the urban areas ever locally, even on the occasions we are discussing the long-term effects of prior discrimination like red-lining and building expressways through their communities. But the numbers say it better. 44.2% of the African American population of the state live in my county but when you shrink it down just a little bit it jumps to 52% of the population live in the Louisville Metro Area. That's kind of amazing just to see it so clearly. And it's disheartening when I think about our state government's priorities lately and even our Democratic city government and their focus.
Amen. Well said. That Politico article was so weak. It's so difficult to make that "the rural community is special and not being courted correctly" when the race elephant in the room so obviously looms and is being ignored. It astounds me that writers keep trying.
https://stateline.org/2020/10/05/few-in-number-black-residents-in-appalachia-push-for-justice/
There is one piece of Jefferson's approach that I like, if you just take out the "white" part. I like the idea that rural voters are the "heart of the country". That is, all rural voters, and Noah points out that Democrats need to speak to ALL of them. Somehow.
I'm pretty resistant to the idea that any one region is more the heart of the country than any other. Cities are great!
I tried to find the same information about Illinois and I couldn't easily, but looking at Chicagoland demographics compared to the rest of the state, it's just as stark as Kentucky and might be moreso.
I am resistant as well when it's termed as "Real Americans." I live in full-on suburbia and really do not care for it. I would like to live in the heart of a large city, the one I'm most familiar with being Chicago. Either that or actually living in the country, with property to take care of and perhaps start my own farming.
For some reason, it seems important to me to let these people know that at least I see them? If the intent of Republicans is to convince these people that I am their enemy, I feel the need to counter that personally, because there are real issues affecting these people that "government" is not addressing, most importantly, jobs. Or at the very least make an attempt to explain globalization in a way most people can understand.
I don’t know. Biden’s policy wins have paid off the most for rural, red-voting states. They are getting a lot from the blue states they despise. Maybe we should open their eyes somehow. Their MAGA red representatives vote against their interests all the time, then take credit for positive changes that result when the bills pass in spite of them. If a person’s motivation to vote is based on racism and homophobia, it won’t matter how much Democrat policies help them.
Exactly, and that's where I come in and ask the question, "What is the best way to educate voters?". I do not belong to a political party, but it is obvious that Biden is doing what you say in helping red states (and he should). But what is the prevailing message, the piece that helps connect with these voters? I don't know, but I think it starts with emphasizing that we are not looking at a liberal vs. conservative playing field like before, rather liberal vs. illiberal.
I think you're just looking to cut off our collective nose to spite your face. There is no reaching these people, because they're bigots at heart.
OK, not ALL of them are bigots— but the vast majority are, and we just need to work around them until they die off. Those who weren't necessarily bigoted are more than likely the kind of corporate types who support Trump anyway because he doesn't demand all those pesky regulations and gives them lots of lovely tax breaks