Do you mean technologically, development wise, or ideologically?
Yes?
One of the things I'm thinking of is how ethnically and culturally monolithic those areas are (with certain exceptions -- ever-growing Hispanic populations, especially in the rural South, and poor African-American communities), and also the lack of a socialized safety net. Rural Europeans may be more conservative than their urban brethren, but they haven't been left to fend for themselves by their governments (have they?).
Rural China is largely being abandoned by Beijing, because it's too expensive and cumbersome to maintain services across a huge swath of land. Hence their massive urbanization plan (which may be jettisoned or at least curtailed by Xi, but that's a topic for Eastasia thread).
Rural America is steadily dying as well, though it's at the hand of the free market rather than any kind of planned obsolescence.
@Rolan: Yeah, I know. But honestly, I'm starting to think we deserve it. Even those urban areas have plenty of people who are anything but progressive.
Alabama and Mississippi suffer from an even more pronounced lack of cities. Birmingham and Montgomery are the two largest in AL, and they're each barely 200,000 people. Mississippi is even worse, with only one city of 100,000 or more (Jackson). And having been to Jackson -- yeah. I thought I came in on the "bad side of town" and found that no, that's pretty much the whole city.
I'm not saying these things as some ivory-tower big-city liberal who doesn't know the "real" country. I was born in rural Iowa, I grew up in rural NC. Hell, I *live* in rural NC (although very close to the bright blue liberal colony that is Hillsborough). I've been something of an apologist for the rural South for most of my life. But I've come to the conclusion that no, these are not "good people, just set in their ways".
When you have people that will openly tell you that allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor makes them *more* likely to vote for someone, that's not a good person, no matter what their underlying reasoning is.
If they believe it happened, but don't care because "people did that in the Bible" -- not a good person.
If they believe it happened, but don't care because "we can't have a Democrat win" -- not a good person.
If they're not sure whether it's true or not, but don't care because "we can't have a Democrat win" -- not a good person.
If they're not sure whether it's true or not, but think "God has forgiven him" (I've read an interview where a woman espoused that opinion) -- not a good person.
If they refuse to believe it because "FAKE NEWS" -- not a good person.
If they're not sure whether it happened, but don't care because "Haw haw, my vote'll piss off a liberal" -- not a good person.
@Dunamsideos -- Ask me if I give a shit. No really, ask me.
I've probably spent more years than you've been alive making the same argument that you're making -- that the South/rural people/conservative/etc. are unfairly maligned. And yet, every year I've watched them *become* more malign. More eager to do stupid and self-destructive things just to score an ideological point. More willing to excuse the inexcusable, as long as its in the service of "their side". More consumed with conspiracy theories and beliefs in a world that increasingly looks totally unlike the reality I live in.
At some point, I gave up making excuses for them.
I used to be a proud Southerner. I'm not anymore. (I'm still a proud North Carolinian, but if we continue electing the worst goddamn legislators in the United States, that's up for reassessment as well).
I used to be willing to overlook political differences with family members. I'm not anymore. My father and I haven't corresponded since shortly after the election, and I get the feeling that's a permanent state.
I used to think "Well, they mean well....". I don't anymore. I've seen too much evidence that no, they don't mean well at all.
So yeah...maybe I'm being tribal too. But I'm completely out of fucks to give about even-handedness and "fairness". I've seen those concepts shit on so many times by people who are basically bullies who hide behind the notion of compromise and bipartisanship when they're in the minority, and then turn around and act like petty tyrants when they're in power. FUCK THOSE PEOPLE. With a sharp stick. In the eye.
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Topic: AmeriPol thread (Read 4454842 times)