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, and perhaps the ways that voters and politicians in more cosmopolitan areas don't understand the sufferi...
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.
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.
Obviously, but ignoring the rhetoric spouted by the left wing is omitting a huge factor as to how this came to be.
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?
How about pinko commie?
“The other side is acting like dipshits, let’s do the exact fucking thing” lmao
Wow.
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.
So… ignoring what conservatives say about themselves doesn’t seem to be working out so well for Democrats? Hrm, imagine that…
Though incoherent, your comment does point to a major cause of conservative voters constantly voting against their own interests: reading comprehension & general education.
Hahaha brutal
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).
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, [email protected]) 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?:-(
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.
Rural conservatives with a persecution complex?
In myyyyyy America?
It was a convenient outrage
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?