Born in Florida, grew up in New England and lived most of my life in the South, it’s always angered me to hear coastal types (particularly New Yorkers or Los Angeles residents)deride the South in blanket terms. Especially when you look closely at it, the Midwest is more solidly conservative. My best friend’s Hispanic husband was harassed, assaulted and thrown in jail; why? For drinking a beer and watching revelers at the IOWA state fair. My southern neighbors and friends were way more diverse than the North. It’s not perfect but neither should it be smeared as seems popular. (Only “senior” seems to be as ok to deride as Southerners. When I took my then 20 year old to see The Simpsons Movie, the first comment they had “why does the village idiot talk with a Southern accent “. Thank you soooo much for your writing. This is a class war against the middle, working classes who keep getting pushed further down into poverty. Bravo to you!
I’m hoping I didn’t just understand you to make sweeping, broad generalizations against so-called class of people that you “think” are scapegoating you in particular.
Unfortunately, for those of us in the Appalachians, the current vice president of the United States claims to be a hillbilly and some people assume that that means that all hillbillies are just like him.
I appreciate this comment and I think it’s fair to say I could have worded things more deliberately to make the distinction clearer - I appreciate the accountability check. Genuinely.
My intent is to point out that, in doing this podcast for 5+ years, nearly every person who has levied this criticism has fallen into the category of person I mentioned because part of the argument is pointing to their residency in a “blue state” as a point of superiority. The distinction I should have made clearer is that I’m not labeling all center left liberals from “blue states” as a monolith who think the same way.
No worries. I’ve run into the type as well, I just worry that without bridges people will forget that it is community that keeps people safer. Thanks for the Bitter Southerner link. Great site. Their beliefs print felt like “home.”
He doesn’t actually claim to be a hillbilly. He claims to have risen up from that status and now denigrates hillbillies every chance he can get. He built his brand on that distinction.
My favorite T-shirt (now sold out) is from Bitter Southerner (you should check them out, if you don’t know of them: https://bittersoutherner.com/) and says “Hillbillies Need No Elegy.” I was hoping I wouldn’t need to wear it after the election, but here we are.
Hmmm. After the Brexit vote in the UK, I despised the people and the places that voted for such a mean-spirited act of national insanity. It’s hard still, not to feel that way, but they were sold certainties, by conmen. A phrase arose: ‘Contempt for the conmen, compassion for the conned’ in an attempt to bridge that divide.
Thanks for pointing out the unproductive nature of left/right red/blue thinking. Binary approaches to multifaceted problems will create as many problems as they solve!
Like to point out that blue states are not monolithic either. I live in Washington State, yet there has not been a Democratic candidate for congress that has come close to winning in 30 years. Tom Foley was voted out after a large outside money tv campaign fear mongering that DC (my hometown) would become our 51st state. It was definitely a racist ad campaign and it worked.
agreed. i wrote an academic paper on this very subject. to date, my most reliable comrades have been rural folx who don’t fart around when it comes to solidarity.
Thanks for this post. What practical suggestions do you have for blue-staters like me to build this solidarity across the red-blue states divide? (The winner-take-all electoral college system is surely to blame for at least some of the all-or-nothing labeling of states- in reality of course they’re all purple. Some red-purple, some blue-purple, but all purple.)
Maybe the massive tech-bro oligarch love fest going on right now will finally wise everyone up that it’s always been the rich guys against the rest of us…?
Born in Florida, grew up in New England and lived most of my life in the South, it’s always angered me to hear coastal types (particularly New Yorkers or Los Angeles residents)deride the South in blanket terms. Especially when you look closely at it, the Midwest is more solidly conservative. My best friend’s Hispanic husband was harassed, assaulted and thrown in jail; why? For drinking a beer and watching revelers at the IOWA state fair. My southern neighbors and friends were way more diverse than the North. It’s not perfect but neither should it be smeared as seems popular. (Only “senior” seems to be as ok to deride as Southerners. When I took my then 20 year old to see The Simpsons Movie, the first comment they had “why does the village idiot talk with a Southern accent “. Thank you soooo much for your writing. This is a class war against the middle, working classes who keep getting pushed further down into poverty. Bravo to you!
As a liberal in Eastern Kentucky, this is very well said. Thank you!
I’m hoping I didn’t just understand you to make sweeping, broad generalizations against so-called class of people that you “think” are scapegoating you in particular.
Unfortunately, for those of us in the Appalachians, the current vice president of the United States claims to be a hillbilly and some people assume that that means that all hillbillies are just like him.
The best way to receive grace is to give grace.
I appreciate this comment and I think it’s fair to say I could have worded things more deliberately to make the distinction clearer - I appreciate the accountability check. Genuinely.
My intent is to point out that, in doing this podcast for 5+ years, nearly every person who has levied this criticism has fallen into the category of person I mentioned because part of the argument is pointing to their residency in a “blue state” as a point of superiority. The distinction I should have made clearer is that I’m not labeling all center left liberals from “blue states” as a monolith who think the same way.
No worries. I’ve run into the type as well, I just worry that without bridges people will forget that it is community that keeps people safer. Thanks for the Bitter Southerner link. Great site. Their beliefs print felt like “home.”
He doesn’t actually claim to be a hillbilly. He claims to have risen up from that status and now denigrates hillbillies every chance he can get. He built his brand on that distinction.
My favorite T-shirt (now sold out) is from Bitter Southerner (you should check them out, if you don’t know of them: https://bittersoutherner.com/) and says “Hillbillies Need No Elegy.” I was hoping I wouldn’t need to wear it after the election, but here we are.
I hope they come back into stock. I’ll buy one!
Yess!!! Some of the most amazing and progressive movements of civil rights and freedoms have come from people in the Deep South!
Hmmm. After the Brexit vote in the UK, I despised the people and the places that voted for such a mean-spirited act of national insanity. It’s hard still, not to feel that way, but they were sold certainties, by conmen. A phrase arose: ‘Contempt for the conmen, compassion for the conned’ in an attempt to bridge that divide.
I think we need to stop talking red v blue and focus on the very real class war that’s been playing out for a generation
Thanks for pointing out the unproductive nature of left/right red/blue thinking. Binary approaches to multifaceted problems will create as many problems as they solve!
Like to point out that blue states are not monolithic either. I live in Washington State, yet there has not been a Democratic candidate for congress that has come close to winning in 30 years. Tom Foley was voted out after a large outside money tv campaign fear mongering that DC (my hometown) would become our 51st state. It was definitely a racist ad campaign and it worked.
I am a California lefty and you are spot on. We have to connect.
agreed. i wrote an academic paper on this very subject. to date, my most reliable comrades have been rural folx who don’t fart around when it comes to solidarity.
Thanks for this post. What practical suggestions do you have for blue-staters like me to build this solidarity across the red-blue states divide? (The winner-take-all electoral college system is surely to blame for at least some of the all-or-nothing labeling of states- in reality of course they’re all purple. Some red-purple, some blue-purple, but all purple.)
divided we fall. unionize!! find common ground! we share one enemy
Maybe the massive tech-bro oligarch love fest going on right now will finally wise everyone up that it’s always been the rich guys against the rest of us…?
Very well said 💯