One of the best descriptions of where we are as a country...

[dixiegrrrrl]

Tara Westover, author of the best-selling 2018 memoir, Educated, recently spoke with Jeffrey Goldberg
for this piece in the Atlantic, about cultural separation and mutual misunderstanding in America.
In this interview she coins a few interesting phrases.

Democrats and Republicans increasingly live and work in different places. We have different experiences.
As a general rule, I think we focus far too much on Donald Trump. We act like he’s the problem, but he’s not. He’s just a symptom—a sign of poor political hygiene.

Our political system requires us to have a basic level of respect for each other, of empathy for each other. That loss of empathy is what I call a breaking of charity.
It’s a term that’s associated with the Salem witch trials, and it refers to the moment when two members of a tribe disfellowship each other, and become two tribes. That, I think, is the biggest threat to our country, more than any single issue or politician. It’s the fact that the left and the right, the elite and the non-elite, the urban and the rural—however you want to slice it up—they no longer see themselves reflected in the other person. They no longer interpret each other as having charitable intent.

Democrats and Republicans now have a different experience of life in this country. Broadly speaking, the modern economy works well for cities and badly for the countryside. In recent years, growth has been hyper-concentrated in our cities, which are hubs of technology and finance. Meanwhile, the hinterlands, which rely on agriculture and manufacturing—what you might call the “old economy”—have sunk into a deep decline. There are places in the United States where the recession never ended. For them, it has been 2009 for 10 years. That does something to people, psychologically.

Fascinating food for thought, esp. if you know Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance or the older Rainbow Pie by the late (and very much missed) Joe Bageant.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/tara-westover-trump-rural-america/600916/

[Docreed2003]

1. And a huge cause for that "disfellowship"

RW radio and Faux News

[Democrats_win]

2. The world is fragmenting.

During the Cold War, Americans were together on this one thing. The world itself was in two spheres of influence: American and Soviet. After the Cold War the world fragmented to the point that groups, rather than countries were carrying out terrorist attacks.

Now everywhere you look, the world is fragmenting. (Brexit) Before, we had the evening news at 6pm on each of three fairly neutral networks. Now we have 24 hours of news on three networks, one fascist, one somewhat liberal and one obscenely neutral to the point of taking Trump idiots/liars seriously. Cable TV allows us to fragment even more. You've got a terrible TV channels on every subject, but most are not that great.

The result is that we aren't working together, accomplishing ANY heavy lifting. Isn't it funny that America hasn't put people in space for over ten years? (But we're still spending/wasting a whole lot of money on space!) In some ways, you should understand that's the point of right wing/libertarian fanatics like the Koch brothers. The believe that rugged individuals should make the accomplishments. Thus there are few real accomplishments in the last 40 years. All we have are these damn expensive phones. Along the way Capitalist pigs have held their hands out and taken everything while putting us individually and collectively in debt. We need a new system.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Very well stated. n/t

[lame54]

3. Fuck that - HE is the problem

[smirkymonkey]

4. Kicking for later reading

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. Both sides bullshit. Democrats are not actively dismantling protections for people.

[maxsolomon]

6. It wasn't the "hinterlands" that outvoted the cities.

It was the Hinterlands, the Exurbs and the Suburbs. It was White People. OLD White People.

I should interpret their vote for Trump as "having Charitable intent"? I remember GOP slogans like "Fuck your Feelings", so no.

Yet I still have Charitable intent for Rural America. I want to save them from their foolish beliefs.

[ArtTownsend]

9. +1

[ArtTownsend]

8. It's almost entirely one-sided. It's the Republican Party's fault.