I agree with this article

[gabeana]

rural america while there are some good people in rural america, wouldn't want to be friends with a lot of rural america don't have patience because of different political beliefs

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/fundamentalism-racism-fear-and-propaganda-an-insider-explains-why-rural-christian-white-america-will-never-change/

"They get a tremendous amount of help from the government they complain does nothing for them. From the roads and utility grids they use to the farm subsidies, crop insurance, commodities protections…they benefit greatly from government assistance. The Farm Bill is one of the largest financial expenditures by the U.S. government. Without government assistance, their lives would be considerably worse.

-They get the largest share of Food Stamps, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.

-They complain about globalization but line up like everyone else to get the latest Apple product. They have no problem buying foreign-made guns, scopes, and hunting equipment. They don’t think twice about driving trucks whose engine was made in Canada, tires made in Japan, radio made in Korea, computer parts made in Malaysia."

[Dawson Leery]

1. Screw ruralism.

and Fuck Nazi Country "Music".



Perhaps the opioid crisis should be ignored. Let natural law work.

[Freethinker65]

2. Wow

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. Just a bunch of hypocrites. Nothing surprising there, sadly.

[gollygee]

4. This is gold

It is so true. I'm from this region. I know these people and I see it every day. It's absolutely right.

[dalton99a]

5. Fuck them. Leave them to their god. Let them die off.

Let them rot in their hatred and ignorance

[Docreed2003]

6. "While there are some good people in rural America..."

I'm sorry but I don't believe you really think that. If you really felt that way your response to this article would be vastly different. Parsing your comments by suggesting "this doesn't apply to all rural people", is insulting.

I'm a proud product of a rural background. I've been halfway around the world with what I do, but I will never, ever turn my back or disparage my background. You know why? Because I wouldn't be me without it.

I grew up on a tobacco farm in TN. I viscerally understand the meaning of hard work. I also had the privilege of having grandparents who were Roosevelt Democrats who taught me what it meant to take a stand against unpopular opinions and fight for your neighbors, even if those neighbors might be of a different skin color.

I fully realize it's so very easy to paint rural America with a broad brush as racist and bigoted...hell, I'd love to do it many times myself.

What keeps me from doing that is my very real, very grounded sense of empathy. While I grew up on my mother's families farm, my father's mother also grew up in rural America in Alabama. Her closest childhood friend was another young girl by the name of Harper Lee. The lessons of "To Kill a Mockingbird" are no less important today than they were 50 years ago. My prized possession from that grandmother is her peronsalized autographed copy of that book.

As a staunch liberal, it would be so very easy for me to damn the entire rural south for their evangelical conservative beliefs...and trust me I come very close to crossing that line on many days.


We will NEVER win the minds of the rural south, and I'd wager the rural Midwest as well, until we as Democrats reach out and understand their daily struggles and make proposals that benefits those areas. RFK tried to do this in his Appilacian tour in '68.

This has nothing to do with sacrificing our values as a party, but has everything to do with actually reaching out and listening to the concerns of rural America and developing proposals that benefit them.

If we lambast, and mock, and disparage them...well we're playing into the republican talking points about liberals and reinforcing the indoctrination many of these folks receive weekly during their church services and nightly on Fox News.

But please...go on and shit on rural folks.

[gabeana]

8. What is wrong in the article

a lot of the rural is not racist? They are not the majority recipients of food stamps and other government ass't programs, that they rail against and continue to elect politicians that are detrimental to their literal health? is that wrong?

and I didn't paint it "all Rural America" because I live in an rural area in California, the city I live in, the largest in California has a population of 160,000 the largest city in the county. It is California so it is somewhat liberal, and how could I think "all rural america" when Jimmy Carter came from rural America. Carter who I personally believe the greatest man of character ever to hold the office of President. I also loved Truman, another rural president even though he was man who peppered his language with the n-word, but also de-segregated the military, oh by the way love Willie Nelson

only thing I take offense with your reply was this "I grew up on a tobacco farm in TN. I viscerally understand the meaning of hard work"
this tired canard which seems to imply that because you grew up on farm you know hard work, like others don't that grew up in the cities, I come from a long machinist and a great- grandfather who was a glass blower and died from throat cancer, They didn't know hard work? I do not think there is any segment of society who is immune from Hard work, accept that class that has other people do the hard work for them.

how are we supposed to change their minds when as the article stated that they believed Obama was born Kenya? Where can we find common ground with people like this?

[Docreed2003]

13. You missed my point about "hard work" completely

In no way did I disparage hard work of those in cities, nor would I ever, but I take exception to you suggesting that my point is a "tired canard". When you were a kid, did you work in the glass blowing factories of your great grandfather? Did you work as a machinist? Because when I was a kid, I worked side by side with every member of my family in the tobacco fields, in the hottest days of the summer, because every hand was needed. So yeah, I felt that viscerally. It also taught me the importance of an education, so that I didn't have to do that shit for the rest of my life! What I do now may be technically difficult, but it sure as hell beats sweating my ass off in those fields!

My point is not so far from where you are. I'm appalled by those in rural areas near where I grew up that continuously vote against their interests. However, I also understand that these people live in a world that is dominated by right wing evangelical churches and right wing hate radio. When you're indoctrinated in that shit 24/7, their voting patterns make total sense. We can attempt to break that cycle by not disparaging them and trying to reach out in empathy, or we can verify every misconceived ideology about liberals that they have by mocking them and blowing off their votes.

Yes, there's a ton of racists, but not all. The only way to break the cycle of their ingrained indoctrination is to attempt to speak to them about their concerns and attempt to understand them. Again, as I said in my first post, we can do that without compromising what it means to be a democrat.

[Skittles]

9. ...

I am SICK of being told I need to understand people too stupid to know who helps them and who DESPISES them

THEY need to start living in REALITY

[Docreed2003]

10. Maybe we should try to ALL understand each other?

[Skittles]

11. no

people who voted for Trump, people WHO STILL BACK HIM, are a lost fucking cause

better to concentrate on people who fail to vote

[Solly Mack]

7. K&R

[melman]

12. Great

Another hate article on rural America. Fantastic.

[oberliner]

14. This article is garbage

Imagine someone writing a similarly scathing attack on "black, urban America" or something along those lines.

[gabeana]

15. So what is factually wrong

with the article, what evidence can you bring to the topic that refutes the article
your response is kind of like that writer is saying, anything that goes against their belief system they automatically shut off

so Black, Urban America is racist and consistently vote against tier interest? That is news to me

[oberliner]

16. It's an opinion piece

Passing judgement on an entire group of people based on the biases of this writer.

It is filled with statements like: "The problem is rural America doesn’t understand itself and will NEVER listen to anyone outside their bubble."

and

"They truly believe this is a legitimate response because to them education is not to be trusted."

and this:

"Another problem with rural, Christian, white Americans is they are racists."

Offensive generalization after offensive generalization. It is insulting and patronizing.