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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Do the demographics match? There are high schoolers in the mix, but I think it would be closer to the Blackshirts than them due to more militia elements.
There has been a rise in people seeking to understand the needs of rural white communities, and for good reason. It was partly through their vocal support that Donald Trump became our President Elect. But more than that, these communities do need help.
They suffer from a lack of industry and social services. Because of the lack of jobs and support, some of them are drowning in crime and drug use. This gives rise to all kinds of social ills, from child neglect/abuse to HIV/AIDS epidemics.
These communities aren’t getting resources and support from government officials that would help counter these issues and give them some leverage as they pull themselves out of this downward spiral. They are angry and feel abandoned. And if I hadn’t opened this piece by letting you know I was talking about poor, white folx, you might have thought this was about the “inner-city”.
The fact is that rural white people need the same sorts of thing that poor “urban” and rural people of color need, but rural white people aren’t expected to understand or even care about the needs of these other communities that are also impacted by cultural and structural barriers.
The Countryside Isn’t 100% White
Before we even start comparing the needs of the urban and rural poor, we need to address the fact that even though there are a lot of white folx living in rural America, they are not the only people who live there. There are people of color who live outside of the city, too.
There are poor, rural POC, and the conversation about reaching out to rural white voters greatly overlooks them.
They have the same needs and challenges that poor white people have, the same lack of jobs and access to social services, but they also must deal with systematic racism on top of that.
In discussions that center rural white voters, we are not calling on rural white people to understand their neighbors of color, let alone some distant, brown city folx. In doing this, in saying, “Oh hey, maybe we need to better listen to rural white people,” we are subtly reasserting white supremacist thinking because we are treating these concerns as if they are different and more important than those of people of color in the exact same situations.
White poverty is different because it lacks the structural barriers that keep the communities of POC oppressed. This lack of understanding and the persistent belief in myths about POC (the stereotypes about job stealing Mexicans and Black welfare queens, for example) keep poor white voters trapped in a cycle of voting against the very things that would help them in the long run because they don’t want to help “those” people.
It’s Hard to Be Empathetic toward the Person Standing on Your Neck
This call to be empathetic to the needs of poor white folx went out to everyone on the Left, but it feels like it is specifically asking this of marginalized groups. But the fact of the matter is, it’s hard to empathize with a group that is working against you.
The problem isn’t that POC don’t understand poor, white country folx. After all, some POC are also poor and country. The problem is that poor white country folx often don’t care to understand POC to the point that they voted in a literal demagogue to the detriment of themselves and everyone else.
This call to understand them greatly ignores that they did not care about POC when they were making their choices. Whether they were for the wall, religious persecution, stripping away the rights of LGBTQI+ individuals, or any number of terrible things that were brought up during the campaign, the fact that they just wanted the factory jobs back doesn’t matter in the aftermath. You don’t get to cherry pick what parts you are supporting when you vote—it’s an all or nothing deal.
Although such voters may not do anything that would be considered overtly hateful in their day-to-day lives, this sort of disregard for the needs of POC or other marginalized groups is a form of casual racism. Racism through indifference is one of the ways that white supremacy continues to control the culture.
This narrative is abusive in a way because it calls on people of color, many of whom have been or will be directly harmed by the choices of rural white voters, to put aside their real-world fears and pain in order to cater to the needs a group that put its own desires ahead of everyone else’s basic rights.
They’re standing on our neck and it’s up to them whether we live or die, but we need to understand why they’re mad at us instead of them understanding why they shouldn’t kill us.
Marginalized people already understand the issues that poor rural white people deal with. Many of them are similar to the issues that we deal with in our own communities—a lack of jobs, longstanding or generational poverty, crime, drugs use, and so on are all issues that we have in some of our poorest communities as well.
It is not our lack of understanding that is the problem. This one-sided empathy is the problem.
Bridging the Empathy Gap
Whiteness doesn’t make the problems of rural white voters more important than everyone else’s. Holding their whiteness above everyone else won’t solve their problems either. Banding with people across race lines who are already fighting for the things they need will help them.
Rural white people are struggling. They have been hit hard by the changes in our country. These things are true. It is also true that they shouldn’t get a pass on their racism for it. Yes, we should listen to their concerns and see where we can better address their needs, but we should not do so at the expense of other groups of people. They need to understand that, too.
Untrustworthy
Speaking of which, Twitter should really ban him. There probably Ain't No Rule against trying to provoke a trade war with China or causing Boeing's stocks to crash, but those are still the sort of thing Twitter definitely shouldn't be used to do.
edited 8th Dec '16 12:13:57 PM by Gilphon
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
There are essentially three main reasons I can think of to vote for Trump:
1) You're a bigot. This one is almost inevitable, because to support Trump is at the very least to give your tacit approval to all of his blatant bigotry, and say "yeah, I'm cool with that." (And this applies to the minorities and women who voted for him as well.)
2) You're greedy and unethical, and think you have something to gain. This likely goes for many of the big-business types who gave him their support - they know that they have the potential to thrive under a Trump regime, with him scaling back tax cuts for the rich while sticking to the poor.
3) You're a complete goddamned cretin who bought the bullshit he fed you hook, line, and sinker. "Make Amurrica Great Again!" he said. "Hillary Is A Crook! Please Don't Look At My Tax Returns Or My Decades-Long History Of Dodgy Business Practices!" he said. "I Am The Least Sexist Person You Will Ever Meet!" he said, then repeatedly bragged about his ability to sexually assault women free of consequence. And "seems like an honest man," you said.
Obviously there's plenty of overlap. A good many people fall into all three categories - but especially the first and the third one.
edited 8th Dec '16 12:14:32 PM by RBluefish
"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
Asides from making better poetry with using the same color, the militia types that rally around Trump actually have a chance of wrecking so much havoc that they end up being You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness by the Republicans, which is what ultimately happened to the Red Guards at the tail end of the Cultural Revolution.
There's a fourth category that I personally know. The "I JUST WANT CHANGE, MAN" guy, who truly does not give a shit to politics, and voted for Trump for some pseudo-anarchist ethos of "I want to see what happens when it all burns".
I mean I can't speak for how large that category is, but I can think of at least two people I know who justified their vote this way.
Some men just wanna watch the world burn.
And thus we discover those people are just despicable, selfish morons, not criminal masterminds. Which is kinda sad.
edited 8th Dec '16 12:23:00 PM by Gaon
"All you Fascists bound to lose."
Destroyer of Worlds
I'd lump New York and Pennsylvania in with New England along with Maryland and New Jersey.
Or I'd create a different single state for these 4 states. Either would work.
"You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty."
Good point, I forgot about those. We'll call them "the troll voters." (They also definitely qualify for the first category as well, but they still deserve a name of their own, because it's helpful to assign a name to human scum.)
Notice how troll voters, protest voters, and anti-establishment types are almost always exclusively white.
New Survey coming this weekend!
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
Well, they banned a minor celebrity for starting a fight with a big celebrity several times, conveniently ignoring the rest of the platform wide harassment issue. Twitter would just bill this as their version of Godzilla, knowing them.
Speaking of that, Trump is not getting out of a lawsuit involving the Trump National Golf Club
The Dec. 7 order means the case continues against Donald Trump’s country club, even though Trump is set to be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States in January.
Club members say Trump hasn’t returned an estimated $6 million to members of his country club off Donald Ross Road. Trump bought the club from the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa for $5 million in 2012.
When the Ritz owned it, deposits ranging from $35,000 to $210,000 were refundable. But once Trump bought the club, some club members say Trump changed the rules and refused to return their deposits.
In July, Marra denied Trump’s request to throw out the lawsuit against Trump National. He also denied a request that the lawsuit not go forward as a class-action case.
In his Dec. 7 order, Marra made it clear that the issue raised in the July request were raised also in the trial held in West Palm Beach in August.
“The best course of action is for the Court to resolve these issues with the benefit of a full trial record,” Marra wrote.
In other words, Marra isn’t going to let Trump out on an easy procedural move.
Rather, he’ll make his decision on all the issues when he renders a decision based on the two-day August trial.
Trump lawyer Herman J. Russomanno III of Miami issued this statement: “Although the Trump Club would have been pleased if the Court granted their motion, it is the Trump Club’s position that as to the ultimate ruling following the bench trial, that the Court should find in favor of the Trump Club.”
Russomanno said the trial showed that the members had resigned from the club and therefore didn’t have the right to use the club after they had resigned.
The issue of whether members resigned, or were terminated as members by Trump, is a major sticking point in the case.
Club members who are plaintiffs in the case say Trump breached their contract, misled them and then refused to give them back their deposits. But at the trial, Trump son Eric Trump testified that the Trump Organization had saved the ailing club.
Donald Trump, who at the time was campaigning as the Republican presidential nominee, did not appear at trial. But his deposition was entered into the record. In it, he described how the Trump Organization had revived the club.
“We have done a substantial upgrade to virtually all the facility: the clubhouse, the courts, the course, the public areas, the dining areas. Everything,” Trump said in an April deposition. “It’s like a brand-new place.”
Donald Trump sent a Dec. 17, 2013, letter to club members that is a key piece of evidence in the case. In that letter, Trump said Ritz members could “opt in” to his new club, in exchange for agreeing their memberships were nonrefundable.
If members weren’t interested in opting in, and they remained on a club resignation list, Trump said he didn’t want them, anyway.
“You’re probably not going to be a very good club member … you’re out,” Trump wrote in the letter. “As the owner of the club, I do not want them to utilize the club nor do I want their dues.”
Sometimes judges give hints as to their trial decision in procedural matters such as this one, lawyers said.
But it remains unclear whether Marra will rule in favor the former club members or in favor of Trump.
The Jupiter golf course remains one of the last major lawsuits still unresolved against the billionaire real estate developer and reality TV star.
A federal lawsuit filed in California involving allegations of fraud at Trump’s now-defunct Trump University recently was settled. The case had been set for trial Nov. 28.
And Trump dropped his $100 million lawsuit against Palm Beach County over jets flying near Mar-A-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach.
"Idiot accelerationists" seems better, since "troll" gets used for anything these days. And "Exactly Why Anarchists Can't Have Nice Things" is a bit too long...
edited 8th Dec '16 12:28:54 PM by Krieger22
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
Oh, bother.
So killing the ACA would more or less be a bad move for the GOP since they don't yet have anything to replace it. And it would probably lead to millions of people in America dying.
edited 8th Dec '16 12:34:22 PM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised
Not unless it causes an outbreak of The Plague. Because chances are that a Trump administration will mismanage it.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
The law in the night
The people: We want healthcare and insurance and the private sector to administer it
Government: Okay, Sure.
Some time after the private insurance and health companies jack the prices of everything up...
The people: Why is healthcare so expensive? Why the government spends so much on it? Why doesn't my health insurance doesn't cover everything? The system sucks throw it away!
The Republicans: Consider the end of Medicare and Medicaid gone!
Inter arma enim silent leges
Oh, bother.
Man, the GOP really want to Kill the Poor, don't they? Especially the ones who aren't white.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Nope...not all. The complete opposite in fact. A State is a corporate body, not a person. The Supreme Court under the late and unlamented Antonin Scalia caused much damage when they said a corporation is an individual and that meant corporate bodies have the same rights as individuals do. Corporations are not people, states are not people. They can only "by the people, for the people, of the people" but not the people itself.
The Electoral College privileges states over individuals. So a Blue-Dem in Texas, or liberal oases in Texas like Austin and Houston are essentially disenfranchised and without a say come election day thanks to the Electoral College where the rural parts of that huge state (annexed to maintain slavery against the Mexicans who wanted to abolish it) literally corner the votes in that region. That's not fair, that's not just and it damn sure isn't democratic. The word democratic in Greek means "Power" (Kratos) of the People ("Demos"). Where do the people show their power here?
Remember the Civil War was about "state's rights" to oppress its citizens. So no, all states are not equal. Damn sure not in the Civil War, where the North were more modern, more moral and more advanced than the South.
It's also one of the factors that lead to partisanship and division that everyone has a problem with.
So killing the ACA would more or less be a bad move for the GOP since they don't yet have anything to replace it. And it would probably lead to millions of people in America dying.
Again. Most State and lower level Republican officials don't act like complete crazy people. This translates up the ladder in a reverse up-ticket potentially.
Oh, bother.
A lot more people would bother to vote if the EC didn't exist.
edited 8th Dec '16 12:44:59 PM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised
Asgore Adopts Noelle
Then that sounds like a guaranteed Democrat Take over of the House, and maybe even a take over of the Senate, especially if the Republicans don't compromise and do everything they said they would do.
Senate is a "Could be" if.
House is murkier due to district redrawing the prevent exactly what you're suggesting, and keep Republicans in solid red fortresses.
And if the Election Day was a national holiday.
The fact is America became democratic over a period of time. People need to stop being obsessed with the Founding Fathers and get on board with the Living Constitution. Abraham Lincoln is the true father of American Democracy, and he as James Mcpherson notes defined positive liberty. Pauline Maier notes that Lincoln was the first guy who took "All men are created equal" to be the doctrinal foundation of America, that before him it was not such a famous thing, and a big deal.
I am thinking of that famous election song that was part of Lincoln's Re-Election Campaign, where Republicans went out trying to get people to vote, appealing to everyone across the states:
From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's shore.
We leave our plows and workshops, our wives and children dear,
With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear.
We dare not look behind us but steadfastly before.
We are coming, Father Abra'am, 300,000 more!
We are coming, coming, our Union to restore,
We are coming, Father Abra'am, with 300,000 more!
Well Democrats need to make "We are coming, Father Obama" toute suite.
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
You make me miss Achaemeinid (spelling? That Scottish troper who used to be big here) and his strong anti-Confederatism.
There's a feeling of pride there. We kicked slavery's ass and burned those damn plantations to the ground. We need a non-violent equivalent of the civil war where we (metaphorically!) torch the institutions of bigotry and leave half the nation reeling in impotent fury.
(the edit replaced the word bigotry where i had erroneously put slavery, this was not a stealth edit to avert the impression that i was originally advocating for violence, as i was not).
edited 8th Dec '16 12:58:36 PM by Ogodei
'Leaving half the nation reeling in impotent fury' isn't a good idea unless the government then protects the half who aren't angry white men with access to rope, instead of going 'welp, racism is over now, no more complaining, k?'
It's been fun.
The thing is the Republican party lost their own pride aftler Lincoln got assassinated and the fifth columnist VP Andrew Johnson became President.
The North Democrats had allied with the South before and weren't big on the abolition thing. War Democrats supported the Republicans because of the "Saving the union" thing but in the middle of it, a Copperhead Democrat faction wanted to short-circuit the war effort and make peace with the South.
The devastation of the Civil War and the lack of compensation to the slaveowners (the one thing republicans to their credit never compromised on, to their credit), kept the South poor and racist until the New Deal provided relief there (and even then at the expense of keeping African-Americans down).
What we need is a party of the Second Reconstruction, make Eric Foner's and WEB Dubois' books a doctrine and revisit the Second and Interrupted American Revolution and complete it. Because Reconstruction was a time when an anti-racist America could have been formed, built and consolidated and in the end , it got short-circuited by a lack of nerve. Without Reconstruction, liberal movements will always face revanchist backlash. Reagan against the 60s, Trump against Obama.
Re: Healthcare: Anyone here own a small business, or know someone who does? I'd be interested to hear if others have similar experiences to someone I know that wants to see Obamacare modified (not repealed), as he feels it favors bigger companies and he had to deal with lots of red tape to get company health care for his employee.
edited 8th Dec '16 1:08:41 PM by speedyboris
I frankly never saw the logic behind voting for Trump because it meant trusting the country to a man whose own campaign took away his Twitter privileges. The fact that he's also everything people accused Clinton of being, only moreso, doesn't help.