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Guys, I know how easy it is to say "lol what a dumbass" about people like this, but as someone who grew up rural it's really hard to express the effect of being completely surrounded by a culture that is still suffering from a generational grief of having industry take their resources and destroy their land, only to then take the jobs away and completely abandon everyone to poverty. Years and years of politicians making promises that never came to pass, or never actually helped those people. Republican talking heads like Fox news took advantage of that and pretended to sympathise with their angst, while riling them up by drip feeding other bits of moral outrage, and just magnified the distrust of "city liberals" and "costal elites" over the course of generations. And we all know about the poor education in rural areas!
No matter how much democrats could tell them what votes are in their best interest, it's really no wonder they wouldn't believe them. Imagine if War of the Worlds actually happened, then 50 years later a martian showed up and told you that you earthings really need to implement this financial system called gronsnockle and it would make your lives so much better (and also that you're just a stupid earthling dumbass who doesn't know what's best for you).
If Donald Trump's bullshit is making cracks in the armor that Murdoch and the Nixon legacy has spent so long shoring up, we should be encouraging that. Does anyone really think that insulting people who are trying to change, is a good way to make more people change??
Yeah except I'm from that world and it's not really how you're presenting it at all. The real cause here is an extreme rejection of education. If that wasn't the case, they'd see how Republicans make their lives far harder every time they can. But the truth isn't important to them. Only feeling indignant and continuing with the same false facts they've always worked on.
This is what pisses me off. Uh, no, it makes zero sense that they disbelieve obvious facts and cling to nonsensical lies. Being wronged doesn't absolve you of being expected to think
OCs comment is basically "All the politicians lied to them so it's totally understandable that they won't trust Democrats... but blindly follow Republicans"
If any of that was true, rural people would dislike all politicians and industry shills, and vote against them. Not consistently favor the ones who screw them more.
It's great that some of them finally came to their senses and maybe will drag others with them, but that doesn't make it acceptable to have doggedly held immoral stances that hurt others in the first place.
That's exactly how Trump came to be President. It's also why they like the message of small government. They are all a bunch of lying assholes, so better to have the smallest government possible. It's a message that meshes with god being more important than country, and with 2A. You've 100% nailed it.
Well one of the parties offers them a petty sense of revenge and no need to change if you’re an asshole, so that seems that’s all it takes to earn loyalty.
This is why they liked Trump (the first time anyway). The other Republicans say one thing then do another. They saw Trump as actually meaning it. Course it didn't happen and the ones that see that are bailing.
Trump used to talk a good game, but, well that's it.
Trump did not "talk a good game." His grift is painfully obvious to anyone that's graduated from kindergarten. Him getting elected is just an example of how stupid a sizeable chunk of this country truly is.
When you listen to him now and him 8 years ago, you realize he used to talk about bringing back jobs and industry. He doesn't do that anymore. I agree people should have been able to see through it then. But now he relies too much on attacks and he's showing through, so more people can see through it (and from his no results from 4 years, and Jan 6).
I agree wit both of you - Trump talked a good game for people with little education, presented himself as an “outsider who would drain the swamp” of politicians they have learned to distrust, he “said what he meant” (aka insults and bigotry), and was a “self-made millionaire” (something they all aspire to and believe they could be someday). It was a good grift for the population he targeted, as the original commenter said, angry at industry leaving their towns, angry at politicians not helping. You know what PT Barnum said: "There is a fool born every minute". He said a lot of other applicable things too because he was a successful con man, just like Trump.
Don’t forget religion. Religion is a cancer that encourages you to just trust what you’re being told despite a complete lack of evidence. Religion is also the cause of these single issue voters, like on abortion, where they will vote R simply on the abortion issue alone.
Honestly though, religion is just their scapegoat. While you're right that it discourages free thinking, I don't know if a single toxic belief they have outside of homophobia, which has any basis in religion. For example, the Bible says nothing about abortion, except describing one in detail once.
They hide behind their religion. Which is pretty sacrilegious honestly. But let's not let them pretend God told them to be horrible assholes.
Actually it is as if instead of blaming the parties actually responsible for economic conditions, they embrace their bigotry and the lie that immigrants are responsible. All the Repub politicians reinforce that, but don't actually do anything that harms the immigrants. Then someone shows up who calls immigrants "rapists and thieves." They elect him and he really follows through. He changes the conditions at the border to increase the number of illegal crossings. He implements a shockingly cruel policy of separating parents and children, knowing full there aren't resources to keep track of children, so some will be lost.
Come on you know gronsnockle is going to improve things all the way up the supply chain, evening out the glansblaarg fees is only going to make smeechickle easier and more cost effective- any earthling could see that
I know! Freakin’ glansblasrg fees. Hah? Amirite? I mean . . . Shh.
Didn't blame me, i voted for Kaang.
I really really want gronsnockle now.
Do you think random people on the internet responding to a thread make a difference?
You have no idea how little it takes to change the mind of a person seeking a reason to grow and learn.
Took you how long to write that one page copout?
What a stupid comment.
OP was illustrating the effect of total media control and propaganda, the local culture it generated with the loss of local resources, poisoned land, and jobs shipped overseas.
Yes, it's sad that people were able to be brainwashed over generations with 100% captured media giving people a false culture built on lies and deceit.
It's also sad that people who come to a revelation that they have been taken for a ride, they no only have to accept they were wrong for a large part of their life, responsible for voting to make it worse, and would likely lose their friends/family by rejecting the false narrative that's been embraced locally.
Even if you hate these people for their situation, you'll still have to deal with them as voters and members of the population. Hating/confronting them will only push them further right.
We really need to bring the country together, and remove the us VS them mentality the wealthy use to divide us.
You are coping out by literally writing off half your country, refusing to understand the problem, don't want to address the root causes, and have no interest in resolving the issue.
Do you have any kind of plan aside from blaming the others for all the problems? Because that's exactly how the wealthy maintain the status quo.