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Colors
I haven't seen so much stupidity over the colors red and blue since I worked dealing with all the bullshit between Crips and Bloods with the L.A. City Attorney gang unit. I was born and raised in Texas, any of the members of my family for as long as I can remember who chose to align themselves with a party were hardcore yellow dog Democrats. My great uncle was one of the first and best labor organizers in the state. I'm one of literally thousands of others who have similar upbringings and histories.
So for everyone posting the "oh, yeah and all those people used to own niggers" and the "those ignorant dickweed bible thumpers are taking over the world!" maps....can I get a fucking break please??? Can the rest of us poor fucking uneducated racist hicks down here in the south get a respite from everyone wagging fingers and clucking tongues about how stupid and unenlightened we are? THIRTY-EIGHT PERCENT OF TEXAS DID NOT VOTE FOR BUSH. In fact, you can take a look at this map, roll over on any of the states that went to Bush and see that a good number of the people in every one of these states did not vote for Bush and his agenda. In fact, the state that lost the election for Kerry, OHIO, was a free state...so what the fuck is the purpose of these maps??
Why not have a map for states that treated their factory workers like shit, or states where "No Irish" signs used to hang in storefronts, or where people still live in neighborhoods that look like bombed out ghettos? This devisiveness is ridiculous! This stereotyping of everyone who happens to live in a state where Bush (sometimes barely!!) won is only adding insult to injury for many of us down here. Do you think, you who are so much more "enlightened" than the rest of us, that it is easy trying to be the voices of dissent down here? Do you think that none of us worked ourselves ragged in hopes of some sort of positive change here?
Bush only won the popular vote in this country by a very slight margin. It offends me that my so-called comrades in arms are so quick now to start placing blame and redrawing lines that are over a hundred and fifty years old. The south is a beautiful place, and it's full of beautiful people. I know its ugly warts and underbelly better than most. But it's a place I love and it's a place where we cried after a hard-fought struggle with all the rest of you.
It offends me to think that our hard work down here is now so easily discounted just because everyone wants a scapegoat. Those of us who are just as disappointed as anyone at the outcome of this election should not be forced into that position because of our geography.
If it offends you that I have said my piece about it, go read my friend Joi's post (because this is what I've actually seen a lot of people saying SERIOUSLY) then feel free to move right on along and color yourself from head to toe with a big giant blue Sharpie. Me, I'm going to just keep doing what I've always done...yeah, even down here in the land of the bible thumpers and racist, homophobic Jesus freaks.
So for everyone posting the "oh, yeah and all those people used to own niggers" and the "those ignorant dickweed bible thumpers are taking over the world!" maps....can I get a fucking break please??? Can the rest of us poor fucking uneducated racist hicks down here in the south get a respite from everyone wagging fingers and clucking tongues about how stupid and unenlightened we are? THIRTY-EIGHT PERCENT OF TEXAS DID NOT VOTE FOR BUSH. In fact, you can take a look at this map, roll over on any of the states that went to Bush and see that a good number of the people in every one of these states did not vote for Bush and his agenda. In fact, the state that lost the election for Kerry, OHIO, was a free state...so what the fuck is the purpose of these maps??
Why not have a map for states that treated their factory workers like shit, or states where "No Irish" signs used to hang in storefronts, or where people still live in neighborhoods that look like bombed out ghettos? This devisiveness is ridiculous! This stereotyping of everyone who happens to live in a state where Bush (sometimes barely!!) won is only adding insult to injury for many of us down here. Do you think, you who are so much more "enlightened" than the rest of us, that it is easy trying to be the voices of dissent down here? Do you think that none of us worked ourselves ragged in hopes of some sort of positive change here?
Bush only won the popular vote in this country by a very slight margin. It offends me that my so-called comrades in arms are so quick now to start placing blame and redrawing lines that are over a hundred and fifty years old. The south is a beautiful place, and it's full of beautiful people. I know its ugly warts and underbelly better than most. But it's a place I love and it's a place where we cried after a hard-fought struggle with all the rest of you.
It offends me to think that our hard work down here is now so easily discounted just because everyone wants a scapegoat. Those of us who are just as disappointed as anyone at the outcome of this election should not be forced into that position because of our geography.
If it offends you that I have said my piece about it, go read my friend Joi's post (because this is what I've actually seen a lot of people saying SERIOUSLY) then feel free to move right on along and color yourself from head to toe with a big giant blue Sharpie. Me, I'm going to just keep doing what I've always done...yeah, even down here in the land of the bible thumpers and racist, homophobic Jesus freaks.
I understand where you're coming from - really.
If people are gonna bust on the far away New Yorkers rather than try to effect change locally, they're just as bad as the people they're putting down. Yeah I see a certain amount of what you're talking about here, but it's mostly from New Yorkers who don't KNOW what the south is like, have never lived there. Their idea of "the South" is visiting grandma down in Miami or Orlando. Likewise if you've never visited NY then it's easy to put that place down too. I've seen enough of the south to know better, and my arguments are not based on where people live so much as how well they are educated. Poor education is a problem that exists ALL OVER THE PLACE - including where I live, especially in the inner city.
Do you know where the term "Hick" as a putdown for farmers originates? It's the surname of a prominent, wealthy family of LONG ISLAND farmers (http://www.antonnews.com/hicksvilleillustratednews/2004/10/15/obituaries/) who got up the noses of the more industrially minded, city-living Gold Coast millionaires - the Vanderbilts in particular in the early 20th century because they wouldn't fall for games that were designed to do them out of their land. Specifically, lands that were owned by the Hicks and other Quakers in the middle of Long Island were not sold to one of the Vanderbilts so that he could build a private motor parkway to the Hamptons. The road had to be built around the Quaker community of Jericho because of the stubbornness of the Hicks. You can still see where the road takes an otherwise illogical turn around the area if you follow maps for the Northern State and Meadowbrook parkways.
This caused rancor, and so at the parties these more industrially minded millionaires started to get into this trip that those FARMERS, those HICKS, were really annoying... that is where the whole thing comes from and as you can see it's pretty stupid no matter where it is happening.
Democrats divided will equal Democrats steamrollered for election after election. Yeah, everybody is pissed off right now but for crying out loud, remember who the real bad guys are already. If you fall into the same old trap of focusing on where people live then you're just as bad as the ones who are doing it elsewhere. The problem is all over the country. Don't assume all New Yorkers are saying "where you live is the problem", because I am not one of them. Turning around and saying where NEW YORKERS live is the problem is an equally ignorant generalization. How many people where you are know that there are STILL WORKING FARMS on Long Island, hmmmm? Regards to you all from Hicksville, New York! ;-7
Oh, kick ass icon, BTW.
Re: I understand where you're coming from - really.
And don't get me wrong, I am all for ranting about the reasons that Bush is still president. We need to rant about it. We need to do something about the issues behind our anger. I agree with you completely...it's about education and it's a national problem, not a regional one. And my complaint was not directed at any person north of the Mason-Dixon line who had a bitch; it was directed at those who were making a point of blaming the lost election on these regional lines that really are not an accurate picture of what went on in the election at all.
My problem was not with the ranters. My problem was with this (http://www.livejournal.com/users/jamie_miller/606825.html?nc=2) sort of thing, both in visuals and commentary. (And I don't even know this guy and don't mean to single him out. He was just the quickest route to the maps I was bitching about. I know nothing about him at all.)
No doubt at all that we will get there. I saw this somewhere else yesterday (I wish I could remember where...I am pretty sure it was in someone's journal) and I can't think of any more appropriate quote to reflect how I see things on my own particular horizon:
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. --Martin Luther King
Re: I understand where you're coming from - really.
There is a great deal of power in knowing the origins of terms. The fact that this pejorative dates back to a time when Long Island was mostly rural farmland takes a lot of wind out of the sails of current New Yorkers who'd use it against others even while they're living on that erstwhile farmland... as well as people NOT from New York who'd think it was only ever used against THEM. It's a little parable that truly shows that no one area in the country has any sort of a monopoly on prejudice of any type. (Incidentally if you read Mr. Hicks' obit you'll see that this family has NEVER been a group of poorly educated hayseeds.)
We sure see eye to eye. One of my other friends,
Also, would you mind if I friended you? In general I am a little shy about friending people out of the blue, but you seem pretty neat. *chuckle*
Re: I understand where you're coming from - really.