The New York Times

There have been many attempts to explain why rural Americans consistently vote for Republicans. The scathing response to a new, best-selling book shows how a tightknit group of scholars are clamoring for more empathetic political analyses of rural Americans.

Jun 29, 2024 at 17:41 UTC

28 replies 8 reposts 35 likes

Grudgie the Whale @grudgie.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 17:49 UTC

Fear of everyone different. There I did it.

2 replies 0 reposts 19 likes

waxmonkey @waxmonkey.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 18:06 UTC

so this story is arguing that rural resentment of urban areas is fair and reasonable and not at all dumb and angry i wish i could get the two minutes i spent reading it back

0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes

@vagaries.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 18:28 UTC

former rural american here: no one is harsher on rural americans than those of us who were raised with them. maybe fucking grapple with this bloc.

0 replies 0 reposts 7 likes

Tom Richardson Ph.D. @cascadetommy.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 19:09 UTC

Is this consistent across race, sex, age?

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Necole @necole.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 19:08 UTC

Hello, replies, there is such a thing as rural moderates and liberals. We’re not any more uneducated, inbred, or racist than city folks. ✌️

0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

Prufrock451 @prufrock451.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 17:48 UTC

I’m an Iowan and fuck this take into the ground.

1 replies 0 reposts 22 likes

King of Trains. @exoid.bsky.social
[ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 06:54 UTC

I’d love to chip in my two cents. My hypothesis is reasons twofold. The polarization of social politics and the culture war turned the homogenous white Christian exurbs to conservatism, and Democrats do not have a significant agricultural platform.

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

J. Ogden Foster-Savage @st3ambot.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 17:46 UTC

We need to be more empathetic to people openly drooling over detention camps?

0 replies 0 reposts 23 likes

@progressivepeter.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 19:36 UTC

I just moved away from a white rural area. The depictions of the demographics and predilections of white rural America in WRR are accurate. Rampant threats of violence to political opponents, inflation of political power by vote suppresion, voting against their own interests to spite liberals.

0 replies 0 reposts 3 likes

Ken Lowery @kenlowery.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 17:49 UTC

Finally: a defense of the most examined, coddled and defended voting bloc in America.

0 replies 1 reposts 41 likes

Excalibur Discount Legal Services @kevychristian.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 18:29 UTC

All they really want back is manufacturing. That was the thing that made small towns so vibrant in the 50s. One good factory can employ half the damn town and provide knock on economic effects for supporting business. Now your job options are agricultural, Dollar General or the gas station.

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

John Forsyth @jhfhockey.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 17:54 UTC

It's almost as if the mass of humanity that live in urban areas, enjoy higher educations and incomes, have diverse backgrounds and believe in the social safety net *aren't* the ones who live in a bubble...

0 replies 0 reposts 9 likes

Muchacho @muchacho.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 17:50 UTC

Rural whites vote Republican because they are racist. It’s always been because of racism. It will always be because of racism.

1 replies 0 reposts 18 likes

Starlit_Stella @starlilstella.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 17:59 UTC

Why dont You guys just come out and say You want autocracy. You want the end of Democracy. You want Nazis like Stephen Miller in Power. You want Trump in.

0 replies 0 reposts 5 likes

unFriendlyFella @grandmasterb.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 18:23 UTC

...it's not the heartland. It's the wasteland!

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Nick 𐃥 is also at mastodon dot online @adjectivalnoun.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 18:47 UTC

This is the book the article's handwringing about. We are absolutely not allowed to point out there's a pervasive culture in white America that glorifies being an asshole. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/734507...

0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes

Willie Young @willieyoung.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 17:56 UTC

Why is it the heartland when cities drive the world?

0 replies 0 reposts 6 likes

Jeff Thompson @jeffthompson48.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 17:48 UTC

It's because they are uneducated racists who live in a bubble and refuse higher learning and travel.

2 replies 1 reposts 19 likes

Lazy Literature - Julia @lazyliterature.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 18:17 UTC

Thank you, this was an enlightening article. I need to mull that over. After suppressing a knee-jerk reaction (I see in other comments), it surprisingly made sense. It might be a good way to find a common ground to talk to one another.

1 replies 0 reposts 3 likes

@natenewby.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 18:30 UTC

There's nothing the NYT loves more than a good ol Cletus safari

0 replies 0 reposts 5 likes

Alfred N Montestruc @anmontestruc.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 01:27 UTC

There is nothing wrong with them. What is wrong is how the Democratic party as a group treats them.

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

kth @ktheintz.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 17:55 UTC

Republicans have never made the lives of rural Americans materially better, nor have they tried. That is an objective, bare-bones fact with which every analysis of rural voting must begin.

0 replies 1 reposts 11 likes