Post B6ShocHAklqWqnFFqK by artemis@dice.camp
 (DIR) More posts by artemis@dice.camp
 (DIR) Post #B6ShoZbyexhoaRxKM4 by artemis@dice.camp
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       Some people seem to think the US consists of "the east coast" & California. That's...odd to me.How come some people talk like most of this country doesn't exist, & why do they think that's an ok attitude to have?
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShoZsHgKkXP1aLlw by artemis@dice.camp
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       Y'all, one of the reasons Republicans have so much success in the middle of the country with their bit about "coastal elites" is that people on the coasts LITERALLY talk like our part of the country doesn't exist.It's easy to convince people to be resentful & fearful of other people who refuse to acknowledge their existence, except perhaps occasionally with disdain.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6Shoa8Ej1VgCV35dY by artemis@dice.camp
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       I guess I'm just a naive Midwestern girl (from "flyover country" blech), but I think a person with curiosity about other people might at least wonder about how people elsewhere in the country live & what they may not know about these people.The US has quite a few differences in regional cultures, not to mention the differences between rural & urban areas within those regions. It would be a good idea not to assume there is nothing of importance to know about people in the uncool regions.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShoaTVRwWXGT04n2 by artemis@dice.camp
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       To be fair to coastal folks, people in (the wealthy part of) Tennessee ALSO did not care to know anything about my region when I'd tell them I was Iowa born & raised. They'd just tell me to my face they didn't know where Iowa was & that they didn't care (which does go to show what things Southern "politeness" does NOT apply to).
       
 (DIR) Post #B6Shoaj6Vx062qIX6O by artemis@dice.camp
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       A few months ago, a Wisconsin comedian (Charlie Berens) did an interview at a Milwaukee bar with Hugh Jackman. Jackman was promoting his new movie based on the lives of Milwaukee musicians, & it was almost annoying to see an Australian demonstrate SO MUCH more curiosity about & appreciation of my home region than I've known pretty much anyone from another part my own country to show.What is that about?
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShoaxHfELKkovrCi by artemis@dice.camp
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       Then again, I think I actually should be fair to the people I knew in the Philadelphia area that they were actually significantly LESS disdainful of my background than the wealthy folks of Tennessee. There is a money aspect here where the more wealth someone has, the less interest they have in anywhere that "sounds poor" to them.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShobAOsSppPV4KeG by artemis@dice.camp
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       If we were going to get into regional differences, folks around Philadelphia were SO MUCH FRIENDLIER to me than folks in Tennessee, but the area just south of Nashville could not really be considered representative of the state. It's where the money concentrated. They kind of think of themselves as an outpost of civilization in the barren wasteland that is the rural South, which they also don't care about.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShobMo8KlA1ysEzI by artemis@dice.camp
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       Some of this is less about region & more about money. A lot of rich people who live in the middle of the country basically don't actually think of themselves as living here. In their hearts, they imagine they live somewhere "civilized".
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShobX5W6z0XrgS0m by artemis@dice.camp
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       So I'm mad that the folks I met in Tennessee were super dismissive & told me they simply didn't care about where I was fun, but if I'm being "fair" about it, if I was from properly rural Tennessee, I effectively would have gotten the same response. But it isn't just the wealthy who do this; it's also the less wealthy who live in the wealthier regions.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShobjUlyuLALUMLo by artemis@dice.camp
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       When folks on the coasts (& it's more often East than West) do this whole "forgetting most of the country exists thing" I still find it actually disturbing.All this annoyance kicked off by someone basically claiming that caring about other people is an "east coast ethos", contrasting with their impression of what people in California are like, with no mention of anywhere else, which suggests that they believe anything that (seems to) differ from CA culture must be unique to the east coast.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShobwG0X7FnvSYF6 by artemis@dice.camp
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       That's what makes me go "what is that?"How could you possibly *really* know what may be distinct about your region if you don't have any awareness of other regional cultures? Aren't you missing some vital information?But then again, painting all of California with one brush is already a MASSIVE generalization & a conflation of different regional cultures, itself. California is a big state with distinct regions.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShocHAklqWqnFFqK by artemis@dice.camp
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       "different than California = east coast" is an assumption that *really* irritates me because it's just pure erasure of anyone you consider beneath your notice.Again, is anyone actually *surprised* that many people in the middle of the country view the folks who forget they exist with suspicion? Is it shocking that this attitude breeds resentment & distrust when it sounds like you're saying that their existence is completely meaningless to you?
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShocUHy0L1VTNjHs by artemis@dice.camp
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       But I suppose it just means that if you live in "flyover country," don't expect anything from people who believe that they are from the only places that "matter".We can build our own communities & our own movements. We don't need & shouldn't expect recognition from anyone in order to do our work & look after our people.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShocevKSqS2SMDrc by artemis@dice.camp
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       Those ignorant attitudes lead to the "I hate red states" thing where people just erase all the people in those regions striving to make a better future. A lot of people in "red states" are working so, so hard to help their neighbors & push back against tyranny & oppression, & it is so fucking *insulting* to tell those people they don't count. Only the bigots & the greedy assholes count. Not the people taking care of each other & demanding justice. Those people don't count for some reason.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShocskV3u6jKpGPg by artemis@dice.camp
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       If you hate "red states," then you hate a whole lot of poor & marginalized people.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShodIcwqbW1avvkW by artemis@dice.camp
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       Hating "red states" means hating disenfranchised people who are living under tyranny & abuse. It means hating the people in those places who try to do something about the abuse & try to help each other when they are suffering. It means hating people who stay because they want to make something better of their home & the people who stay because they don't have any options. It's cruelty disguised as concern."Oh, your state government is shit & only works to harm you & those you love? Fuck you."
       
 (DIR) Post #B6ShodjDLzs5M3NABs by artemis@dice.camp
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       A large percentage of the US's Black population is concentrated in the South. Writing off these places as "backwards" & "unredeemable" is writing off many of the MOST systemically oppressed people in our country.The fantasy of "getting rid of the red states" is a fantasy of jettisoning the most vulnerable people in our entire country & leaving them without protection because you consider them someone else's problem.