Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to It really DOES matter where you live.

re: It really DOES matter where you live.
Robert — (archived)

Finally, a kernel of wisdom there, SDAI-Tech1!

If you zoom in on the hackneyed red/blue map, you discover the not very astounding fact that all it portrays is the differing proportions of population living in cities versus in the country. "Painting the map red", as Republicans like to call it, doesn't come close to representing any kind of "sea change" in American politics, it's simply the result of Republicans cynically but effectively exploiting the traditional differences between city and country.

It's so poisonous to America because the difference is irreconcilable, and up until Republicans tried to make an issue of it, it didn't need to be reconciled. People in either environment have different needs, in terms of custom and law and government, and both are justified in resenting it when the other party tries to impose its values on the whole country. Before NeoRepublican demagoguery about "values" and "elites", we'd lived in peaceful coexistence for two centuries because we let city and country be different, and people who preferred one lifestyle over the other could move where they were more comfortable.

But if Republicans succeed in imposing country--"red state"--values on the nation, where will people go to escape the (to them) stultifying atmosphere of rural society? How do you make New York City into Smallville, USA? Common sense tells you that you can't, but the attempt is putting the country through hell. (Why'd you choose Phoenix over a small town, Techie? Hmmmmm?) The consequences of Republican "social activism" is to diminish freedom in America.

In the case of Massengill's disposable flags, no doubt it wouldn't have been an issue in a small town or in the country. It was a non-issue in general until RightWing extremists got ahold of it and tried to manufacture another outrage (Stein was being humorous; Lileks was dead serious). But in a city you get many kinds of people, with many different beliefs and value systems, making it just plain stupid to try something like that in an urban area. It's offensive to city sensibilities even if it's not to rural sensibilities.

You think it's Stein being provincial? Ha! Provincial is thinking that small-town customs and attitudes are universal and can be imposed anywhere. I don't know of any better illustration of provincialism than red-state chauvinism.

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