this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2025
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Leopards Ate My Face
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There’s stupid and then there’s USA stupid. A very special breed of moron because of how obvious it is that they’re fucked, how they have the money and resources to fix it, and how they refuse to do the right thing so hard that they actively shoot themselves in the feet, legs, arms, torsos, and just about everywhere to avoid even needing to consider thinking about helping other people.
Like, at least the right-wingers in better countries are living in the good world that more leftist policies have built. They’re dumb as hell but at least they’re not steeped in the thick shit of the right to the point where it should be too bad to ignore.
I read an article once about a guy who grew up in a poor rural area in the US that changed my opinion a bit. He talked about how progressive and left leaning people want to help the poor and uneducated, but typically only in major city centers.
Poor people in major cities are seen as victims of society. Socioeconomic forces beyond their control have caused them to fall behind and they need help! Rap music is the voice of the oppressed! Poor people in rural towns are seen as hillbillies who should have paid more attention in science class instead of playing football and taking their cousin to prom. Country music is for hicks! Combine this with the stats that inner city poverty is mostly minorities and rural poverty is mostly white people and you get a sense as to how rural people can see progressive programs as "racist". It certainly doesn't help that this idea is beamed into their heads by billionaire funded propaganda like Fox News.
A tech company lays off 1,000 employees and there's rage, but a coal mine shuts down putting 1,000 people out of work and there's cheers. Biden telling rural Americans facing the loss of their livelihood "learn to program" is pretty rich coming from a wealthy successful man who likely doesn't know how to work a computer, let alone know how to program one. Republican politicians at least pretend to care about run down rural towns. And if they don't do that, at least they pledge to knock those smug city slickers down a few pegs! Send the Marines into LA!
Hopefully the US can fix its urban-rural divide. I have no idea how that would happen, but it seems to be a major hindrance to class consciousness.
I think I know the article you're talking about (although I'm having a hard time finding it again), but I don't think that's quite what it said.
It's more like progressives are perceived by rural people as not wanting to help them, because the type of help they offer is assistance in moving or retraining or otherwise changing in order for their lives to improve. This is because the progressives understand (correctly) that the jobs that used to sustain the small towns are never coming back, regardless of how much the rural people want them to.
The writer then pointed out (also correctly) that this "elitist" approach was not effective in solving the problem.
Unfortunately, I don't remember what the author's conclusion/recommendation of a better strategy was.
Good explanation, plus yes, there is no easy solution. Yes it’s quite possible the only solution is for people to move away. Sucks for your town but those people may be better off
I’ve actually been thinking about this a bit lately. Early in my career I expected to go where the jobs were, and expected to move every few years. However now I’m established. I like it here and would not want to move. Of course part of the reason is the number of job possibilities but I do wonder whether I’m still open to moving should they dry up