Politics Rural Idiocy
posted by on November 8 at 14:43 PM
By the way, just because we finally tricked those outside of the light of the city, those who live in the middle-dark of nowhere and by the order of a moral system that was concocted two thousand years ago—because we finally tricked these muddy people into voting in a way that benefits them in the short and long run, this does not mean reason is spreading across the countryside. What it means is that we, in the city, finally figured out how to pull rural idiots out of the jaws of the lions. Yes, my form of cosmopolitanism is shameless, unforgiving, and knows no patience when it comes to these country types. But they, and they alone, are responsible for the size of the mess that we are now faced with cleaning.
From the Communist Manifesto:
The bourgeoisie has subjected the country to the rule of the towns. It has created enormous cities, has greatly increased the urban population as compared with the rural, and has thus rescued a considerable part of the population from the idiocy of rural life.At first it was the bourgeoisie that did the rescuing, now it is the political left that must do this task.
Sorry Charles, can't agree with you on this one. I was raised in the country (Southern Oregon) and most of my family still lives there. They are as blue as anyone I know here. My favorite place to visit in Washington is the Methow Valley, and the Methow Valley News (published in Twisp) is a fine, small, very liberal newspaper in a fine, small, very liberal town. Stereotyping is never smart, Charles, and I'm surprised to see you engaging in it.
Well, since all of your food is grown in the vast benighted countryside and all of the grapes that make the wine you drink were also grown, harvested and stomped in those contemptible hinterlands, presumably you are looking to be rescued from eating and drinking as well?
Marx knew a lot of things, but he knew exactly jack shit about agriculture. Probably why collectivized farming ended up causing massive famines every time it was attempted.
Rural idiocy may be real enough, but neither the bourgeoisie nor the left is going to save the peasants from their peasantry. Their idiocy is a structural problem, not moral. There is no salvation outside of the cauldron of the city. And not just any city, only one with sufficient vibrancy, self-sufficiency, and innovation--what Jane Jacobs calls the capacity for import replacement. Rural backwardness can't be expunged from the countryside since it belongs there. Its opposite number is the city, but only to the extent that it remains experimental and progressive.
Yes, my form of cosmopolitanism is shameless, unforgiving, and knows no patience...
Judging from this post, you're about as "cosmopolitan" as the banjo player in DELIVERANCE. You may get some short-term emotional satisfaction from last night's election - I know I did - but beware the pitfalls of mistaking politics for therapy; if your main political driving force boils down to "I don't wanna be like those strange people who live in a different place than I and have weird customs and beliefs", then you are a fucking HICK.
At first it was the bourgeoisie that did the rescuing, now it is the political left that must do this task.
You say that like they're not the same thing.
Rural types are a bunch of ignorant, inbred Red State idiots. Urban dwellers are better educated, more politically aware, and make more money than rural retards. I moved to Seattle from Pittsburgh to live in a city, not to be sorrounded by rural rednecks who don't understand politics.
Wow, Charles, I didn't think you could top your "no pregnant sex" or "men shouldn't cry" posts for utter banal idiocy, but clearly, I was mistaken. This is easily the stupidest post you've ever written.
Jon Tester and Brian Schweitzer and the other rural, progressive-populists are the future (and the honored past) of the Democratic party. The blue-collar folks and the rural voters abandoned the Democratic party when we started sounding like effete urban snobs, for goddamned good reason. It's time to stop that kind of clueless nonsense.
Democrats stand for equal economic opportunity and justice. Nothing in that statement says "for those in the cities only" or "for those with college educations only."
This is the kind of talk that loses Democrats elections, and it pisses me off.
Dear Chuck,
Fuck You.
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