Trump's America

[funhusker]

I just wanted to point out that there was a bombing of an Islamic center in Minneapolis and a talking sh#t pile of a human that was speaking on behalf of our Dear Leader refused to condemn it or acknowledge it's heinous nature because they believe it may have been staged by "The Left"

I've been thinking about this for a while, and it is absolutely infuriating me. Let's play along, just for a moment, and assume it was "staged by the left." Does that make it less horrible for the people attending worship? Does that mean it never happened? Does that make anyone safer?

 

These people have basically said, "we don't care". Hell, they have made it obvious that they don't even care enough to say "we don't care"....

[Danny Bateman]

Trump has made it abundantly clear he's not going to speak out with the same passion or fervor with which he decries Islamic terrorism if anyone but Christians are under siege.

 

This is the president White, Republican America elected. He has not interest in protecting anyone's cause but theirs. It's a shameless act, purely politically motivated.

[B.B. Hemingway]

I don't think they're any worse people either.

 

The people we're talking about are people like almost all of my family members. Thing is, though, sadly, so many don't want anything more or different. I'm admittedly cynical in all of this, but anecdotally all of the things that drove the rudder of my ship away from ignorance were internal motivations that finally found ways to manifest. What you do with someone who doesn't want to leave their town of 500, who doesn't want to entertain different life experiences, who doesn't care about any of that stuff, is beyond any idea I have.

 

 

And what do people from big cities understand about rural America? Do they partake in different life experiences related to those of rural America? What efforts have they made?

 

They just write off that portion of Americans as stupid, and oblivious to the world. I can't stand Trump as much as the next guy, but stupidity, and oblivious nature isn't anymore common in rural America then it is in the big cities.

[Danny Bateman]

I would expect to find such nonsensical garbage on a tabloid headline, but this is an actual factual thing that was said.

 

 

This dude preached at Trump's inauguration. Frickin' crazies, man.

 

 

I can one up you. This guy was actually on the NSC. Meaning he was making actual decisions affecting national security. For all of us.

 

 

 

In the meantime, however, the memo had been working its way through the Trump White House. Among those who received the memo, according to two sources, was Donald Trump Jr.

 

Trump Jr., at that time in the glare of media scrutiny around his meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower during the presidential campaign, gave the memo to his father, who gushed over it, according to sources.

In a comedy of errors, Trump later learned from Sean Hannity, the Fox News host and close friend of the president, that the memo’s author had been fired. Trump was “furious,” the senior administration official said. “He is still furious.”

The memo lays out what it described as a concerted campaign to undermine the president.

“The administration has been maneuvered into a constant back-pedal by relentless political warfare attacks structured to force him to assume a reactive posture that assures inadequate responses,” it reads. “The president can either drive or be driven by events; it’s time for him to drive them.”

The purpose of the memo, said a source familiar with the document, was to educate others in the White House about just what the president is allegedly up against.

“The memo maybe reads a little crazy, sure, but it’s not wrong and Rich isn’t crazy,” an administration official said.

----

This 3,500-word memo was written in a personal capacity, according to a source familiar with its drafting. The source described it as a “technical assessment” of the current political situation, and said it was never disseminated from the NSC in any official manner, but shared with personal contacts from the Trump campaign.

“While opposition to President Trump manifests itself through political warfare memes centered on cultural Marxist narratives, this hardly means that opposition is limited to Marxists as conventionally understood,” the memo reads. “Having become the dominant cultural meme, some benefit from it while others are captured by it; including ‘deep state’ actors, globalists, bankers, Islamists, and establishment Republicans.”

“It’s not wrong per se,” said another official. “Actually, it’s not wrong at all. The not-wrong part is just, well, buried a bit I guess by some of the wackier parts.”

The memo calls out those pushing for rights “based on sex or ethnicity,” which is a “direct assault on the very idea of individual human rights and natural law around which the Constitution was framed.” It also says that “transgender acceptance” is “denying a person the right to declare the biological fact of one’s sex.”

 

1. Why does a national security memo need run by Don Jr., who holds no official position in this White House?

 

2. Proof Trump literally learns things from cable (Fox) news and then acts on them.

 

3. The lengths to which this administration and those loyal to Trump will go to make him the victim of some gigantic conspiracy is amazing.

 

4. This is how the people who now run the executive branch think every day as they do their jobs.

 

5. This is stupid.

 

6. The more bothersome part may not be that some guy created this nonsense, but that others within the government feel it is accurate and defend him doing so.

[Landlord]

And what do people from big cities understand about rural America? Do they partake in different life experiences related to those of rural America? What efforts have they made?

 

They just write off that portion of Americans as stupid, and oblivious to the world. I can't stand Trump as much as the next guy, but stupidity, and oblivious nature isn't anymore common in rural America then it is in the big cities.

 

 

 

 

I agree that stupidity doesn't know any geographical constraints, but obliviousness does.

 

The majority of Americans live in cities. Cities are where culture is developed, where immigrants end up, where fringe/minority/oppressed groups can find enough people like them to have solidarity and stand up for themselves, etc. These are general statements which are generally true, not absolutely true.

 

If you grow up in small town Nebraska, you grow up with little to no exposure to life experiences of blacks, muslims, gays, buddhists, asians, so on and so forth. These people groups, collectively, make up almost half of America!

 

If you grow up in a city, you grow up wth little to no exposure to farmers, factory/industry workers, I guess Native Americans, and that's... about it. That's a much, much, MUCH smaller group of unique people. I don't know how to combine the stats, but I'd imagine less than 5-10%.

 

 

 

 

I've had city friends (lived in major urban areas 100% of their lives) make trips to Nebraska with me. I've also had small town friends and family visit the big cities I've lived in. I also go home and interact with my mom's coworkers and friends in Columbus often. The difference between city people being exposed to and approaching rural America and vice versa is profound.

[Moiraine]

fwiw I didn't meet a Native American until I moved to the "big city" of Lincoln.

[mrandyk]

 

I don't think they're any worse people either.

 

The people we're talking about are people like almost all of my family members. Thing is, though, sadly, so many don't want anything more or different. I'm admittedly cynical in all of this, but anecdotally all of the things that drove the rudder of my ship away from ignorance were internal motivations that finally found ways to manifest. What you do with someone who doesn't want to leave their town of 500, who doesn't want to entertain different life experiences, who doesn't care about any of that stuff, is beyond any idea I have.

 

 

And what do people from big cities understand about rural America? Do they partake in different life experiences related to those of rural America? What efforts have they made?

 

They just write off that portion of Americans as stupid, and oblivious to the world. I can't stand Trump as much as the next guy, but stupidity, and oblivious nature isn't anymore common in rural America then it is in the big cities.

 

I'd argue that the rural portion of America is definitely the most close minded part of this country. Generations of families that have been exposed to nothing new, entirely surrounded by people who look and think just like themselves. I haven't looked up stats to back up this claim, but it seems likely that rural America is also the least educated portion of this country.

 

It bothers me that such a small portion of our population, so incredibly isolated from the rest of the nation, gets so much representation.

[BigRedBuster]

 

And what do people from big cities understand about rural America? Do they partake in different life experiences related to those of rural America? What efforts have they made?

 

They just write off that portion of Americans as stupid, and oblivious to the world. I can't stand Trump as much as the next guy, but stupidity, and oblivious nature isn't anymore common in rural America then it is in the big cities.

 

 

 

 

I agree that stupidity doesn't know any geographical constraints, but obliviousness does.

 

The majority of Americans live in cities. Cities are where culture is developed, where immigrants end up, where fringe/minority/oppressed groups can find enough people like them to have solidarity and stand up for themselves, etc. These are general statements which are generally true, not absolutely true.

 

If you grow up in small town Nebraska, you grow up with little to no exposure to life experiences of blacks, muslims, gays, buddhists, asians, so on and so forth. These people groups, collectively, make up almost half of America!

 

If you grow up in a city, you grow up wth little to no exposure to farmers, factory/industry workers, I guess Native Americans, and that's... about it. That's a much, much, MUCH smaller group of unique people. I don't know how to combine the stats, but I'd imagine less than 5-10%.

 

 

 

 

I've had city friends (lived in major urban areas 100% of their lives) make trips to Nebraska with me. I've also had small town friends and family visit the big cities I've lived in. I also go home and interact with my mom's coworkers and friends in Columbus often. The difference between city people being exposed to and approaching rural America and vice versa is profound.

 

Sorry, but there is a lot of misguided pompous statements in this post.

 

You really saying that most immigrants end up in large cities? I live next to one town that white people are now a minority. In that town, there are hispanics, and people from Somalia. The donut shop I go to there is owned and ran by immigrants from Korea.

 

My own town I grew up in had a wave of immigrants that I went to school with their kids. These were mostly hispanic. But, I also had kids in my class that were immigrants from Vietnam. Is every small town like this? No. But, there are a hell of a lot of them like this due to immigrants working in packing plants or agriculture. Sitting right here in Central Nebraska small town, I come into contact regularly with hispanic, Somalians, an Egyptian (Muslim), African American, Native American, Asian....along with a number of European immigrants.

 

One group of people (city or rural) doesn't have a monopoly in ignorance. My kids have gay class mates, transgender class mates...along with all the nationality groups I've mentioned.

 

Are there ignorant people here? Definitely....But, I also know one hell of a lot of people who live in larger metro areas that live in a nice suburb where 99% of the people on their street are as WASP as WASP can be. Their experience with minorities is driving through the inner city neighborhoods on the way to someplace else.

 

Now....where these types of comments come from is that people growing up in rural America many times have DIFFERENT types of experiences. My kids growing up here experienced a lot of diversity that my nieces never experienced growing up in a suburb outside of Philly.....and vice versa. But....one isn't more worldly or profoundly more diverse in their experiences than the other.

[StPaulHusker]

Should probably define what constitutes a large city and what is a town.

 

I currently live in what I would deem a city of about 18k. But I came from a city of 300+k and they see my city as a town.

[NM11046]

I didn't take any of that as pompous, but pretty insightful actually, in a way I hadn't thought about it before (I've always been of the mind that midwesterners need to expose themselves to more culturally, but hadn't thought about he fact that big city/coastal folks need to do the same in opposite).

 

But I think a lot of that is dependent on when you grew up too. I didn't meet a jewish person til I was out of college, had one black family in my town growing up, no other diversity, nobody out of the closet. It's a far more diverse town now (which everyone complains about) but I certainly wasn't exposed to anything until I was on my own, and initially moved to KC, then on to the coast.

[BigRedBuster]

Maybe my word "pompous" was a little harsh.

But, at the same time, it came off as people who live in cities experience the world more because they are cultural centers or where immigrants come together.

 

At the same time though, how many of those people in the cities have experienced nature to it's fullest. How many have woke up to the sounds of nature around you instead of traffic? which one of those makes you more worldly and knowledgable about how the world works?

 

Meanwhile, many people in cities are insulated by their suburban neighborhoods of people who all are from the same socio-economic group.

[NM11046]

Agreed BRB - that's what I took away most. That city folk are equally unexposed to some of the things we midwesterners experience daily. It was a deep thought!

[B.B. Hemingway]

 

 

And what do people from big cities understand about rural America? Do they partake in different life experiences related to those of rural America? What efforts have they made?

 

They just write off that portion of Americans as stupid, and oblivious to the world. I can't stand Trump as much as the next guy, but stupidity, and oblivious nature isn't anymore common in rural America then it is in the big cities.

 

 

 

 

I agree that stupidity doesn't know any geographical constraints, but obliviousness does.

 

The majority of Americans live in cities. Cities are where culture is developed, where immigrants end up, where fringe/minority/oppressed groups can find enough people like them to have solidarity and stand up for themselves, etc. These are general statements which are generally true, not absolutely true.

 

If you grow up in small town Nebraska, you grow up with little to no exposure to life experiences of blacks, muslims, gays, buddhists, asians, so on and so forth. These people groups, collectively, make up almost half of America!

 

If you grow up in a city, you grow up wth little to no exposure to farmers, factory/industry workers, I guess Native Americans, and that's... about it. That's a much, much, MUCH smaller group of unique people. I don't know how to combine the stats, but I'd imagine less than 5-10%.

 

 

 

 

I've had city friends (lived in major urban areas 100% of their lives) make trips to Nebraska with me. I've also had small town friends and family visit the big cities I've lived in. I also go home and interact with my mom's coworkers and friends in Columbus often. The difference between city people being exposed to and approaching rural America and vice versa is profound.

 

 

I don't know why it matters how less unique rural people are, it's still a culture/environment that those in cities are unfamiliar with.

 

Also, assuming that small towns have had no exposure to different cultures is just wrong. It's not to the extent of large cities, but I live in a small town in SWMO of around 9,000 people. It's probably (educated guess) 50% white, 35% hispanic, 10% black, and 5% asian/island pacific.... As much as it'd blow the minds of those in the city, and national media; we all get a long pretty damn well. I can't tell you that I've ever read, or heard of any racial issue in our little area.

 

Something I've come to know about the "rural white male" (at least in my area) is that what they sometimes say, and how they actually feel don't coincide. As an example: My father-in-law is the best man I know, he has said some racially insensitive things to be sure, but he has a black guy in town that helps him on his farm. Just about every time I'm around he raves about the guy, and how much he enjoys having him around. I'ved pulled up to his place midday a few times, and seen them throwing back Busch Lights by the barn, laughing their asses off. Obviously, this is one example, but I think it's more common then you want to believe.

 

 

 

 

[Landlord]

You really saying that most immigrants end up in large cities? I live next to one town that white people are now a minority. In that town, there are hispanics, and people from Somalia. The donut shop I go to there is owned and ran by immigrants from Korea.

 

Yes, because it's true. Do you guys not understand how general arguments work? I didn't say that immigrants don't exist in rural communities, nor does any of your anecdotal experience dismiss the claim.

 

 

Maybe my word "pompous" was a little harsh.

But, at the same time, it came off as people who live in cities experience the world more because they are cultural centers or where immigrants come together.

 

They are cultural centers where immigrants come together.

 

This study is from 1990.

 

 

 

According to the data presented in Table 2, 74 percent of the native-born population aged 5 or more lived in urban areas in 1990. Only around 2 percent lived on farms, with the remaining 24 percent living in rural non-farm areas. In comparison, the foreign born are much more likely to live in an urban area. Fully 94 percent of the total foreign born live in urban areas. This higher degree of urbanization is observed for each of the three sub-groups of the foreign born identified by language spoken at home in the table. Thus, 90 percent of immigrants who speak only English live in urban areas, as do around 95 percent of those who speak Spanish and those who speak other languages at home.

 

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7622/8ad1c389423c5b9060bd2c4ab67ad8d55de8.pdf

 

 

 

This one is from 2010

 

 

 

The five U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest foreign-born populations—New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and Houston—loosened their grip on the nation’s immigrants over the decade. They housed just 38 percent of immigrants in 2010, compared to 43 percent in 2000. Eighty-five percent of immigrants called the 100 largest metropolitan areas home in 2010 compared to 86 percent in 2000.

Nonetheless the number of immigrants living in the 100 largest metropolitan areas increased 27 percent in the 2000s. Metro areas experiencing the fastest growth rates were places that had relatively small immigrant populations. A swath of metro areas from Scranton stretching southwest to Indianapolis and Little Rock and sweeping east to encompass most of the Southeast and lower mid-Atlantic— including states and localities that have been flashpoints in the immigration debate—saw growth rates on the order of three times that of the 100-largest-metro-areas rate. These include Charlotte, Raleigh, Nashville, and Indianapolis, all of which passed the 100,000 mark for total foreign-born population by 2010.

https://www.brookings.edu/on-the-record/immigrants-in-2010-metropolitan-america-a-decade-of-change/

I can provide more links if they're needed. This isn't a controversial statement, by any means.

Regardless of all that, my perspective is influenced by my experience. I know now that I was not exposed to different strains of thought or different cultures. I know now that I thought my life experience was the default, "normal" kind of life, instead of one of many, and that black/gay/jew/muslim/et al were weird, unusual ones. I know now that my vocabulary and phrases I was comfortable using as early as age 8 were powerful, demeaning, and lacking in empathy for certain minority people, even though I never meant them in their true definitions. I know now that black people wearing hoodies on the street corner, and gay people acting flamboyantly, were scary to me, for no other reason than they were different than I was and they were unfamiliar.

If that's not you, then that's great - you were educated on life better than I was. Maybe I'm projecting too much, but when I go back home and I hear some of the sh#t that comes out of the mouths of my mom's coworkers, or see the stuff that high school friends post on facebook, I don't feel like I'm all that far off in my assessment.

Maybe see if you would be making the same arguments if we were talking about backwoods Alabama or Mississippi? Because I think maybe you feel the need to defend YOUR rural experience, defend the intelligence of OUR state.

[Landlord]

Also, assuming that small towns have had no exposure to different cultures is just wrong.

 

 

That's great but it also hasn't been argued by anybody.