I’ve been thinking about how we should really begin to treat the Right Wing as if they were adults. So far we’ve been infantilizing them as if they were children.
Recently I came across this post by someone calling themselves the “Rude Pundit.” The article was titled “Fuck You, Rural Elitists.” So, clearly, a muted, thought-provoking policy piece.
In that post the author said this:
We’re all supposed to nod our heads and respect these shitheels while they mock liberals and are ennobled by the rank nonsense of those who desperately want to justify the racism, etc. because otherwise they have to admit that they are surrounded by horrible, hateful fucks. But I won’t do that precisely because I have more respect for these dumbass motherfuckers than any of the wannabe Jane Goodalls observing the ways of the chimps. How do I have more respect? Because I don’t treat them like fucking children or a hidden Amazon tribe whose language is clicks and trills. We’re talking about fucking grown-ups who make fucking grown-up decisions, and I’m gonna treat them like grown-ups. And their attitudes towards urban Americans are no less elitist than the dumbass motherfuckers on the coasts who lump everyone else into flyover country.
Again, a muted, thought-provoking policy piece.
But no matter how over-the-top the language is, there is a very essential truth in all of this. We’ve been treating the Right Wing as if they were children. As if they were too stupid to understand that they’re voting against their own interest.
Now granted, they have been very consistently and very successfully propagandized by Fox News and right wing talk radio. But as adults we make a choice about what we listen to. There is this thing called the Internet, and you can get fabulous amounts of information from it.
There have been a number of books written in the last few years about why people in “fly-over” country so consistently vote against their own interests. These books have titles like:
These books are important, and they go a long way towards explaining why so many right wing voters really do vote against their own interests.
But at some point, they have to take responsibility for that. It’s not my fault that they vote against their own interests. And, for that matter:
– It’s not my fault that so many of their jobs have been outsourced by corporate CEOs, many of whom share their right wing politics (and over which I have no control).
– It’s not my fault that a lot of the time rural people are portrayed as unsophisticated in movies and television shows (and over which I have no control).
– It’s not my fault that Meryl Streep chose the Golden Globes as the venue for making a heartfelt plea about Donald Trump (and over which I have no control).
While it is true that many of us agreed with what Meryl had to say – in this fashion she was voicing some of our concerns – it’s also true that we had no control over the venue and no advance warning that she would say those things.
So stop blaming us for this shit.
Grow up and own your own choices, Right Wing America. If you now lose your health insurance because you voted for an Obamacare repeal, don’t come to us and complain about the results.
As is generally well known, most poor right-leaning states receive much more in federal financial assistance than do wealthier and more liberal states like my home port of Massachusetts.
If y’all want to go the “state’s rights” routes, Massachusetts will do fine. As for your home state, better check back later.
