Second time I’ve seen that article pop up in the last couple days. It’s got a lot right, but def not all of it. I grew up rural and stayed that way for most of my life, and on thing I think that was left out (or I missed it) is the cultural momentum and good old fashioned peer pressure. Everyone around you behaves in a certain way, you will behave the same way or you don’t fit in. When there’s no escape from your situation it’s not good to buck the system.

It also doesn’t explain the unwillingness to accept that the choices they make at the voting booth work against them other than flailing wildly in anger and voting with their middle fingers.

There’s plenty of movie and TV tropes that still push the simple “country wisdom” way of thinking that mock city dwellers by reductionist simplicity and “git’er dun” vs the overcomplicated and often shifty city slicker trying to upend rural life. Politically and socially that way of thought is still held up as some kind of ideal, unfortunately the result is “don’t actually think about what’s happening, reject nuance” instead of “you’re overcomplicating a situation”, the latter of which rarely happens in political solutions because it deals with lots of different people or rules.

Anyway. The article is interesting, but it’s got some gaps.

The article focuses on a "culture war" when in reality the reason rural communities are so fucked are class and economic issues. There's no funding for bumfuck America, once the "elites" start funding outreach programs that aren't tied to the church you'll see a lot of the christian right go away. But nobody wants to do that because culture war benefits the landed gentry and upper class elites.

I didn't have running water until I was 5 and no water heater till I was 11. The reason was booze and pills, there are still kids out there growing up how I grew up. And they'll continue to, because the only outreach programs out there are funded and run by the church and they don't help out drug addicted single moms.

Harm reduction programs, funded by taxes and managed at the federal level so there's no local political fuckery. That's the only way forward for rural America.

I've def gotten much more in the habit of reading the fucking articles since i left reddit. Glad i did! That was an interesting one, thanks for sharing!

I mean, yes and no. It's not as if those who vote for Donald trump aren't people worthy of empathy... But when a helping hand is offered and refused, what then? Can't have my kids getting a few lunch when those "other" kids get one too. Sorry, my empathy died up