9/16/04
A good friend of mine living in North Hollywood is in a fabulous relationship with another man - they have been together for 15 years and are the kind of couple that make you think that America isn't irreparably damaged after all. They got married in San Francisco during those crazy weeks when Tessa's best friend Jason did so as well.
Recently my friend, whom I'll call Perry, went back home to his deeply religious family for a week's respite, and he discovered his parents were palpably relieved that the California Supreme Court annulled all of those gay marriages, because, well, that meant he wasn't "actually married" anymore. In effect, they were happy that he was forced out onto the periphery again, after a few blissful months of feeling inexorably linked to his other straight-married friends.
Perry's father said that Perry lived in "Pretend-wood," where he was being filled to the eyeballs with leftist propaganda and had no way of receiving any "right" information. By all accounts, Perry opened up a can of whoop-ass on his parents, telling him they lived in "Redneck-ville," and to FUCK OFF.
Obviously we couldn't be prouder, but it shows just how hermetically-sealed some communities have become: his father actually believed that Perry was living in a place where absolutely no right-wing ideology was allowed to permeate the environment.
Which is funny, because it seems like I endure right-wing shit every day - and I've been living in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, two places where the Democrats outnumber the Republicans by at least 6 to 1.
I mean, a group of leftist desecrators climbed up the "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" billboard a few blocks from where we're staying and changed it to "President Evil: Apocalypse" with a giant mug of Bush over Milla Jovovich's face. And yet I still managed to hear that moron say "Freedom is marching on" when presented with his own government's chilling analysis of our prospects in Iraq.
Listen to Wolf Blitzer, click on Google News, listen to someone else's radio in traffic, talk to your cousins in Texas, read a smattering of headlines at the kiosk: we are inundated with the effects of right-wing philosophy even in towns where Ann Coulter would be ridden out on a rail. Frankly, I find it stunning - and dare I say hopeful - that Kerry has actually come back to tie Bush in the polls this week.
To be honest, I don't know how ordinary people get enough information to think ill of Bush. It's easy for Web-obsessed pinkos like us to read Daily Kos and Atrios in order to work ourselves into left-wing girlie-man froth, but how does anyone in the upper peninsula of Michigan come by their mistrust of Bush II?
I have bemoaned the education and media literacy of this country for a long time; I have bored my readers here until they clawed their faces off. But I have to admit this: moderate-to-crazy right wingers have a chokehold on all facets of communication, and yet some Americans are still thinking for themselves. If only 51% of them were to do so, then we will have a beautiful new country in November.
Posted by irw at September 16, 2004 11:23 PMOne meaning of "conservative" is someone who thinks that whoever is in control, they're doing a reasonable job. So rather than needing to control all aspects of communications, just making yourself look like you're on top probably goes a long way with these people: That is, wear a smart tie, talk a good talk, look like you have money to burn. Maybe the main difference of these smaller non-metro places is that the populations are smaller and so the variety of occupations there is less (you either pick vegetables or you work at the Walmart), and so just from lifesyle you end up with a populace that is less segmented and more networked. When the herd instinct kicks in then, perhaps that gives you the whole community thinking one way, rather than just segments of it...as well as more voters in one swoop than you might get from a metro bowling league or other interest group.
Hey Ian, hi from the farm. We sort of broke the upstairs shower (maybe it was like that when we got here) and 2 window panes (see if you can guess which ones!), and there is a thin layer of I'm not sure what throughout the first floor. But we're having a great time! Thanks for your hospitality!
YOU KIDS! Why I oughta-