The South vs. Intellectual Capitals Thread

My facetious, sarcastic tone did not translate well in the other thread I guess. This is not a North-South thing!

In all seriousness, there is a culture war. An earlier poster (IIRC Karl Keller) implied this as well. Didn't mean to come across arrogant, but I do maintain the idea that Republican districts are primarily suburban and primarily rural. Ok, what does this mean vis-a-vis the map? These areas are demographically reclusive. They are mostly white. Whatever votes Dems do get in these areas are mostly from women. Cities in the South, however, are grossly misrepresented by the winner-takes-all system.

Better put, it is an urban vs. non-urban conflict. Urban areas are the doors to immigration. The values of those exposed daily to the new immigration waves are markedly different from those in reclusive districts. City politics are not a politics of fear. Rather, urban ideas flow from the metaphysical rather than the positivistic. Organic life in the city is fueled by artistic expression. And it comes from an array of world cultures and a variety of lifestyles; lifestyles that are not located in non-urban areas. I'm also implying that suburban culture is NOT organic. That is, material dogmatism is indifferent to alternative worldviews.

 

I think this goes way beyond just the South, this is an indictment of "Bush country" (BTW, if someone can explain to me why the right wing is represented by the color red on those election maps that would be a big help) period. It's quite simple, city people -- Democrats -- spend their time reading philosophy, going to museums and attending the symphony. Bush folk meanwhile spend their time attending NASCAR races, reading Field & Stream and it's debatable which number is lower, their IQ or the number of teeth in their mouth.

Once you have established these simple prejudices it's easy to understand cossack's condescension.

 

It's true. I was hanging out with some Democratic voters in Brooklyn Tuesday. I wanted to talk about the problems with the Knicks but they just wanted to have a discourse on the minor works of Virgil.

 

http://www.theonion.com/onion3613/south_postpones.html

 

I'm going to guess you live in New York. New York City is 44.6% white. Atlanta is composed of part of both Fulton and DeKalb counties (I couldn't find numbers just for the city of Atlanta) which are 48.1% white and 35.8% white, respectively. New York City is also considered more segregated than Atlanta (though neither city is spectacular in that regard).

But I'm guessing you want me to say, "Yee Haw! The South will rise again!".

EDIT: I've changed the wording. It was poorly worded.

 

So, Atlanta is 83.9% white then?

 

Obviously, you've never read Sprewell's de-deconstruction of Baudrillard.

-condescending baggage-handler.

 

I don't know what's sadder. That you wrote this, or that you believe it.

 

Have you ever been to Atlanta?

I'm guessing this a joke, but please try to make it funny next time.

 

Democratic America is blue for the clean water and air that we're trying to regain from the multinational corporations that rule the country. Republican America is red for the sickening amount of blood they're willing to spill to claw their way to power. Duh.

By the way, I typed this as slowly as I could so Red America could be able to understand it.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, Exhibit A of the education deficit

I wouldn't expect you to understand it.

 

Education deficit, indeed. What's there to understand when your statement is so ridiculous and inane?

No, no, wait - you're right! Let the Democrats' new slogan be revealed (from your post above, if you can't connect the dots):

Urban ideas flow from the metaphysical rather than the positivistic.

Let's see how many votes you pick up.

 

Thanks.

And the Green Party choose its color to represent the puke that flows once someone actually understands what they stand for!

And Alex, we need more red for the GOP maps, find Looney!

 

He didn't say it would go over well with Joe Twelvepack. He said he wouldn't expect you to understand it.

 

I understand it's a load of horseshit.

 

And this, my friends, is IMO the heart of the difference. White urbanites are most likely better-educated than their rural counterparts (more MBAs and Ph.D.'s and whatnot), but in my semi-limited experience rural people are less likely to accept your bullshit as deep thoughts.

Example: An city person and a country person attend a performance art piece by Karen Finley. Here's the synopsis of the event from each side.
Urban: I found the piece to be daring and enthralling. She is making some very strong statements about the objectification of women and body types that really subjugates the paradigm of modern sexual stereotypes.
Rural: It was terrible. She just stood there and smeared chocolate on herself. My baby does that for free at home.

Neither is better, they're just different. But each side likes to think that their answer is better -- urbanites because they think it shows how intellectual they are; ruralites (not really a word, I know, but whatever) because it's the common-sense answer.

 

It's not that simple, but that NASCAR, Field & Stream (I'm not at all opposed to hunting, but it does take a certain kind of mofo to shoot a buck on TV and then talk about how beautiful he is), country music and muscle car bunch does in fact tend to vote GOP. They're the dullest knives in the drawer, by far, and there is no Democrat counterpart for their cultural ignorance and stunted education.

That's not saying all GOPers are backwards hicks (the wealthy who truly benefit from their policies certainly are not) but the GOP almost seems to have a monopoly on them. I've always wondered why.

 

That's a little strong Obie..I don't want to be thrown on that side of the fence.

Look, I've just read a lot on philosophy, political theory, social theory and historical sociology. All of which point you to why we are where we are. A great many (I'm not excluding urbanites here) people don't connect what they think today to the convulsion of new ideas that stemmed from the Enlightenment. If one does not understand what I wrote and/or disagrees with it then please look up the terms and then take me on in a debate with substance.

 

All of a sudden I'm rural. I live in a huge city. I'm not rural.

That's the problem with cossack's argument. It started out as North-South, but he switched to urban-suburban/rural when his first crap turned out to be inconvenient. That's a big part why it's a load of horseshit.

 

Calling the pot kettle black, eh?

Are you kidding me? "No Democrat counterpart for their cultural ignorance and stunted education"?

If there's not a counterpart, please tell me who the wizards were that elected Bill Campbell mayor of Atlanta?

This kind of arrogance is a HUGE part of the Democrats problem.

 

Hey, I owned up to the misinterpretation in that other thread. GT started this up with "The South vs. Intellectual Capitals" and I wanted to set my points correctly. As usual, I struck a rod with the reactionaries. My intent never swayed. For the record, your arguments aren't even arguments. You simply turn everything into the Rivalries Forum.

 

You wrote: "Atlanta is 48.1% white and 35.8% white". Now, can you spot the error?

 

I don't claim to have made a single argument in this thread. But your posts have been exceedingly asinine, which I'm pointing out.

As for arguing over your points, it's pointless (pun intended). You've written a host of non sequiturs in an attempt to prove some sort of culture war. I mean, "Organic life in the city is fueled by artistic expression". WTF?