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Currently it is because a large part of the Republican party consists of what we call the "religious right", a group that seeks to make political change based o

Currently it is because a large part of the Republican party consists of what we call the "religious right", a group that seeks to make political change based on what they believe to be religious truth, or morality. Ted Cruz was the arbiter of this ideology in the Republican primaries, until he dropped out last week. While this group does not represent the entire party, they are definitely the most vocal, and many liberals conflate that group with the rest of the party as a whole. This belief is not helped by the fact that many "core" republican platforms come from religious conservatives, like outlawing gay marriage and abortion. Many people who belong to the academic community consider these people to be a bunch of uneducated backwater hicks who do not belong in intellectual conversations based on logical thought. So when an intellectual states that they are an evangelical christian, many consider them to be flawed in some capacity, and thus have nothing of substance to contribute. EDIT: to add to that, evangelical christians tend to embrace a literal translation of the bible; in that the world was created in literally seven days, and that every human is descended from Adam and Eve, a story which in its literal translation is of course not supported by science. So when a person who professes to follow science also professes to be a member of this faith, it can seem paradoxical to many.

deleted 10y ago
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mwfunk 10y ago
To the person that asked the question, headcanon's first paragraph is pretty much right on and answers the question. The downvotes likely came from the tribalism expressed in the second paragraph ("uneducated backwater hicks"). American politics are way too polarized. IMO that polarization comes from two sources: (1) demagogues like Cruz and Trump who lure people in by convincing them that they are the "true" Americans, and making them believe that everything would be so much better were it not for the pernicious influence of some other group (Democrats/scientists/LGBT folks/academics/Muslims/Mexicans/etc.). The very best fuel for this fire is (2), being denigrated by people who self-identify as one of those groups that the demagogues are trying to make them scared of. Like, imagine some perfectly decent person who has lived all his life in some small town in Nebraska, who isn't very educated but also isn't a terrible person who goes around looking for excuses to hate people. Rural voters are statistically more religious and more conservative, so he probably has extra peer pressure to be like that himself, but at the same time is a little creeped out by people like Cruz who seem to be trying to convince him that atheist non-white city dwellers think that him and his family and friends are subhuman, and are trying to take away his rights and his livelihood. So he's on the fence, until one day he stumbles across someone complaining about "uneducated backwater hicks", at which point he decides that Cruz might be right after all, because clearly these college-educated urban strangers really do hate him and his friends and relatives. It's a vicious circle that's only broken when people just suck it up and take the high road, but it feels like there's just never quite enough people willing to do that to make a difference. It's easy to judge less educated or less successful people, and I'm sure it feels really cathartic to do so. Especially when many of those people are being used as pawns by demagogues who are actively trying to roll back civilization. It's much harder to turn the other cheek and try to find common ground with them. Sadly that's the only way the trend towards cultural polarization is ever going to reverse, because neither side is going anyplace.
- headcanon 10y ago
  I probably should have tossed "uneducated backwater hicks" in quotes - I was attempting to speak from what I perceive to be the left-wing point of view. But you are right, the social tribalism is driving a lot of this. I live in a very liberal university town, and many people seem to see republicans this way.
dragonwriter 10y ago
> EDIT: to add to that, evangelical christians tend to embrace a literal translation of the bible Actually, plenty of Evangelicals I've seen have cited strict literalism as one of the problems in Fundamentalism that Evangelicalism reacted against; while Evangelicals are more likely to view any particular part of the Bible as intended literally than are Christians who are neither Evangelical or Fundamentalist, there are plenty of Evangelicals who don't hold that the Bible is, cover to cover, intended literally.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

mwfunk 10y ago

To the person that asked the question, headcanon's first paragraph is pretty much right on and answers the question. The downvotes likely came from the tribalism expressed in the second paragraph ("uneducated backwater hicks"). American politics are way too polarized. IMO that polarization comes from two sources: (1) demagogues like Cruz and Trump who lure people in by convincing them that they are the "true" Americans, and making them believe that everything would be so much better were it not for the pernicious influence of some other group (Democrats/scientists/LGBT folks/academics/Muslims/Mexicans/etc.). The very best fuel for this fire is (2), being denigrated by people who self-identify as one of those groups that the demagogues are trying to make them scared of. Like, imagine some perfectly decent person who has lived all his life in some small town in Nebraska, who isn't very educated but also isn't a terrible person who goes around looking for excuses to hate people. Rural voters are statistically more religious and more conservative, so he probably has extra peer pressure to be like that himself, but at the same time is a little creeped out by people like Cruz who seem to be trying to convince him that atheist non-white city dwellers think that him and his family and friends are subhuman, and are trying to take away his rights and his livelihood. So he's on the fence, until one day he stumbles across someone complaining about "uneducated backwater hicks", at which point he decides that Cruz might be right after all, because clearly these college-educated urban strangers really do hate him and his friends and relatives. It's a vicious circle that's only broken when people just suck it up and take the high road, but it feels like there's just never quite enough people willing to do that to make a difference. It's easy to judge less educated or less successful people, and I'm sure it feels really cathartic to do so. Especially when many of those people are being used as pawns by demagogues who are actively trying to roll back civilization. It's much harder to turn the other cheek and try to find common ground with them. Sadly that's the only way the trend towards cultural polarization is ever going to reverse, because neither side is going anyplace.

headcanon 10y ago
I probably should have tossed "uneducated backwater hicks" in quotes - I was attempting to speak from what I perceive to be the left-wing point of view. But you are right, the social tribalism is driving a lot of this. I live in a very liberal university town, and many people seem to see republicans this way.

dragonwriter 10y ago

> EDIT: to add to that, evangelical christians tend to embrace a literal translation of the bible Actually, plenty of Evangelicals I've seen have cited strict literalism as one of the problems in Fundamentalism that Evangelicalism reacted against; while Evangelicals are more likely to view any particular part of the Bible as intended literally than are Christians who are neither Evangelical or Fundamentalist, there are plenty of Evangelicals who don't hold that the Bible is, cover to cover, intended literally.