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Ok, what parts of rural Southern culture aren't being accommodated? The rural way of life is already insanely subsidized.

armchairhacker 1y ago
I'll agree that most "neoliberals" already at least pretend to be accommodating to rural Southerners. The problem is there are too many people who are way too general in their criticism and mocking towards them, and the popular Democrats don't publicly call this out (another problem is that neoliberals are inauthentic, but that's a general problem I think for a more general discussion). There are many examples of rural white discrimination, e.g. the FAA "personality tests" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43882962#43883255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43882962#43883255) and affirmative action (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36520658 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36520658; it benefit blacks, but didn't benefit rural Southerners despite them being underrepresented in college). More generally, there's an issue when you point these out someone will reply saying "but also...". I understand blacks and foreigners are also discriminated against and deserve to be accommodated. You shouldn't need to argue that whites aren't being discriminated against and are very accommodated, because there will always be some cases where it's untrue, and it doesn't really hurt black anti-discrimination efforts regardless. I'd argue that constant downplaying of white discrimination hurts black anti-discrimination efforts more, because it drives undecided people who've seen it firsthand towards those who acknowledge it, who as of today tend to be bigoted themselves. That's why I feel the need to say something about it.
jl6 1y ago
George W Bush spoke with an acquired (some may say feigned) accent that led his detractors to call him dubya. They probably thought it was just a funny way of disparaging a political opponent, but what the southern ear heard them say was “people who speak with this accent are dumb hicks and should be looked down upon”. That’s the thinnest end of a very big wedge of cultural stereotypes that underpin what is perceived as “liberal condescension towards the south”.
api 1y ago
> The rural way of life is already insanely subsidized. So is ours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo None of this would exist without probably trillions in DARPA, NASA, DoD, and government-funded university research on computers and networks. We live in a complex internetworked and interdependent civilization. Everyone is subsidized by everyone else, and balancing the books is incredibly hard.
- hooverd 1y ago
  Sure, but I don't yap about being a yeoman software developer and how independent I am from it despite being totally dependent on a long petrochemical supply chain.
  - Karrot_Kream 1y ago
    Half the content that gets upvoted on this site is about being hipster, independent yeoman software developers.

armchairhacker 1y ago

I'll agree that most "neoliberals" already at least pretend to be accommodating to rural Southerners. The problem is there are too many people who are way too general in their criticism and mocking towards them, and the popular Democrats don't publicly call this out (another problem is that neoliberals are inauthentic, but that's a general problem I think for a more general discussion). There are many examples of rural white discrimination, e.g. the FAA "personality tests" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43882962#43883255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43882962#43883255) and affirmative action (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36520658 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36520658; it benefit blacks, but didn't benefit rural Southerners despite them being underrepresented in college). More generally, there's an issue when you point these out someone will reply saying "but also...". I understand blacks and foreigners are also discriminated against and deserve to be accommodated. You shouldn't need to argue that whites aren't being discriminated against and are very accommodated, because there will always be some cases where it's untrue, and it doesn't really hurt black anti-discrimination efforts regardless. I'd argue that constant downplaying of white discrimination hurts black anti-discrimination efforts more, because it drives undecided people who've seen it firsthand towards those who acknowledge it, who as of today tend to be bigoted themselves. That's why I feel the need to say something about it.

jl6 1y ago

George W Bush spoke with an acquired (some may say feigned) accent that led his detractors to call him dubya. They probably thought it was just a funny way of disparaging a political opponent, but what the southern ear heard them say was “people who speak with this accent are dumb hicks and should be looked down upon”. That’s the thinnest end of a very big wedge of cultural stereotypes that underpin what is perceived as “liberal condescension towards the south”.

api 1y ago

> The rural way of life is already insanely subsidized. So is ours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo None of this would exist without probably trillions in DARPA, NASA, DoD, and government-funded university research on computers and networks. We live in a complex internetworked and interdependent civilization. Everyone is subsidized by everyone else, and balancing the books is incredibly hard.

hooverd 1y ago
Sure, but I don't yap about being a yeoman software developer and how independent I am from it despite being totally dependent on a long petrochemical supply chain.
- Karrot_Kream 1y ago
  Half the content that gets upvoted on this site is about being hipster, independent yeoman software developers.