5 ms·

The Muscular Compassion of "Paper Girl"

22 points by mitchbob 1y ago

mitchbob 1y ago
> In her new book, Beth Macy returns to her home town of Urbana, Ohio, using it as a ground zero for understanding right-wing radicalization. https://archive.ph/eUs98 https://archive.ph/eUs98
- Animats 1y ago
  Urbana isn't even that dead for a small town. It's a county seat. 11,000 people. Still has a high school. Had a university until 2000. There's some industry left. The big milestones in the death of a town are when the high school closes, and, finally, when the post office closes.
  - fellowniusmonk 1y ago
    Last one to leave Mansfield turn off the carrousel.
    - Animats 1y ago
      There are too many towns like that. No purpose, but still on life support. Some years ago I was on a goth bulletin board, and a teenager was moaning about how his town sucked. Most of us thought teen angst. Then I looked up the stats on his town. Average age 55+. All factories closed. Primary revenue stream Social Security and various welfare programs. Most stores closed. High school still operating for a few students but teachers commute from elsewhere. The kid started to get advice on how to get out of that "Paper Girl" situation. You're not obligated to go down with the ship. Japan is much better at winding down towns. It helps that all infrastructure and education is supported by national taxes. Except for Tokyo and Osaka, everything is losing population. [1] 9 million empty houses. [1] https://thedailyguardian.com/world/japan/japans-vanishing-future-fewer-births-empty-towns-and-a-future-running-out-of-time-638009/ https://thedailyguardian.com/world/japan/japans-vanishing-fu...
      - nebula8804 1y ago
        Im not sure if that article discusses how Japan is excelling at this? I've heard from Japan loving friends about how cheap old rural Japanese houses are. What are they doing that makes them do a good job in your eyes?
neilv 1y ago
I think stories like these are important for comfortable blue state liberals to read, for awareness and moving forward. Coming from a non-wealthy, very religious, partly-conservative upbringing, I turned out to identify as very liberal-progressive. (My parents grew up in rural areas, my mom had a huge wood Reagan campaign sign in our yard, they were big on responsibility, and we weren't allowed to ever miss a single blessed Sunday of church nor religious extracurricular. Yet they were also epitomes of Christian charity, kept us in the city even when my dad's job tried to relocate him, and switched us to a noteworthy progressive church parish.) As a liberal-progressive with this background, I've had a mix of pride and concern, over the years, about how my current socioeconomic peers have supported some good causes, but also let huge swaths of the nation be thrown under the bus. There's some truth to the stereotype of the techbro "left" glamorizing greed and exploitation, and focusing on a narrow set of fashionable social issues to support, while ignoring the plights of most people. This began before "dialogue" "on both sides" devolved into scoring points against the enemy team. Now --especially with the overt rise of the fascist right (and a lot of ears-covering cancel culture on the left), and other intellectual dumbing-down of the citizenry (partly created by techbros) -- it will be much harder to find sympathy, and to reconcile. But I suppose one of the first steps is for people on "sides" to start understanding the other, including by reading some of these stories about the experiences of others.
- weakfish 1y ago
  This is particularly why I am a registered independent. The Democratic Party seems intent on shooting themselves in the foot by focusing on cultural issues that only alienate rural voters, even if they are important. I think that’s why Sanders and Mamdani have found success - they focus on kitchen table issues, and don’t let themselves get caught in culture war crap that just pisses everyone off.
  - jfengel 1y ago
    I don't understand this argument. The Democrats have plenty of non-cultural issues. The current government shutdown is focused on health care financing. Democrats have long campaigned on raising the minimum wage. Climate change isn't supposed to be a cultural issue. It's a question of science, and that's the problem. Every area where Republicans disagree with Democrats is defined to be a "cultural issue". Democrats do have cultural issues, but so do Republicans. For some reason only Democrats get the blame for it.
deeg 1y ago
One of the many troubling aspects is that MAGA policies are only making it worse for these voters. Where do they turn when tariffs lead to inflation, tax cuts for the wealthy generate even more debt, and the economy goes south as immigrant workers get deported (or flee)?
- dfxm12 1y ago
  This is already happening, and don't forget the government shutdown which will cause these folks to lose a lot of much needed benefits, all while Trump is tearing down the White House to build his now $300MM ballroom, all while house Republicans refuse to go to work while still collecting a paycheck. One thing is clear, Republicans, maga or not, hold all levels of power federally and it is clear that they are going out of their way to leave working Americans behind. There are a elections coming up in a few weeks, maybe we'll get an idea of where the wind is blowing, especially in NJ and VA.
- nebula8804 1y ago
  Well we saw what happened during the GFC. People got so desperate that they took a chance and voted in a black guy and more importantly a fresh face. It seems quaint now but it was a super radical move back then especially for places like the midwest. Came from a place of desperation. At the same time it also activated some of the worst among us. So we will probably see more of the same. There will be a hard swing to the left + more radicalism in response. This is the best we could hope for I think.
aaroninsf 1y ago
If you doubt how effective surveillance capitalism is at stochastic mind control, look no further than the weaponization of ignorance in places like this. All that is required is voting not according to manufactured cultural issues, but in accord with widely shared values and common interests. We can have and used to have a capitalism which self-moderated, and with sufficient surplus as in the post-WWII years, gains were widely shared. Society wasn't perfect but shit was moving in the right direction. Then came Reagan, deregulation, and the decades-long project by the right of fomenting ignorance and maintaining it through unchecked propoganda. Today, under surveillance capitalism, all the tools are in place to continue driving ignorance and weaponizing it against those responsible for the loss of prosperity, opportunity, social welfare net, and common infrastructure, that were considered the definition of the American Dream. People have been made ignorant, encourage to be righteous, made fearful and angry, and it's worked. Bw, the reason Meta can pay so well is that it's been uniquely successful in accelerating and profiteering off this dystopian nightmare. Don't kid yourself if you work there what you're contributing to.
lazyeye 1y ago
I thought this NYTimes article captured the appeal of Trump, free from the sneering condescension you normally see... https://archive.li/ytRPi https://archive.li/ytRPi
wakawaka28 1y ago
Is this "Hacker News" or Reddit?

22 points by mitchbob 1y ago

> In her new book, Beth Macy returns to her home town of Urbana, Ohio, using it as a ground zero for understanding right-wing radicalization. https://archive.ph/eUs98 https://archive.ph/eUs98

Animats 1y ago
Urbana isn't even that dead for a small town. It's a county seat. 11,000 people. Still has a high school. Had a university until 2000. There's some industry left. The big milestones in the death of a town are when the high school closes, and, finally, when the post office closes.
- fellowniusmonk 1y ago
  Last one to leave Mansfield turn off the carrousel.
  - Animats 1y ago
    There are too many towns like that. No purpose, but still on life support. Some years ago I was on a goth bulletin board, and a teenager was moaning about how his town sucked. Most of us thought teen angst. Then I looked up the stats on his town. Average age 55+. All factories closed. Primary revenue stream Social Security and various welfare programs. Most stores closed. High school still operating for a few students but teachers commute from elsewhere. The kid started to get advice on how to get out of that "Paper Girl" situation. You're not obligated to go down with the ship. Japan is much better at winding down towns. It helps that all infrastructure and education is supported by national taxes. Except for Tokyo and Osaka, everything is losing population. [1] 9 million empty houses. [1] https://thedailyguardian.com/world/japan/japans-vanishing-future-fewer-births-empty-towns-and-a-future-running-out-of-time-638009/ https://thedailyguardian.com/world/japan/japans-vanishing-fu...
    - nebula8804 1y ago
      Im not sure if that article discusses how Japan is excelling at this? I've heard from Japan loving friends about how cheap old rural Japanese houses are. What are they doing that makes them do a good job in your eyes?

neilv 1y ago

I think stories like these are important for comfortable blue state liberals to read, for awareness and moving forward. Coming from a non-wealthy, very religious, partly-conservative upbringing, I turned out to identify as very liberal-progressive. (My parents grew up in rural areas, my mom had a huge wood Reagan campaign sign in our yard, they were big on responsibility, and we weren't allowed to ever miss a single blessed Sunday of church nor religious extracurricular. Yet they were also epitomes of Christian charity, kept us in the city even when my dad's job tried to relocate him, and switched us to a noteworthy progressive church parish.) As a liberal-progressive with this background, I've had a mix of pride and concern, over the years, about how my current socioeconomic peers have supported some good causes, but also let huge swaths of the nation be thrown under the bus. There's some truth to the stereotype of the techbro "left" glamorizing greed and exploitation, and focusing on a narrow set of fashionable social issues to support, while ignoring the plights of most people. This began before "dialogue" "on both sides" devolved into scoring points against the enemy team. Now --especially with the overt rise of the fascist right (and a lot of ears-covering cancel culture on the left), and other intellectual dumbing-down of the citizenry (partly created by techbros) -- it will be much harder to find sympathy, and to reconcile. But I suppose one of the first steps is for people on "sides" to start understanding the other, including by reading some of these stories about the experiences of others.

weakfish 1y ago
This is particularly why I am a registered independent. The Democratic Party seems intent on shooting themselves in the foot by focusing on cultural issues that only alienate rural voters, even if they are important. I think that’s why Sanders and Mamdani have found success - they focus on kitchen table issues, and don’t let themselves get caught in culture war crap that just pisses everyone off.
- jfengel 1y ago
  I don't understand this argument. The Democrats have plenty of non-cultural issues. The current government shutdown is focused on health care financing. Democrats have long campaigned on raising the minimum wage. Climate change isn't supposed to be a cultural issue. It's a question of science, and that's the problem. Every area where Republicans disagree with Democrats is defined to be a "cultural issue". Democrats do have cultural issues, but so do Republicans. For some reason only Democrats get the blame for it.

deeg 1y ago

One of the many troubling aspects is that MAGA policies are only making it worse for these voters. Where do they turn when tariffs lead to inflation, tax cuts for the wealthy generate even more debt, and the economy goes south as immigrant workers get deported (or flee)?

dfxm12 1y ago
This is already happening, and don't forget the government shutdown which will cause these folks to lose a lot of much needed benefits, all while Trump is tearing down the White House to build his now $300MM ballroom, all while house Republicans refuse to go to work while still collecting a paycheck. One thing is clear, Republicans, maga or not, hold all levels of power federally and it is clear that they are going out of their way to leave working Americans behind. There are a elections coming up in a few weeks, maybe we'll get an idea of where the wind is blowing, especially in NJ and VA.
nebula8804 1y ago
Well we saw what happened during the GFC. People got so desperate that they took a chance and voted in a black guy and more importantly a fresh face. It seems quaint now but it was a super radical move back then especially for places like the midwest. Came from a place of desperation. At the same time it also activated some of the worst among us. So we will probably see more of the same. There will be a hard swing to the left + more radicalism in response. This is the best we could hope for I think.

aaroninsf 1y ago

If you doubt how effective surveillance capitalism is at stochastic mind control, look no further than the weaponization of ignorance in places like this. All that is required is voting not according to manufactured cultural issues, but in accord with widely shared values and common interests. We can have and used to have a capitalism which self-moderated, and with sufficient surplus as in the post-WWII years, gains were widely shared. Society wasn't perfect but shit was moving in the right direction. Then came Reagan, deregulation, and the decades-long project by the right of fomenting ignorance and maintaining it through unchecked propoganda. Today, under surveillance capitalism, all the tools are in place to continue driving ignorance and weaponizing it against those responsible for the loss of prosperity, opportunity, social welfare net, and common infrastructure, that were considered the definition of the American Dream. People have been made ignorant, encourage to be righteous, made fearful and angry, and it's worked. Bw, the reason Meta can pay so well is that it's been uniquely successful in accelerating and profiteering off this dystopian nightmare. Don't kid yourself if you work there what you're contributing to.

lazyeye 1y ago

I thought this NYTimes article captured the appeal of Trump, free from the sneering condescension you normally see... https://archive.li/ytRPi https://archive.li/ytRPi

wakawaka28 1y ago

Is this "Hacker News" or Reddit?