# I am scared for Pennsylvania (presidential election) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 19, 2024, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972 "2024-10-19T06:40:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/21 "2024-10-19T17:22:02Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > What the hell? > Has the South moved up there? > > I haven’t seen those down here, I guess never. I just know about them. I had a neighbor in Sheridan, Arkansas who had a lawn jockey, but the little guy was white. The lawn jockey I mean, not my neighbor. Oh, my neighbor was white too, but he wasn’t a little guy. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/22 "2024-11-11T16:13:01Z")
A post was merged into an existing topic: [Everlong88 Cornfielded Posts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everlong88-cornfielded-posts/1010082/47) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/23 "2024-10-19T18:32:10Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Stay in the house on election day. Not unless you’ve already voted. Voting’s crucial, in Pennsylvania. Downballot, too. Pennsylvania has early voting, though. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/24 "2024-10-19T19:09:49Z")
Only one house in my 9-block neighborhood near Chicago had a lawn jockey back in the 60s. As a child, I didn’t understand it but thought it was mean, somehow. I was relieved when they moved. That was the last lawn jockey I saw on someone’s lawn. In college, a fraternity got in big trouble for hanging a lawn jockey in a noose out a window. I don’t recall if the frat was forced out or not, but there was plenty of outrage. That was circa 1976. I lived in deeply red Wyoming for years and never saw one there, but then, they were never really a western tradition. Horses are for riding, not racing out there, and while there’s plenty of racism, it’s expressed in other ways. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Though the southern anti-racist immune system is weak and rudimentary, at least it exists. Northern regions and people have nothing in this regard. I agree with most of your post. It’s the age-old argument that Southerners have made that for Blacks, life in the north can be pretty bleak, and they faced plenty of prejudice. Anyone who thinks otherwise should examine the history of northern race riots. As for Southerners being more open about being racist. It reminds me of a woman I used to know who said, “I’m prejudiced, but at least I don’t hide it.” I told her, “I’d rather you hid it so thoroughly that no one would guess by your words or deeds that you’re racist.” The north, of course, has never reached that standard, either. But I want to ask you about your statement about northerners having no “anti-racist immune system.” You don’t mean that there are no programs, organizations, or people dedicated to fighting racism in the north, right? I’m also curious as to what this system is in more detail. Just because I never saw it in my visits to the Deep South means nothing, so I’m curious. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > At the end of the day people are people and have to live together, so the south has been grappling openly with race for hundreds of years. Usually to ill effect, but it’s also provided avenues to approach the realities of it. People have to live together everywhere. You don’t really think that northern states and cities haven’t been grappling openly with race, do you? I think I’m missing something here. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/25 "2024-10-19T19:46:09Z")
I’ve seen jockeys at the track for sure. They weren’t freshly painted unless the track was muddy and they were covered in mud. Seriously, Oaklawn Racetrack in Hot Springs probably had the statues at one time. Not in my memory tho’ ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/26 "2024-10-19T20:05:21Z")
Oh, I didn’t mean to not vote. At. All. Yes vote then hole up. Vote early if you can. But you do what you feel safe to do. Only you, @Happytree can determine that. Any way the South cannot solely be blamed for racism as it is today. It is everywhere. The world over. There is a particularly nasty form of it that oozes from down here. It seems all the way to the Canadian border. Keep in mind, we’re all Americans and we have to live here. We need to try and get along. I think when Kamala is president things will calm down and some normalcy will return. At least I hope so. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/27 "2024-10-20T10:23:20Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > Only one house in my 9-block neighborhood near Chicago had a lawn jockey back in the 60s. As a child, I didn’t understand it but thought it was mean, somehow. Same here. Chicago. Early 60’s. I had no idea what racism was as a child. I thought the lawn jockeys where kind of stupid, and just grandstanding that they could afford the silly sculpture. Or whatever it was. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/28 "2024-10-20T10:41:41Z")
There is a small book to be written about what this election is like in Pennsylvania. I was out of state recently and there were no political ads on television. Here we have been flooded. The other night some sort of preacher had an ad denouncing the Democrats for aborting large number of black babies. It included a disclaimer “ABC is required by law to air this.” It included photos of chopped up aborted fetuses. I have never seen anything like it in all my days,. The Republicans have been on the ball with their yard signs. Huge signs on any patch of grass anywhere. Only now, with two weeks to go are the Democratic signs going up. The Republican signs were obviously paid for by some group or the other. Maybe the smaller blue signs come from Amazon. I don’t know. The Republicans are going heavy with attack yard signs. A few funny signs, mostly for Harris and featuring cats. Only one or two incidents of vandalism so far. I am glad to report that. People seem civil too. In fact there is less political talk than you would expect. We have all given up on convincing people. Everyone seems to have made up their minds. All in all, the vibe in Bucks County (in the Philly suburbs) is of a Republican lead, or maybe just huge amounts of Republican spending. If I have to go with what I see with my eyes, I predict Trump carrying my county. It all depends on turnout in Philadelphia. I have no feel for how that will go. Incidentally, my mail-in ballot has not yet arrived. It seems to have been delayed by some sort of lawsuit. I expect it next week. If need be, I will vote in person. All of this is interesting. You who live in non-swing states probably have no idea what it is like here. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/29 "2024-10-20T14:39:24Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I used to know a guy from Philadelphia. If I remember right, he used to say something about how the state had two normal cities, one on each side like bookends, trapping Angry Dumb Mississippi in the middle between them. **His version was pithier and punchier but that was the gist.** Pithier and punchier enough for me to have gotten a bigger chuckle out of me? I somehow doubt that. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2024, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/30 "2024-10-21T05:12:42Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > I lived in deeply red Wyoming for years and never saw one there, but then, they were never really a western tradition. Horses are for riding, not racing out there, and while there’s plenty of racism, it’s expressed in other ways. Yeah, reading this thread, I had to look up “lawn jockey” just to see what it is… Never heard of it before now. (Lifelong resident of northwest SD/ northeast WY) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972/31 "2024-10-22T19:55:59Z")
> [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > The other night some sort of preacher had an ad denouncing the Democrats for aborting large number of black babies. It included a disclaimer “ABC is required by law to air this.” It included photos of chopped up aborted fetuses. I saw that ad just this morning! I’m on Dish, and had the sound down, and glanced up and thought, “WTF?”. So, I hit the ‘Skip Back’ to see what that was all about… … and it had vanished! Would not replay. I’ve had that happen once before, but I figured it was some kind of fluke. Really strange. That Crack-Pot also has an ad where he basically accuses Jake Tapper of inciting the attempt on That Guy in Butler. Again, bookended by the Disclaimers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-scared-for-pennsylvania-presidential-election/1008972.md?page=1)