# Sneering progressives are driving young white men into the arms of the GOP **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 4, 2018, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566 "2018-05-04T09:14:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/201 "2018-05-05T20:45:16Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > The car repair place likely is looking for someone with some skills in place. Not for someone who they can train. Wow, that’s just a whole big bag of “woe is me, I can’t lift a finger”, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/202 "2018-05-05T21:07:12Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > When you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression. When you’re used to privilege because you worked harder and smarter than most people, equality IS oppression. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/203 "2018-05-05T21:16:55Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > The problem with that is that the candidate wearing the coal miner hat claiming he is going to make everything back like it was is going to beat whatever realistic plan you present them 99 times out of 100. … Maybe, maybe not. I present to you the case of [Richard Ojeda](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/02/richard-ojeda-west-virginia-blue-army-one-217217) and we’ll see how he does. Running for the open seat in West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District, coal mining country. Strong union supporter and strong in support of the regions huge teachers’ strike. Spearheaded the effort there to legalize medical marijuana. Pro-choice. Even for some limited gun control. For the Dreamers. [Take on coal?](https://ballotpedia.org/Richard_Ojeda) “we must continue to seek to new ways to power our growing nation and mine coal in a safe, yet cost effective way, that protects not only the environment, but places the safety of the miner as priority one…I propose a long term approach to regulating the industry to ensure that if any job is lost during the process of improving mining regulations than the same number of jobs have to be created within the economy in another industry to offset the loss.” Not too crazy as far as populist talk goes. On most positions he is tracking on the Progressive camp. District went Trump by 49. 49! Last House election for the district was about the same margin. Take the polling with a grain of salt, it’s internal only, but he’s currently leading likely opposition by double digits. The party can not only win back those who had voted Obama but then voted Trump. It do better than that. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/204 "2018-05-05T21:32:31Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I provided one example. You seem particularly hung up on the fact that it was just one. How many more would I have to provide to convince you that there’s a trend of negative references to white men / mockery of them as a demographic group? Not that you asked me, but I’d like to see at least 400,000. That’s individuals, not posts. About 1% of the American population, and I think we could call it a trend. If you’re asking about posts, assuming these people care a lot about the issue and make an average of 100 posts a year about it, I’d like to see 40,000,000 posts. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/205 "2018-05-05T21:36:39Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > You are a true Scotsman! Some of those tweets had hundreds of likes and retweets. Hundreds? Wow, that’s 0% of the American population. About the same, percentage-wise, as the percentage as I can jump to the moon. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/206 "2018-05-05T22:07:24Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Maybe, maybe not. I present to you the case of [Richard Ojeda](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/02/richard-ojeda-west-virginia-blue-army-one-217217) and we’ll see how he does. Running for the open seat in West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District, coal mining country. Strong union supporter and strong in support of the regions huge teachers’ strike. Spearheaded the effort there to legalize medical marijuana. Pro-choice. Even for some limited gun control. For the Dreamers. Well I certainly hope he proves me wrong. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/207 "2018-05-05T22:30:29Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > Not that you asked me, but I’d like to see at least 400,000. That’s individuals, not posts. About 1% of the American population, and I think we could call it a trend. > > If you’re asking about posts, assuming these people care a lot about the issue and make an average of 100 posts a year about it, I’d like to see 40,000,000 posts. That’s why I didn’t believe “blue lives matter” was ever a thing. Sure some people posted it but no one ever showed me 40M posts. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/208 "2018-05-05T23:37:18Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > You really have a bizarre frame of mind. > > I’m a left wing guy and I see no sign of the left flying off to the left. In fact, the only people I ever hear claiming that are right wing guys who try to claim they’re left wing people who are just being critical of their own side, but somehow can’t quite seem to keep all the right wing buzzwords and talking points out of it. it is a dead give-away, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/209 "2018-05-06T00:24:32Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I disagree with **LHOD** that there are so many who “freak the fuck out” when they hear those things. :dubious: Here in NC, we had the bathroom bill, pretty much in direct response to Charlotte’s LGBT protections. I count the bathroom bill, and the conservative media’s response to transwomen in women’s restrooms, as freaking the fuck out, and that’s the sort of thing I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/210 "2018-05-06T00:27:09Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > That’s why I didn’t believe “blue lives matter” was ever a thing. Sure some people posted it but no one ever showed me 40M posts. You can either show a mass movement, or you can show a significant movement among people with power. A single tweet from the president is easily equal to a hundred thousand tweets from undergrads, in terms of its influence on our culture. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/211 "2018-05-06T00:27:32Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > That’s why I didn’t believe “blue lives matter” was ever a thing. Sure some people posted it but no one ever showed me 40M posts. My evidence requirement for things that I already accept is considerably lower. For example, I don’t need to see any posts at all to accept that gravity is a thing. 40,000,000 is the minimum for me to accept something that’s clearly stupid. But since your evidence requiremnets apparently exactly mirror mine, you already knew that. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/212 "2018-05-06T00:36:27Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > My evidence requirement for things that I already accept is considerably lower. LOL. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/213 "2018-05-06T00:49:15Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > LOL. Yes, I’m cursed with self-awareness. Others, apparently, are not. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/214 "2018-05-06T00:54:57Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > My evidence requirement for things that I already accept is considerably lower. For example, I don’t need to see any posts at all to accept that gravity is a thing. > [@CarnalK](#): > > LOL. Cool, CarnalK. How many posts do you require before you become convinced that gravity exists? Because LOLOLOL and all, but how many? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/215 "2018-05-06T02:23:29Z")
He’s gloating about his stinging gotchaya, about liberal hypocrites who won’t admit they are totally biased. **EE** ’s pretty much devastated. Just guessing, don’t actually know. Maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/216 "2018-05-06T04:00:54Z")
OK, sorry for the all-caps. I only meant “lol”. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/217 "2018-05-06T11:44:10Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if the poll conveys reality. It doesn’t matter if real world mistreatment of Americans due to being white and male is virtually entirely a mythological phenomenon. If the white individual suffers from white fragility, he may not be able to cope with the faintest uncomfortable hints of racial tension anywhere. I have a friend who almost certainly can be characterized by white fragility and it’s not pretty. He goes on about how he’s not allowed to have an opinion because he’s a white dude, yet he has blogged for many years without any threat of his speech being restricted. On the super rare occasion someone disagreed with him and he was unprepared for it, he seemed to curl into a fetal position. One time after it was said to him by a stranger he didn’t have hate speech directed at him in 2016 while minorities did, he threw a pity party for himself on twitter. In the bigger picture, conservativism is the new punk rock right now. That’s the draw, the illusion. It’s absurd because that is almost none of the GOP’s doing. Maybe having lived in a seemingly fairly secular society for awhile makes it seem for some like the overbearing schoolmarmish types liable to go totalitarian are just on one side. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/218 "2018-05-06T13:21:23Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > :dubious: Here in NC, we had the bathroom bill, pretty much in direct response to Charlotte’s LGBT protections. I count the bathroom bill, and the conservative media’s response to transwomen in women’s restrooms, as freaking the fuck out, and that’s the sort of thing I’m talking about. Okay. Accepted that there is a sizable group. Those people though - they are contained in that hard floor, the third who will be GOP/Trump no matter what. My position remains that there are many more who are not freaked the fuck out by mentions of these things and could be won over. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/219 "2018-05-06T13:48:18Z")
> [@Covfefe](#): > > I wouldn’t be surprised if the poll conveys reality. > > It doesn’t matter if real world mistreatment of Americans due to being white and male is virtually entirely a mythological phenomenon. If the white individual suffers from white fragility, he may not be able to cope with the faintest uncomfortable hints of racial tension anywhere. I have a friend who almost certainly can be characterized by white fragility and it’s not pretty. He goes on about how he’s not allowed to have an opinion because he’s a white dude, yet he has blogged for many years without any threat of his speech being restricted. On the super rare occasion someone disagreed with him and he was unprepared for it, he seemed to curl into a fetal position. One time after it was said to him by a stranger he didn’t have hate speech directed at him in 2016 while minorities did, he threw a pity party for himself on twitter. > > In the bigger picture, conservativism is the new punk rock right now. That’s the draw, the illusion. It’s absurd because that is almost none of the GOP’s doing. Maybe having lived in a seemingly fairly secular society for awhile makes it seem for some like the overbearing schoolmarmish types liable to go totalitarian are just on one side. Race-baiting can be frighteningly successful because of people like your friends. They’re not necessarily consciously bigoted; they’re just insecure and defensive when someone points out that they might have a bias. Politicians who campaign on bigoted themes offer a kind of twisted refuge for people. At first it makes a lot of people uncomfortable, but over time, people get used to it, and learn to embrace it. Nazi Germany, the war in the Balkans…they probably sucked into their vortex a lot of people who didn’t initially think of themselves as the types of people who would burn crosses in someone’s front yard. And for the most part they didn’t burn crosses or act with aggression even after that train left the station. But in fact, they did something much worse: the quietly supported it through their own inaction. Membership to a tribe is at the core of the psychology of power, and I suspect it’s unfortunately hardwired into our DNA. It takes effort and awareness raising to manage and control it. One problem I find with the human species is that we often aren’t interested in making that sort of effort to understand ourselves better. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566/220 "2018-05-06T13:49:40Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-millennials/exclusive-democrats-lose-ground-with-millennials-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKBN1I10YH](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-millennials/exclusive-democrats-lose-ground-with-millennials-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKBN1I10YH) > Pundits are saying it’s the tax cuts or it’s this or it’s that, but I am convinced it is something I have been worrying about for some time: the unrelentingly negative way in which white men, especially straight cisgender white men, are talked about online and in podcasts, two modes of conversation that are disproportionately likely to be noticed by young people. They don’t know any other way to talk about straight whites, or conservatives, or whatever the current whipping boy of the day is. Last time I looked, the whipping boy was men in general and our “toxic masculinity”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneering-progressives-are-driving-young-white-men-into-the-arms-of-the-gop/813566.md?page=12)