# So apparently rural America (modern hunter gatherers) think city folk look down on them **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 17, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221 "2016-11-17T02:34:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/81 "2016-11-20T13:21:00Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Honestly, if you asked me what the largest contributor to this cultural schism was, “liberals being smug/arrogant” would not be my first choice. My first choice would be “half the nation are fucking idiots”. Because without that, you don’t get the smugness. > > But okay, let’s just say that a big part of why Trump got voted in was that people were sick of liberals being smug and arrogant about how much smarter we are. Okay. How do you fix that? How do you talk to these people as if they’re intelligent, well-informed adults when they clearly aren’t and any attempt to lower the level of discourse enough either completely neutralizes the strength of “having decent policy” or comes off as _impossibly_ patronizing, like “Explain it like I’m 5”? What’s the play here? Well, first of all, you could start by treating them as “people,” which you clearly don’t right now. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/82 "2016-11-20T13:41:44Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Well, first of all, you could start by treating them as “people,” which you clearly don’t right now. They’re people. Stupid or evil people. That doesn’t help though. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/83 "2016-11-20T14:38:06Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > They’re people. Stupid or evil people. That doesn’t help though. Well, then I hope you’re content with being on the losing side of many elections to come. 'cos that’s all that attitude is going to get you. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/84 "2016-11-20T14:49:08Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I see no sign that it’s the rural aspect that leads to a lack of respect. If you care about minorities and education, people seem to be fine with you. It’s those who don’t who get treated badly. > > Though I admit “flyover country” is a shitty thing to say. Many Democratic strongholds have the worst educational systems(and the highest funding) in the country yet no disdain from elites about those communities. Elites don’t give two shits about how other people’s children are educated. They care about who the children’s parents are voting for. As long as it’s for the party that subsidizes their research/non-profit/green startup/government department/school loans they are all good. ---
**Author:** ![burrunderthe\_saddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@burrunderthe\_saddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burrunderthe_saddle)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/85 "2016-11-21T02:29:31Z")
> [@Salvor](#): > > What have we:smack: EVER said to disparage such people ?!??!?!?!? > > So apparently rural America (modern hunter gatherers):rolleyes: think city folk look down on them > > All I’ve ever done is post hopeful:dubious: posts about expanding cities so more rurals out in the dirt patches:p of this nation can move to civilization:mad: and have a better life:dubious:. You post is Disparagement as indicated at the smilies! :smack: question asked and answered! :rolleyes: US Rural communities feed the nation and much of the world and have a diverse economy from manufacturing to leading edge technology businesses. :dubious: Implies currently without hope. In the biblical sense hope is salvation and its many blessings, past, present, and future. In the non-biblical sense, **hope is for sissies!** 😛 The cities are not civilized given their high crime, immorality, bad schools, and fanners of disparagement. :dubious: Arrogant thinking that your city life is better than rural life. I would say you need to see beyond the cellophane in the grocery store and put your arms up to the elbow in a bucket of chicken guts. But maybe you would be more qualified inspecting chicken a$$ holes. Just saying!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/86 "2016-11-21T03:06:49Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Many Democratic strongholds have the worst educational systems(and the highest funding) in the country yet no disdain from elites about those communities. Elites don’t give two shits about how other people’s children are educated. They care about who the children’s parents are voting for. As long as it’s for the party that subsidizes their research/non-profit/green startup/government department/school loans they are all good. Sorry but the way it works is that Blue states are the net providers and Red states are the net takers. Not smugness, just reality. Now why do you think that is? Who are you talking about when you say elites? Sounds very bigoted and over general to me. Are you trying to make a case for African Americans to vote R? Care to provide a cite for “highest funding” BTW? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/87 "2016-11-21T03:43:19Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > There are things people who live in cities take for granted they think everyone knows. The don’t. Just as there are things in the country city people don’t know how to negotiate. It doesn’t mean one is smarter or better than another, just different. Heh. Not anything really to do with the thread, but the first time this city girl saw an unattended produce stand on the side of the road with an honor box, I freaked out. Seriously? People put their fruits and vegetables on the side of the road and walk away? And expect people to pay the right amount? And make their own right change?! And they do?! Then I saw one without even any prices listed… :eek: (Also, I find the public transit payboxes ridiculously confusing, too, and I’m still never sure whether I’m going to be paying for a transfer or an additional full fare ride. I’m just better at bluffing my way through it.) ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/88 "2016-11-21T05:57:24Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Well, then I hope you’re content with being on the losing side of many elections to come. 'cos that’s all that attitude is going to get you. :rolleyes: Can we please stop trying to paper over how fucked up this is? Trump voters are either stupid or evil. There is _very_ little in-between. A man running with no plans that hold up to even the most basic scrutiny, personality issues that should be disqualifying for the role of _babysitter_, let alone POTUS, running on blatant lowest-common-denominator populism. Fake news stories, often those which are blatantly _obviously_ fake, outdid real news stories in the lead-up to the election, and no, the degree from each side is not comparable. If we’re going to talk about how to proceed, “A massive number of voters are politically illiterate and are susceptible to the most base-level demagogy” is an _important factor_. It’s something that needs to factor into our understanding of how to move forward. Meanwhile, you’re just worried about us “looking down on” the people who voted for Donald fucking Trump? Poor little dears, maybe they need a fucking safe space. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/89 "2016-11-21T06:54:25Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > A bit of realism to deflate romantic notions about the rural “Real 'Murika” > [QUOTE=Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Copper Beeches”] > > “Good heavens!” I cried. “Who would associate crime with these dear old homesteads?” > “They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.” > “You horrify me!” > “But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard’s blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.” [/QUOTE] He stole that from Moses. One of the God’s laws (Deuteronomy 22) says that if a betrothed virgin is raped in the country, she is not to be punished for it (who said the Bible was misogynistic?) But if she is raped in the city, she must be stoned to death, because if it was a _legitimate_ rape, she would have yelled loudly enough for someone to hear her. I guess it’s just hard cheese if she is choked, or knocked unconscious. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/90 "2016-11-21T07:02:22Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > :rolleyes: > > Can we please stop trying to paper over how fucked up this is? > > Trump voters are either stupid or evil. Sadly, true. Before Trump, I could see people voting for Republicans if they were stupid (and voting in ignorance is a form of stupidity) or rich, but with Trump, even if you’re rich, you have to fucking hate this country to want him for President. Stupid, but not necessarily evil, is anyone able to vote who didn’t, or who voted for anybody but Hillary. I hope anybody who voted for Johnson or Stein or Bernie or Nader or Stassen chokes on it. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/91 "2016-11-21T07:03:17Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Honestly, if you asked me what the largest contributor to this cultural schism was, “liberals being smug/arrogant” would not be my first choice. My first choice would be “half the nation are fucking idiots”. Because without that, you don’t get the smugness. > > But okay, let’s just say that a big part of why Trump got voted in was that people were sick of liberals being smug and arrogant about how much smarter we are. Okay. How do you fix that? How do you talk to these people as if they’re intelligent, well-informed adults when they clearly aren’t and any attempt to lower the level of discourse enough either completely neutralizes the strength of “having decent policy” or comes off as _impossibly_ patronizing, like “Explain it like I’m 5”? What’s the play here? And you think the democrats aren’t at least 50% two digit IQ? I bet half the dem voters can’t name the oceans, the 50 states, and how to calculate compound interest without a calculator. It’s not like the right has a monopoly on poor schools. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/92 "2016-11-21T07:05:28Z")
Liberal city-dwellers live in an echo chamber. It’s not an echo chamber when conservatives live in a white Christian mono-culture town that’s dependent on the fortunes of a single mill or mine. > [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > I’d say they’ve proven themselves worthy of our contempt. Not all of them, but apparently a sizable majority. Some of them, I assume, are good people. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/93 "2016-11-21T07:07:04Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Sorry but the way it works is that Blue states are the net providers and Red states are the net takers. Not smugness, just reality. > > Now why do you think that is? > > Who are you talking about when you say elites? Sounds very bigoted and over general to me. > > Are you trying to make a case for African Americans to vote R? > > Care to provide a cite for “highest funding” BTW? You all need to give this stupid blue state as net donor nonsense a rest. What we really need to see is who actually pays more on a per party basis and who takes more on a per party basis. Misuse of statistics is as bad as reflexively calling everyone who disagrees with the radical left agenda a racist, sexist, transphobe, homophobe, etcphobeist. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/94 "2016-11-21T08:14:18Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > And you think the democrats aren’t at least 50% two digit IQ? I bet half the dem voters can’t name the oceans, the 50 states, and how to calculate compound interest without a calculator. It’s not like the right has a monopoly on poor schools. It has pretty close to a monopoly on incredibly stupid politicians. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/95 "2016-11-21T08:32:13Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > It has pretty close to a monopoly on incredibly stupid politicians. Hillary couldn’t beat Trump, whom you think is incredibly stupid. Doesn’t say much for her or her worldview. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/96 "2016-11-21T08:48:40Z")
> [@Waymore](#): > > Hillary couldn’t beat Trump, whom you think is incredibly stupid. Doesn’t say much for her or her worldview. And “The Expendables” and “Eat Pray Love” killed “Scott Pilgrim” at the box office. Honey Boo Boo was one of the highest-rated shows on The Learning Channel. Popular is not the same thing as smart. A worldview being popular does not mean it is right. I honestly can’t believe I have to explain this to someone at The Straight Dope. Or do you seriously think that Trump was the smarter statesman in this contest? ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/97 "2016-11-21T09:11:01Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > And “The Expendables” and “Eat Pray Love” killed “Scott Pilgrim” at the box office. Honey Boo Boo was one of the highest-rated shows on The Learning Channel. Popular is not the same thing as smart. A worldview being popular does not mean it is right. I honestly can’t believe I have to explain this to someone at The Straight Dope. Or do you seriously think that Trump was the smarter statesman in this contest? I think both Hillary and Trump suck, which is my point. You think very little of people who support Trump. I think very little of people who support both. Given everything you posted above, is it not reasonable to assume that democracy is a seriously flawed form of government? ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/98 "2016-11-21T11:28:05Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Sorry but the way it works is that Blue states are the net providers and Red states are the net takers. Not smugness, just reality. > > Now why do you think that is? > > Who are you talking about when you say elites? Sounds very bigoted and over general to me. > > Are you trying to make a case for African Americans to vote R? > > Care to provide a cite for “highest funding” BTW? “Elites”, who exist and are easy to spot btw, is “over general”, but claiming that entire states are “providers” or “takers” is not. I broke it down to specific elites and their usual sources of income. Individuals are either takers or providers, not states. Any elite liberal who works for or majorly depends on government funding is a taker. This makes up the majority of elites I am familiar with. For example, the counties surrounding D.C. in MD and VA are very wealthy taker counties, yet your analysis doesn’t account for this phenomenon. In fact, when I see the lists most people put forward that make facile claims like you make about red and blue states, they claim MD is a “provider”. Sorry. If a wealthy govt employee pays a lot of taxes, that person is still a taker, big time. He would dwarf those that receive modest transfer payments in his ability to extract loot from net taxpayers. If you provide the methodology for the Facebook meme you’re talking about, we can get into it more deeply, but he warned that any list that includes D.C., MD, and VA as net taxpayers is highly suspect. I’ve had to dispel this argument before, because people have trouble with arithmetic. It is possible for Republicans to be net taxpayers and Democrats to be net takers and still allow for your Facebook meme to be correct. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/99 "2016-11-21T11:33:37Z")
I am trying to make the case that liberal elites do not care about education per we as the poster thought. ---
**Author:** ![burrunderthe\_saddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@burrunderthe\_saddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burrunderthe_saddle)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221/100 "2016-11-21T11:50:35Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Sorry but the way it works is that Blue states are the net providers and Red states are the net takers. Not smugness, just reality. I claim BS and disparagement! In fiscal year 2011, the federal government provided $607 billion in grants to state and local governments which was borrowed (not sourced in a blue state) increasing the national debt. Further roughly 48 percent was for health programs (medicaid) which the people had paid into over their working life and it was their money to receive and if those people chose to migrate to red states well it just adds to the disparity of grants-in-aid and was in no way a hand-out from blue states. We also note that those states receiving the highest grants-in-aid also have the highest non-US born populations. Typically illegal immigrants without a job. \*\* Blue states did not provide a thing! Git off that high horse!\*\* > **[03-05-13federalgrantsonecol.pdf](https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/113th-congress-2013-2014/reports/03-05-13federalgrantsonecol.pdf)** > > 264.33 KB > **[Which States Rely the Most on Federal Aid?](https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/which-states-rely-most-federal-aid-0/)** > > While state-levied taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. es are the most evident source... [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/upshot/mapping-migration-in-the-united-states-since-1900.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/upshot/mapping-migration-in-the-united-states-since-1900.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-rural-america-modern-hunter-gatherers-think-city-folk-look-down-on-them/772221.md?page=6)