Cliven Bundy perfectly fits the stereotype of the angry racist rural person. Pissed at the government. Makes a lot of wild racist statements. Lots of angry gun-toting friends ready to form a militia at the drop of a hat (presumably ten-gallon). I bet if you were to meet him in person, he would take no guff from no city slicker.
So why are (some) country folk so angry all the time? They live out in the country surrounded by fresh air and nice scenery. Probably don’t have to deal with cramped apartments or traffic a whole lot or other nuisances we city folk have to deal with. Heck, how many Black people would someone like Bundy encounter in the middle of rural Nevada that he would have any opinion about them, let alone a negative opinion?
Rural folks think of themselves as being more independent and less reliable on government services. They don’t see what their tax dollars are going towards. Typically rural folks are responsible for their own water supply, septic system, and in many cases taking the garbage to the dump themselves. They have no access to any kind of public transportation or services such as libraries either.
That’s a good starting point to be anti-government: what’s in it for me?
I live in central Illinois. Let me take a crack at it.
First, they’re poor. That makes life hard and that makes them grumpy. Being rural, they have less access to government programs than the inner-city poor. That makes them jealous which makes them indignant. “We get by without it, why do they get it?” Of course they can still get Medicaid and SNAP benefits, and a huge number of rural people do. Details, details. There is also the constant media reminders that they’re poor–that their houses, their furniture, their trucks, their electronics and their wives don’t live up to “city standards” portrayed on television. Which leads to them being defensive about their own culture, which leads to the popularity of Duck Dynasty.
The second major thing is evangelical Christianity. Its bread and butter is spreading hate and paranoia. When you live in a rural area, the church is your social network. It’s how you meet people, how you get help, and how you stay entertained. When your entire social network is regularly getting whipped up about what other consenting adults do in their bedrooms, well, it takes a very big person to not get whipped up also.
I think it’s defensiveness and insecurity. Historically, folks migrate from rural areas into cities. Rarely do they go the other direction. So rural people have a way of life that’s seen as less than ideal, which makes them feel like they are under attack.
Because their communities tend to be smaller and tight knit, they are more likely to exist in an echo chamber when it comes to their beliefs. It’s easier to ostracize someone in that kind of community, so people are less willing to openly speak out since they don’t want to be the nail that sticks out too far.
Thus you get folks like Cliven Bundy who are convinced their culture and way of life are threatened while lacking the self awareness to see what they are doing.
I like what Leaffan, Sattua, and **Incubus **said - very well put.
My take:
Some of it is generational, meaning that there’s a twisted “corporate knowledge” effect due to racist characterizations being passed down for years.
Some of it is precisely because they don’t know any minorities personally, and so there’s a built-in insulation. They form their opinions on news coming from the cities, which are facing problems like illegal immigration and gangs. They’re scared of those problems coming to their community and so it becomes Us vs Them; “Them” in this case can be assessed just based on skin color.
But let’s look at the characterization of “angry racist rural person.” I personally don’t think he is typical (and I think we all agree on that). He’s a loud guy in the middle of a controversy. In my experience, (and perhaps in contrast to Sattua’s experience) rural communities are populated by kind, quiet people who aren’t racist and don’t have anything approximating his views. Those people are just as repulsed about his comments and thinking as we are. Most rural people look at militia types as wingnuts and avoid them socially.
I live in rural western Pennsylvania. Not much to add to what has already been said. I’ve heard people around here brag about never being outside of the immediate area, eschewing “the city”.
I love most things about living here except for these people.
You know … morons.
My take is that it’s outsized popularity/recognition combined with the rightwing pundits making heros out of them.
You get some guy spouting similar views in midtown Chicago, and no one cares, because there are tehn other idiots right next to him spouting similar bullshit. And those ten pople are surrounded by ten more of other human flavors spouting other versions of their bullshit.
But you get some idiot in the midwest where only it’s mostly beige (in skin color and excitement), their beige friends will sort of stick around them and make a larger issue otut of it. Because one voice shouing in a room of a hundred is going to get a lot more attention than the same voice shouting in a room of ten thousand.
These are people in relative isolation compared to us city folk. They have this feeling of independence from government even though they are heavily subsidized. They’ve maintained these attitudes through history, and it’s part of their local culture. It’s also based on the fairly conservative idea that social problems have simple answers. It’s not unique to rural environments either.
And they haven’t had to learn about ignoring things and tolerating things that seem goofy or strange or even scary. They haven’t gotten on the subway with a crazy, ranting guy and learned how to tune that out and just go about their lives. They haven’t been around gay people and black people and transgendered people. These things terrify them because they don’t know what to say or do or where to look or what to expect. Their lives are a bubble, filled with other people who are a lot like them.
The more exposure you have to the world, the less scary you find diversity. When you aren’t in a diverse environment, everything is terrifying. I think this is an unsurprising facet of human psychology. Those of us with more exposure (and some people just naturally) have less of this fear response. And fearful things are vicious, horrible things. You never want to mess with something or someone who is afraid.
First you do admit it is a stereotype. I’ve lived in small rural communities, taught in very small schools. I’ve also lived in decent sized liberal type cities. I like them all.
I’ve not found very much racism and bigotry in clearly associated with rural communities. In fact I see more racism, violence and anti-authority sentiments in cities.
However…the common denominator I see is that the racist, violent anti-authority types tend to be poor, as Sattua said. ALso if I can ironically be more stereotypical myself…the poor ones are typically uneducated…you know…morons.
My point is, I don’t think the rural persons are typically angry and racist. It isn’t my experience. My experience is that stupid people are angry and racist…they are found everywhere.
You don’t hear about my farmer neighbors with the organic sheep and cows, complete with ‘guard donkey’ because thats boring.
I think part might be the rural lifestyle may allow for more time to listen to the political indoctrination that is right wing radio. They might be able to go home at lunch and get an hour of Limbaugh. Maybe they can listen to the radio on the combine. Maybe they stay in when it rains and listen to morons like Savage. While city folks are bustling about making ends meet, our country cousins are getting an earful about those socialist Democrats.
Exactly. I was quite amused reading the first several posts, obviously written by sophisticated, urbane intellectuals who clearly know the motivations and aspirations of poor, unworldly, uncivilized hicks. The condescension is palpable.
Sure. Cuz those rural layabouts don’t bustle about making ends meet.
If even just a bit of the stereotyping in this thread was applied to, let’s say, minority populations in inner cities, the same BobLibDem would be up in arms about racism.
So - what’s the deal with the stereotypically “condescending liberals in the cities who think they are better than other people”?
They do abound in cities. I think there the impetus is a little different, sort of a lashing out at everyone and everything that makes your life a little harder.
With rural folk, it’s the alien other. With city folk, it’s the oppressive neighbor.