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The reason we are so divided

Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:46 pm
Posted by BHMKyle
Birmingham, AL
Member since Feb 2013
5076 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:46 pm
... is nearly 100% due to the cultural divide that exists between the coastal elites and Middle America.

For centuries, each region of the country had its own very distinct culture. It is why Cajun food was king in New Orleans, yet probably non-existent in Salt Lake City in 1940. It's why college football was (and still is) king in the Deep South, yet completely foreign to families who have lived in Manhattan for generations. It's why Country music dominated the airwaves in the South and also why there were few or no country music stations in New England back in the 1920s and 1930s.

But as technology has advanced, everyone living anywhere can subscribe to and consume any part of any subculture that exists, no matter where that subculture is rooted. Not only that, but transportation advancements and globalization have made it to so that most Americans now live in multiple states within their given lifespan... bringing bits of their old culture to their new home.

So now you can easily find a Cajun restaurant in Salt Lake City... Chicago Deep Dish pizza in Miami... or Nashville Hot Chicken in Los Angeles. It's why Country Music has now gone mainstream and can be listened to in any town or city in America. Its why college football has become more popular in places like Oregon and Idaho but also why hockey has increased its popularity in the South and West.

Most of this is nothing but good. But the problem is this: While most anyone is fine if a previously regional cuisine or previously regional type of music now invades the region they call home, when it comes to religion and politics, people aren't so fine if they are expected to adapt to a way of thinking that is rooted some place else.

Here is what it all boils down to: The Coastal Media and Political Elites make up just 15% of this country, but they decide about 99% of the media content we consume (whether it be news or simply television, cinema, magazines, etc.).

Nearly all major news media outlets are based in Washington or New York. This isn't just politics. MTV airs live from Times Square every day. ESPN is based in Bristol (greater NYC). And nearly every major magazine is published in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. And of course Hollywood has a stranglehold on most all television and cinema.

As technology increases... media influence also increases. And the problem we have today is that our Coastal Elites are completely one-sided and completely out of touch with mainstream America.

The Coastal Elites can't imagine any decent person voting for Donald Trump, so therefore they just assume that all of Middle America is made up of non-decent people.

They are going to give us their liberal spin... whether it be through news, television, movies, etc... whether that form of thinking plays well in Middle America or not. Quite frankly, we don't have much of a choice. Hollywood in the 1990s made a choice to make homosexuality more mainstream, and Middle America pretty much had to tolerate it in television and movies if we wanted to continue watching television and movies.

And for the most part, this has been tolerated by Middle America without major push back.

But the problem is that our elections are still free and thankfully everyone has an equal vote. One person in Manhattan, Kansas has one vote just as one person in Manhattan, New York. So when Middle America speaks out and chooses a president that the Coastal Elites don't like, they completely lose their sanity.

When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008 and again in 2004, the majority of Middle America disagreed with the choice the nation made for President. But what happened had happened and we all just lived with it. And thanks to the Coastal Elites, we were treated to 8 years of media telling us that everyone in America was in love with Obama and his liberal agenda... and if you weren't, you must just be a racist bigot.

But now when the tables turn, the coastal elites are the ones disappointed. And because they dominate the media, we're treated to news and television filtered through the assumption that all of America hates our current situation and choice for president.

So the political divide only deepens. Hollywood and the Cultural Elites despise Middle America, and they hate the fact that Middle America has so much say so in our elections. And Middle America continues to be increasingly annoyed with constantly being told how to think and vote.

Until we as a society are represented with more of a mainstream media, this division will only deepen.
Posted by Mo Jeaux
Member since Aug 2008
58788 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:47 pm to
quote:

Cajun food was king in New Orleans


Posted by skrayper
21-0 Asterisk Drive
Member since Nov 2012
30894 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:48 pm to
quote:

thankfully everyone has an equal vote


Not in Presidential elections.
Posted by CajunSoldier225
Member since Aug 2011
8990 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:49 pm to
Dude, this is the pure definition of tl;dr...

But valid points. The libs are pissed they have to swallow the same pill hey made us swallow, "We won, y'all lost. Suck it."
Posted by Nado Jenkins83
Land of the Free
Member since Nov 2012
59672 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:49 pm to
i blame hipsters and their need/want to have everything in every city.
Posted by Seldom Seen
Member since Feb 2016
40251 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:50 pm to
I wish more people would just turn off the lib media, stop calling them mainstream too btw. They only have power if you give it to them.
Posted by Dude man 25
Member since Dec 2016
461 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:52 pm to
Posted by redneck hippie
Stillwater
Member since Dec 2008
5593 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:52 pm to
I blame lack of education
Posted by NIH
Member since Aug 2008
112669 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:54 pm to
It's kind of funny. Things that made cities like Austin or Portland "cool" ten years ago are now available everywhere. Bottomless brunches, craft breweries, farm to table restauraunts, local coffee shops, etc.
Posted by cajunangelle
Member since Oct 2012
146904 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:56 pm to
Until the media stops being in the tank for the democrats. The division will continue. The democrats lost their SJW BLM cultural and racial divisive rhetoric; but the media and some fool from the dems will continue.

We need to break away and let CA/NY/DC have the democrats.
Posted by JawjaTigah
Bizarro World
Member since Sep 2003
22501 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:57 pm to
Cajun food was not king in NOLA. Creole food was.
Posted by KeyserSoze999
Member since Dec 2009
10608 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:58 pm to







Posted by stuntman
Florida
Member since Jan 2013
9105 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:58 pm to
It's a lot simpler than that;

"As long as it is admitted that The Law may be diverted from it's true purpose- that it may violate property instead of protecting it--then everyone will want to participate in making the law, either to protect himself against plunder or to use it for plunder."

Frédéric Bastiat, The Law
Posted by Nado Jenkins83
Land of the Free
Member since Nov 2012
59672 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 2:59 pm to
quote:

It's kind of funny. Things that made cities like Austin or Portland "cool" ten years ago are now available everywhere. Bottomless brunches, craft breweries, farm to table restauraunts, local coffee shops, etc.



but they also opened up a world full of skinny jeaned men with hir buns and flannel shirts, and fat lesbian women with purple hair.


I miss back when
This post was edited on 1/23/17 at 3:01 pm
Posted by Zach
Gizmonic Institute
Member since May 2005
112495 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 3:01 pm to
1. Cajun food is not New Orleans. It's from Houma going west to Morgan City, New Iberia and then Carencro. It stops around Rayne. Some people say it goes north to Ville Platte but that's a bunch of shite.

2.
quote:

It's why college football was (and still is) king in the Deep South, yet completely foreign to families who have lived in Manhattan for generations.


That is very disrespectful of Columbia.

Posted by The Spleen
Member since Dec 2010
38865 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 3:01 pm to
Whittling it down to "coastal" isn't all that accurate. For the most part, Clinton won every major metropolitan city, not just the coastal ones.

And this cultural divide isn't all that new. Birmingham has always been more liberal(both white and black residents), while the suburbs are more conservative, for a couple of decades now, at least. Even the the suburban conservatives are a little more liberal than their conservative friends and family in more rural areas.

And for every "coastal elite" that ignored middle America and its concerns, there is someone in Middle America that ignores the "coastal elite" and its concerns. Both sides need to get out of their bubble more.
This post was edited on 1/23/17 at 3:03 pm
Posted by Mo Jeaux
Member since Aug 2008
58788 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 3:02 pm to
quote:

We need to break away and let CA/NY/DC have the democrats.


You really think this is the answer?
Posted by NIH
Member since Aug 2008
112669 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 3:04 pm to
With all that being said, I enjoy pretty much everything I listed.

Posted by Mo Jeaux
Member since Aug 2008
58788 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 3:06 pm to
quote:

And for every "coastal elite" that ignored middle America and its concerns, there is someone in Middle America that ignores the "coastal elite" and its concerns. Both sides need to get out of their bubble more.



This.
Posted by skrayper
21-0 Asterisk Drive
Member since Nov 2012
30894 posts
Posted on 1/23/17 at 3:19 pm to
The "reason we are so divided" is because the State was smart enough to divide this country into teams, then tell you that you had to cheer for one of those two teams.

No other teams matter. Just these two. If you buy tickets to a third team, you're "wasting your money".

And the public ate it up - gobbled it with a relish and zeal fit for the gluttons for popular "I belong" concepts that they craved.

For no matter your personal life, you could either:
A.) Be a winner. Your team(party) has won. It doesn't matter how awesome or terrible your life is, you belong to the winning team and that means in 4-8 years, everything will be perfect for you.
B.) Blame someone else. Your team lost, but that just means that now everything bad is someone else's fault. No money? The Reps/Dems raised gas prices/hurt job prospects/caused your medical care to skyrocket.

The elections have gotten worse and worse about this. So much demonization of both sides, once reserved for countries we were at war with, but now is just a simple staple of Liberal and Conservative speech.

It's a lot easier to disregard what the other person says if you automatically think of them as a "Socialist" or "Racist" or "Stupid" or "Fascist" or... well, you get the idea.

The media is a symptom, not the cause. The media simply got co-opted by the two teams. Because there's only two sets of colors you can wear.
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