<p>
It might shock you to know that we think that we are far superior to your neighborhood! (We actually do know what you think of us, it shows up in all sorts of ugly, unnecessary ways (do you hear me Jerry Nadler?). But all we really want, have wanted is for your people to let my people go!!!)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I strongly disagree. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>With this, I strongly agree. :)</p>
<p>
That is such, such, such nonsense. It completely ignores history and statistics. But inquiring minds want to know if you take notes and make counts of all the “people” you ask about every random thing under the sun. Because remembering the count of yay and nay votes on all those issues and being able to accurately pull them out of your hat at the drop of a thread would probably require some record keeping.</p>
<p>
Maybe it’s just because I read the NY TImes, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Slate,my old friend Andrew Sullivan, and Politico every day that I have the total urban perspective!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>LOL, zoosermom. We DO know that you THINK you are superior to us. We KNOW that we are superior to you ;)</p>
<p>I can’t recall if you know which neighborhood I live in; we get maligned a lot too.</p>
<p>But every NYer knows that the only parts of the US that matter are the Boston to DC corridor and California…and San Francisco much more than LA :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Along with possibly being from a borough which has had a history of being very insular until very recently, the most politically conservative among NYC’s 5 boroughs, has large numbers of residents who identify much more with suburban Long Islanders/New Jersey as a result of #2, and which attempted to secede from the rest of NYC back when I was still in college. :D</p>
<p>Sorry, ZM, but the disdain between Staten Island and the rest of NYC is mutual and has had a bit of an interesting history. </p>
<p>Incidentally, the areas of NYC outside of SW Brooklyn which comes closest to the political and cultural demographic are parts of middle Queens which happen to have a retired state senator who is a bona-fide Tea Party supporter and Bayside, Queens.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Go zooser! You come right out and say it. I agree. People are the same wherever they live.</p>
<p>I’m from the Midwest. I live in Boston. I spend a fair amount of time in what I sometimes jokingly call “white New England”. It’s pretty easy to see how people who don’t interact on a daily basis with much ethnic or racial diversity can see things one way. I’m also a religious minority. The extent to which Christianity is taken for granted as THE way of life cannot be over-stated. Also relatively easy to understand given the homogeneity of the less populated areas. </p>
<p>Close-mindedness is enforced when you’re surrounded by similar people. You naturally either think alike or keep your personal differences to yourself more. </p>
<p>Growing up where I did, I can pretty easily understand the perception of imaginary threats. A simple example: I see black kids walking around all the time, but many white Americans don’t so the only exposure they get is through rap/hip-hop music/videos/performances and television, where the news brings crimes from thousands of miles away into your living room as though it happened next door.</p>
<p>"Close-mindedness is enforced when you’re surrounded by similar people. You naturally either think alike or keep your personal differences to yourself more. "</p>
<p>Exactly. If you think everyone is an upper middle class, college educated progressive whose major worry is whether Binky and Muffy are sending their nanny to do hours at the co-op, you might not be so respectful of the gorgeous mosaic. Except of course you cherish your nanny and how great she is at teaching Jacob and Sophie to speak Spanish.</p>
<p>"LOL, zoosermom. We DO know that you THINK you are superior to us. We KNOW that we are superior to you "</p>
<p>And we would be more than happy to take our tax dollars and go to New Jersey if only you Manhattanites would let us. After all, we do our shopping there anyway. Mother Nature intended for us to be part of New Jersey. I suspect that the upcoming mayor would be happy to let us go. What do you think Jonri?</p>
<p>The young woman at the center of the case speaks:</p>
<p>[I’m</a> Daisy Coleman, The Teenager At The Center Of The Maryville Rape Media Storm, And This Is What Really Happened | xoJane](<a href=“http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/daisy-coleman-maryville-rape]I’m”>http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/daisy-coleman-maryville-rape)</p>
<p>From the article:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And of course Matt was not suspended from the football team…</p>
<p>[Vivian</a> Vosburg, Mom Of Girl Accused In Rebecca Sedwick Bullying Suicide, Arrested For Child Abuse](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost)</p>
<p>Officials say Vosburg beat a child with her fists in her home as several other children watched. Sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference that one child in the home took a cellphone video of the beating and posted it on Facebook.</p>
<p>Judd says Vosburg is the stepmother of one of two girls charged with felony aggravated stalking earlier in the week. Officials say the girls bullied and harassed 14-year-old Rebecca Sedwick before she committed suicide.</p>
<p>Sounds like the original prosecutor who dropped charges may have more to answer for:</p>
<p>[Maryville</a> Alleged Rape: Mother of alleged victim in Mo. sexual assault case releases secret recordings - Crimesider - CBS News](<a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57608163-504083/maryville-alleged-rape-mother-of-alleged-victim-in-mo-sexual-assault-case-releases-secret-recordings/]Maryville”>http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57608163-504083/maryville-alleged-rape-mother-of-alleged-victim-in-mo-sexual-assault-case-releases-secret-recordings/)</p>
<p>And the mother of the suspect is whining about how the victim family’s and activists’ efforts to publicize this crime has made her son’s life hard:</p>
<p>[Maryville</a> footballer Matthew Barnett’s mother says he’s the victim | Mail Online](<a href=“Maryville footballer Matthew Barnett's mother says he's the victim | Daily Mail Online”>Maryville footballer Matthew Barnett's mother says he's the victim | Daily Mail Online)</p>
<p>This should probably be filed under the “Call the whaambulance” files.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I read all of these things except Politico and Andrew Sullivan and I STILL disagree.</p>
<p>I currently live in a small town of about 7K people. I’ve lived in the NY exburbs, Hoboken, Chicago, Boston, and abroad. The current US political scene is dominated by BS about the “values” of small towns in slave states. Sometimes I think that if I encounter the phrase “the heartland” one more time I’m going to throw up.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This “Real America” == small towns rhetoric has been around for decades. The only difference is that it has become amped up over the last several years…especially after the 2008 election…</p>
<p>I agree, Consolation. Although, sadly, it’s not just the former slave states that are home to ignorant and intolerant people. For the most part, the division seems more rural versus urban than anything else. You don’t have to go far outside major cities in any part of the country to find bigoted, backward viewpoints (otherwise known as “small-town values”).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Indeed. There are certain parts of Upstate NY or Midwestern states with rural/suburban small towns which are just as bad regarding bigoted reactionary views. </p>
<p>During the height of the KKK during the mid-1920’s I read Ohio actually had the highest number of registered members in one state and it was a scandal involving a prominent senior KKK officer in Indiana involving abuse, rape, murder, and cannibalism which played a key role in ending that period of KKK popularity nationwide. Here’s the wikipedia article on the rape/murder victim and some details of the scandal:</p>
<p>[Madge</a> Oberholtzer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madge_Oberholtzer]Madge”>Madge Oberholtzer - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Indiana and some Midwest/Western states also have had a history of “Sundown towns” where Black and/or other non-White folks had to leave by sundown or risk being lynched/murdered.</p>
<p>There are plenty of intolerant, narrow-minded people in cities but they’re outnumbered. And there are plenty of tolerant, open-minded people outside cities but they’re outnumbered. It isn’t a question of all or nothing but relative majorities.</p>
<p>For example, where I live the insularity of the classic “townie” has been both mocked and celebrated in literature and movies - see, e.g., The Departed, The Town, The Fighter (apparently movies with “The”), back to The Brinks Job and The Friends of Eddie Coyle. It wasn’t for nothing that John Collins Bossidy wrote:</p>
<p>And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots,
And the Cabots talk only to God</p>
<p>(That last referred to praying and social self-exclusion, something also noted in books about old NY society where the old Dutch families didn’t go out, didn’t mingle, etc. and preserved their social status.)</p>
<p>BTW, I grew up in Michigan. Used to see Ted Nugent playing in bars - with his “one man guitar army”* Now he’s not even a whisker away from being in a “militia”. Remember, the Michigan Militia was one of the first known paramilitary groups in the last decades. Shows how the times change: they were reviled by law enforcement rather than held up as examples of liberty defenders.</p>
<p>*Those ads ran a lot of weekends, often paired with Big Daddy Don Garlits at Detroit Motor Speedway for drag racing. It’s a blue collar city. Or was.</p>
<p>My brothers family lived in a smallish town in Indiana until about 8 yrs ago.
My sil is an immigrant ( non white) & a teacher and she was not comfortable because of the presence of the KKK.</p>