Jeff Danzinger just summed up Appalachia in one simple political cartoon

:wow:

It makes me so angry that republican politicians who live priviledged lives exploit some Americans' lack of information.

It's in their genes.

Lack of college does not equal "dumb". I have known plenty of college-educated dumb-fucks; and I have known plenty of "non-college" folks who could think circles around most anyone you'd like to choose...

Just sayin'...

I mean, it's pretty obvious, but anyway.

it's just that they are sold them in different ways, using different shiny baubles. You cannot blame the state of our country on the ill-educated lower classes. Those being fooled by our politicians (Democratic ones, too) come in all shapes, sizes, classes, colors and education levels. When the Paris mob tore the French aristocrats to pieces, they were mostly illiterate, as were the Reds of the October Revolution. Just something to bear in mind...

Hey, I'm not college educated, I attended tech school. Don't get all touchy. It's HRC that's saying she is more
popular with the non-educated, non-degree working white class. (I'm assuming that's you) HRC is degrading you.

I don't have a degree and I'm not gonna get pissed and insult someone because one decided to enrich their life
more by getting an advanced education degree!

But that is beside the point. I am also not a Clinton supporter, nor an Obama supporter. I am just saying that looking down on "uneducated" people is not the way to win the hearts and minds; small "d" democracy depends upon every citizen, regardless of class or station. And, yeah, I am a little touchy about it...

I have a college degree, but I know lots of people who don't who still manage to function quite well in society.

I am getting really tired of people here looking down on those who are less educated.

But when a state has numbers way out of whack with the rest of the country, I believe it points to less opportunity.

Btw, you're welcome.

There are plenty of people who lacked the resources or finances to progress beyond HS. They don't despise the "elites" and they value education. There are also plenty of people who are proud of the fact that they quit school in 10th grade so they could work, and by gawd, HAVE worked ever since, REAL work, honest AMURCAN work.

Some people are proud of being ignorant. Which is a mindset that is WORLDS away from being unapologetic about being ignorant.

I heartily cling to my right to look down on the former.

:wtf: is that? College only works if you use what you learn there. Obviously, you do not.

I am thinking there may be a connection between poverty and less opportunity career-wise in Wva and the fact that so many WVians join the military.

If that is the case, I think it is very sad that WVa will cling to the very people who are sending their children off to slaughter in Iraq.

with his constitutes to make them vote against their best interests.

Nominated and kicked.

and not to mention fabulous food that doesn't make you obese because you eat a sensible amount of it and walk for transportation.

No wonder you don't have a clue what it is like for us in the red states. We never get THAT MUCH time off from our jobs. We are lucky to get 2 weeks a year, tops. The majority only get 1 week.

We are talking about people in Appalachia. How does that relate to an entire different country? Looks like to make a valid comparison, they would compare it to some other state inside the US.

FRANCE. France is often used by the right as an example of what the "Marxists" (Obama, Clinton, Kerry, etc.) want the US to look like. The poster who mentioned 6 weeks vacation was discussing just how "horrible" it would be to live in a country like France.

McConnell warned that Obama wants to turn us into "France." In the cartoon, the down-and-out Appalachian guy is warning his friend about that. My comment was simply to highlight the ridiculousness of using France as a big bad boogeyman when the people in France have it so much better than many in Appalachia due to France's ability and willingness to provide healthcare, childcare, vacation time, etc. etc.

I live in a coastal blue state. Do I get that much time off? HELL no! I wish!

My grandfather died of black lung disease but the doctors called it "asthma." We lived
in a house with no running water, no heat except for a small stove in the kitchen
and my dad had a sixth grade education. Folks make assumptions about the people back
there but growing up, we often went hungry, peanut butter bread was often dessert.
You can't judge these people when you don't know how they live and what they are up
against. We all went on to some form of education, 3 of us went to college and 1 to
business school. And yes, that hillside with the house could have been our house.
Politicians milk the race issue back there because it works for them. It provides
them someone to blame who is not running for office.

I live in Dayton, Ohio and we have more Appalachian descendents then any entire American cities. It's also one of the reasons why Southern Ohio is redder than hell, because of their clannish fear and loathing of outsiders. That's why Richard Jones is treated like a God in Butler County Ohio. My FOE is filled with people from Appalachia (the most common question I get is what part of Kentucky my family is from, I always joke the Bavarian-Swabia part) and they blame the immigrants for everything. "Did hear what the immigrants did?" is a common phrase. Below are some clips of Butler County Ubber Alles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyMT40fS378
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91qey2oK2GM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju6n53AdNrQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkxKA2PZUYA

these people are hard up and most have not traveled more than 25 miles from where they were born. Those of us who have had
opportunity and an ability to make a decent living should not write them off with no attempt to understand them.

I want to help them by curing what is hampering them: xenophobia, racism, religious fundamentalism. Not enable them in their destruction.

how about a real clean coal energy program, one that is doable w/o killing the environment

FDR's Fireside Chats, page 129 U. of Oklahoma press:
"I am still convinced that the American people, since 1932 continue to insist on two requisites of private enterprise, and the relationship of government to it. The first is a complete honesty, a complete honesty at the top in looking after the use of other people's money, and in apportioning and paying individual and corporate taxes in accordance with ability to pay. And the second is sincere respect for the need of all people who are at the bottom, all people at the bottom who need to get work-and through work to get a really fair share of the good things of life, and a chance to save and a chance to rise."

Now Obama won the respect of the voters in Indiana but not lying to them, giving them
some fairy tale that wasn't going to happen, I think that his calmness and willingness
to listen will draw others to him.

Well, how does it make you feel when Elitest, 109 million dollary earning Hillary Clinton says she is popular
with you because your uneducated. Does that mean you don't know any better?

But the people back there are not cartoon characters, most are just struggling to get by, they tend to go with the familiar just
because it is the same.

It's easy for some people to look down their noses at us for living in states where we have to work hard for a living (7 days a week in a lot of cases) and still might not have enough to get by. No, they do not understand, nor are they interested in understanding. They'd rather look down their noses at us. It's sad to see it.

I never thumb my nose at someone else's state, all that red/blue state biz was a myth
anyway. We all want the same things, a better community, a decent wage with good
healthcare coverage, fuel efficient cars and a greener planet and a solution to
the Iraq War and the Mideast crisis.

And don't forget to mock their health!
Yay! Big fun!

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

people with baseball bats. It's either them or their children, who learn from them that it is ok to beat the poor, ridicule the poor, and then pat themselves on the back because they can afford an electric car, as if they are really so charitable and helpful. Not one dime of their money will ever reach the people in Appalachia, ever, because they don't care enough to bother to try to get to know people different from themselves. It's BIGOTRY, plain and simple.

I have a really hard time feeling sorry for a group of people who are dumb enough to vote against their own ecomomic interests, time and time again. First Reagan, then George W., and now a possible vote for George Bush's third term by voting for John McCain. These rednecks never learn.

If it were anti-WV the cartoonist would have depicted the WVians as typical hillbillies straight out of L'il Abner to show that they are inbred/dumb/illiterate. And the dialog would have contained grammatical errors.

When I "assume" I make an "ass" of "U" and "me".

Bad, McCamy, bad!

:wow: