what dwayne wrote: "> NYC to be a more interesting place than Topeka and Joe
> Catron will
> > continue to think this opinion evidence of an 'out-of-touch' left"
>
> Do you think that Doug's opinion on this and the broader topic which is
> something like "fuck rural small town America, they have crappy politics" is
> evidence of an "out-of-touch" left.
Yes, but that doesn't exactly articulate what annoys me about it (although you summarize Doug's position a bit more accurately than Dwayne, I think).
If Doug and others want to be bigots in one regard, let them be bigots. Certainly most of us are about something.
If they want to use disrespectful terminology in expressing their bigotry, well, the world would probably be a marginally nicer place if they didn't, but not really enough to get worked up about it. Linguistic inquisitions are rarely useful, as you've noted.
And if they want to ground their bigotry in lies and ignorance (i.e., Doug's repeated claims to be subsidizing those ungrateful bastards, by which I can only assume he means that he lives in the same state as Wall Street, while his taxes hardly suffice to subsidize his block), it's not as if a lot of other bases are available to them.
But when they claim some kind of imaginary political justification for their bigotry, that's when it starts annoying the hell out of me.
The way Dwayne framed it was *not* that you necessarily disagreed with Doug
> about the interestingness of Manhattan. It seems to me that Dwayne was
> getting at your tendency to chide Doug and others for, hmmm, being
> insensitive to folks like those in the "real Virginia", etc.
I can only assume you mean my statement, once upon a time, that "In SoVa, we say, 'Virginia starts at Fredericksburg.' But that's always open for debate," in response to Chuck Munson's "I guess I qualify as an ex-VA radical, but I only lived in VA for 3 years and NOVA may not qualify." "Real Virginia" was Doug's contribution to the exchange. I had no idea that thread, my first on the list, would prove so memorable, with or without its proper context.
So? What is your opinion on this issue? You often talk about the left being
> out of touch with, hmmm, 'ordinary' Americans. No? what *is* your beef with
> Doug's views?
Are cranky urban liberals unordinary now? I can hardly move two feet without bumping into one, which is to say nothing of the distinctive markings (9/11 Truth stickers, discarded copies of the Village Voice, used Starbucks cups, etc.) they leave behind.
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."