An Insider's View: The Dark Rigidity of Fundamentalist Rural America

[PsychoBabble]

A detailed and intriguing analysis counter to much of what you hear on MSM right now ...

The real problem isn’t East Coast elites who don’t understand or care about rural America. The real problem is that rural Americans don't understand the causes of their own situations and fears and they have shown no interest in finding out. They don’t want to know why they feel the way they do or why they are struggling because they don’t want to admit it is in large part because of the choices they’ve made and the horrible things they’ve allowed themselves to believe.

Further ...

... Rural Christian white Americans have let anti-intellectual, anti-science, bigoted racists like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, the Stepford wives of Fox, and every evangelical preacher on television into their systems because these people tell them what they want to hear and because they sell themselves as being like them. The truth is none of these people give a rat’s ass about rural Christian white Americans except how they can exploit them for attention and money. None of them have anything in common with the people who have let them into their belief systems with the exception that they are white and they speak the language of white superiority.

Gays being allowed to marry are a threat. Blacks protesting the killing of their unarmed friends and family are a threat. Hispanics doing the cheap labor on their farms are somehow viewed a threat. The black president is a threat. Two billion Muslims are a threat. The Chinese are a threat. Women wanting to be autonomous are a threat. The college educated are a threat. Godless scientists are a threat. Everyone who isn’t just like them has been sold to them as a threat and they’ve bought it hook, line and grifting sinker. Since there are no self-regulating mechanisms in their belief systems, these threats only grow over time. Since facts and reality don’t matter, nothing you say to them will alter their beliefs. "President Obama was born in Kenya, is a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood who hates white Americans and is going to take away their guns." I feel ridiculous even writing this, it is so absurd, but it is gospel across large swaths of rural America. Are rural Christian white Americans scared? Damn right they are. Are their fears rational and justified? Hell no. The problem isn’t understanding their fears. The problem is how to assuage fears based on lies in closed-off fundamentalist belief systems that don’t have the necessary tools for properly evaluating the fears.

I don’t have a good answer to this question. When a child has an irrational fear, you can deal with it because they trust you and are open to possibilities. When someone doesn’t trust you and isn’t open to anything not already accepted as true in their belief system, there really isn’t much, if anything, you can do. This is why I think the idea that "Democrats have to understand and find common ground with rural America," is misguided and a complete waste of time. When a 2,700-year-old book that was written by uneducated, pre-scientific people, subject to translation innumerable times, and edited with political and economic pressures from popes and kings, is given higher intellectual authority than facts arrived at from a rigorous, self-critical, constantly re-evaluating system that can and does correct mistakes, no amount of understanding, respect or evidence is going to change their minds and assuage their fears.

Do you know what does change the beliefs of fundamentalists, sometimes? When something becomes personal. Many a fundamentalist has changed his mind about the LGBT community once his loved ones started coming out of the closet. Many have not. But those who did, did so because their personal experience came into direct conflict with what they believe.

Worth the read:

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/rural-america-understanding-isnt-problem

[Warpy]

1. I saw this over at TED last night. She makes some good points here.

It takes time and patience, but weaning people away from this stuff can be done...

...just not by me. My time is limited and my patience too thin these days.

[mountain grammy]

4. She does. Good talk. Thanks for posting.

[get the red out]

2. Absolutely

I have seen this close up.

[wcast]

3. +1000

This article nails every point. It seems that we have some apologists on DU that every post that mentions Trump voters devolves into a "but I'm not that kind of white guy" and "we need to reach out because the Trump voters I know aren't like this"

While there are exceptions to Every rule, most rural Trump voters are exactly as described in this article. I live In a community where minorities are described as colored and Obama was the Antichrist. They literally taught that in a local church. They won't listen to facts, especially if it impacts their belief system.

We Democrats need to focus on policies that help all working peoples while putting forth candidates that fire up more than our white base. We will come out on top but only if we look to the future. Trump voters are the past.

[smirkymonkey]

5. K&R

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

6. Yes, the only thing that will change their minds is if it gets personal for them n/t

[Skittles]

7. I am tired of being told I don't understand sanctimonious, ignorant assholes

I understand their hypocrisy all too well