Agreed. But I think you're being a bit disingenuous.

Post #345,696 by mmoffitt 8/4/11 3:00:09 PM Reply	Agreed. But I think you're being a bit disingenuous. Most of the vitriol I hear flung in the direction of this president is race based. Maybe it's just that I live in one of the most racist places I've ever been that causes me to draw that conclusion. I dare say every single critic of the president I know here is critical of him for his race. Hell, his policies are largely Dubya's third term, which should appeal to the people I've been speaking with up here. But, Obama's chief problem is that he lost every single age group of White voters in 2008, except the kids (18-24). They showed up for a general election and I didn't anticipate that (chiefly because I hadn't seen it in my life time) and so I bet Obama would lose because of his race. If it had been left to White adults, he would have. Saying most criticisms of Obama are not race based is just dishonest. One thing that I think is beyond dispute about this presidency is that it has erased any thoughts about a "post racial" society.
Post #345,721 by beepster 8/4/11 8:48:17 PM Reply	And I'm in the deep south.. ..and most of what I hear is policy based. To each their own. Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Post #345,738 by mmoffitt 8/5/11 8:26:10 AM Reply	That's funny. I don't find that surprising. The racism in Indiana is vastly worse than anything I ever encountered in North Carolina.
Post #345,766 by crazy 8/5/11 12:29:19 PM Reply	Flyover country is a different world to me In the South, racism is simply part of the culture. People are trained from birth how to interact with the "other", because they see them all the time. But for the most part, it will be under the breath stuff, and rarely discourteous. And they know there will be pushback. After all, they've lived with these people long enough. Flyover country is isolated pockets. The "other" is a legendary invader, not a group of people who live across the street, that will rape and pillage sooner or later. So walls have to be built to keep them out. No ongoing exposure means they get to dehumanize the "other", and kill at will. I expect the next variation of the Nazis to comes from flyover country, not the the deep south.
Post #345,785 by folkert 8/5/11 6:02:17 PM Reply	That also includes... in Indiana, riding Motorcycles. Karen and I went through Indiana on our recent trip. We stopped in am Ice Cream shop surrounded by 4 Churches in a stones throw. We went in, ordered some DAMNED fine Ice Cream and they gave us our Ice Cream free and asked us to leave without hurting them. We exited the building and sat in the shade under the trees along the road. Local Sheriff came upon the locale shortly, went in the Shop. Came out a few minutes later to us. Asked for our Driver's licenses and what we are doing... are we planning on harassing the store owners or committing crimes in the area. He "checked out our bikes" (and mine with a trailer on it) and asked if we knew our fancy radar detectors are illegal in county. I gave him a demonstration of the supposed Radar detectors... They were intercoms for the bike to bike communications. Showed him the Frequencies it ran on (being the same as those hand held civilian communicators)... He finally asked us to just be on our merry way as we were scaring everyone. I laughed and laughed. I explained to him what Karen and I did for a living. I showed him my "rig" for doing remote admin... After all the discussions, he still asked us to leave as we were still technically on the Ice Cream Shop's property. I said... Ok and we geared up and left. I'd forgotten about it, until just now reading about the Racism in Indiana you just posted.
Post #345,786 by Another Scott 8/5/11 6:08:12 PM Reply	Aye yi yi. :-(
Post #345,789 by Ashton 8/5/11 7:54:30 PM Reply	Heh.. my intro to IN-- Enroute from airport in Indianapolis --> Bloomington (on several occasions) Friend P. and I stopped at a decent catfish! roadside cafe. The paper place-mats showed "praying hands" and had some scriptural line. I Knew then ... I wasn't in Kansas any more, Toto. Oddly (or perhaps predictably, as with Berkeley CA) Bloomington appeared to be pretty much Fundie-free, at least to whatever level it is [??] which might cause offense to 'intellectuals'/students whose patronage was primary to bizness survival. Still, when P. had arrived Moscow and I wandered about the place a week or so before returning to CA, there were covert signs of dis-satisfiction ~~ with all this open-minded 'crap'? ... cha cha cha Nope, wouldn't dwell elsewhere in IN for free rent, unless the alternative was even worse (nor is That hard to imagine, either.)
Post #345,943 by mmoffitt 8/8/11 11:58:50 AM 8/15/12 10:57:58 AM Reply	Bloomington is not Indiana. Am shipping my youngest one off to IU in less than two weeks. My late younger brother was actually born in Bloomington while dad (who passed July 2 this year) was in graduate school there. Made his first, true, lifelong Black friend who lived upstairs in "Hoosier Courts" (married housing) right above us. It is a vastly more Progressive place than the rest of the cornfield. [Update]: It's painful to read what I wrote only a year ago. My daughter's first year experience at IU confirms, without any ambiguity at all, that Bloomington is as festering a shithole as the rest of this state. I stand very much corrected. The racism down there is as palpable as it is anywhere and worse - much, much worse. It makes sense when you think about it - Southern Indiana is really Northern Kentucky and IU is still populated largely with Indiana natives. So it stands to reason that it is, like the rest of Indiana, a great place to be from. Edited by mmoffitt Aug. 15, 2012, 10:57:58 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #345,832 by lincoln 8/6/11 11:51:50 AM Reply	That wasn't racism that was just plain fear of stereotypes. "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Post #345,762 by crazy 8/5/11 12:23:01 PM Reply	No you aren't! FL does not count. More retirees and hispanics than anything else, and the circles you travel in are probably a bit more "reserved" than most. I've seen your social circle. A bunch of very nice smart people. I couldn't imagine them going off in a racist rant against him. On the other hand, I obviously hang out with scumbags. I hear all kinds of anti-Obama stuff, with the vast majority of it being based on the person's fear of a race war, with the blacks finally taking over. They think they already own the cities, and now are going for the rest of the country.
Post #345,764 by Another Scott 8/5/11 12:28:18 PM Reply	Well, there is that... I, also, was going to mention that Florida, especially near the Space Coast, isn't really the Deep South because of all the immigration from elsewhere. It would be like saying that the DC suburbs in Virginia (less than 100 miles from the capital of the Confederacy) were the Deep South. Sure, but not really. Cheers, Scott.
Post #345,776 by boxley 8/5/11 2:16:25 PM Reply	bugs you that the south isnt as racists as the north :-). crazy puts it best, the 2 groups of people are used to it. Deep south or meth lab central where I live is much less racist than most of the north. Dont use the hispanic dressage either. Blacks and hispanic hate each other much more than they hate white folk Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
Post #345,778 by S1mon_Jester 8/5/11 2:47:33 PM Reply	Most of Florida isn't really deep south. Compared to say Memphis, TN or parts of Georgia. Even Orlando is known for its tourists. Florida wasn't that populated during the Civil War and a large chuck of it was turned over to the Seminoles. Fort Clinch (near Jacksonville) is known for being a UNION fort (never taken). It wasn't until AC came along that Florida was really livable. That said - as you go to Tampa along I4...there's a nice huge Civil War flag flying. And I would avoid parts of Christmas and Bithlo, but that's just me.

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