Many years ago, the FCC allowed Sinclair news services to take over rural areas, with the result that the only news outlets available to those areas are right-wing. Right-wing media consistently beats the drum of "Democrats bad, Republicans good." That's why in many rural areas the good the Democratic administrations do are underappreciated.
I live in a rural Red County in Yavapai, Arizona. We have had not one demonstration against the indictment of Trump even though there are weekly demonstrations on our town square by Republicans. They seem to average 25-30 participants. We, despite the political divide, are a friendly town with great neighbors, friendly people and are a close knit community. I regularly talk with citizens of all political stripes and we own an Art Gallery in the downtown area. Sales are down possibly because of the Political unrest but no instances of violence. I think the arrests and prison sentences handed down after the Washington D.C. uprising has given people pause. I don't see an uptick in threats locally since the indictments.
Communication is far more difficult when people are buried in information bubbles in which the generation of rage and/or fear is the point.
MY managing editor and I live in Western Washington. Nearly a decade ago we went to pick up our daughter from a visit with her fiancé in Pullman, not far from the Idaho state line. Along the way we stopped to watch a traditional ploughing contest - and when we climbed into the horse-drawn wagon, the coachwoman had her radio tuned to Fox News.... and clearly had been listening all day.
We were dismayed at how very toxic and deceptive the stream was even then. Social media has immeasurably amplified the noise and the divisiveness.
Here is a good article discussing the research about conspiracy theories and the impact social media is having.
Thank you Robert. I live in a rural community, and am definitely in the minority, but I am trying to gather facts that allow me to ask my conservative friends questions which cause them to think. For example, I asked a friend what she thought the inflation rate was. She thought it was still at about 11%. I responded that I had heard that it had dropped. We went and checked it together, and she was stunned to find it was down at 2 1/2 to 3%. This interchange made her question an assumption. That’s what I’m trying to do with my neighbors who are conservative, but are also truly good people.
In my home county in Kansas,, around 450 people voted for the Democrat in 2020. That's 12-13% of actual voters in 2020. You could blow them up in the high school gym. Then there is the Republican apostate. It got lonely after his announcement. During Covid, the local medical professionals who urged masks and distancing were vilified. Just think about that-- the word of highly trained doctors was nothing compared to the messaging of Fox News. So, for starters, I've long thought that a version of the Fairness Act should be passed to even up the messaging in all formats. Now that Roe has been dismantled, it's become apparent even in Kansas, that the right to abortion is much more widely accepted than thought. The political landscape is not monolithic. Democrats need to start showing up.
Republican voter suppression also impacted the Ohio election. "Just five days before Ohio’s special election on Tuesday, Aug. 8, polling locations were changed for tens of thousands of voters in Cuyahoga and Summit counties." - Joyce Vance
Here is something important I discovered on HCR's newsletter this morning. A group that deserves support. Working to get out the younger votes, and the younger voters are where the power is growing. https://www.turnup.us/about-us
What is generally overlooked, in discussions about how to reach rural or "red" voters, is HOW they can be reached. Because the majority of Democratic Biden supporters are college-educated, I think they don't notice how unavailing it is to try to persuade people (even college-educated ones!) by citing statistics. Indeed, Bidenomics has made huge and measurable improvements in the lives of Republican and rural Americans. But those measurements, by themselves, are not in general persuasive.
There is in fact one universally effective way to reach the hearts as well as the minds of human beings: storytelling. For millennia we have been communicating with one another orally through stories; for only a tiny sliver of time we have been literate and (a minority of human beings) communicating through the kinds of more abstract analysis that literacy enables. We are ALL hard-wired to understand the world through story structures; it's how our brains process information. (See, for instance, the works of Kendall Haven, especially Story Proof -- evidence developed through painstaking experiments conducted by the Dept. of Defense.)
So what does this mean for Democrats? We need the iconic stories -- which certainly exist, though I haven't seen any -- of individual Americans whose lives have been dramatically changed by Biden's policies. We need dramatic narratives that all Americans can identify with, lives that we can imagine.
The generalities and research are true: but only the personal stories will convince.
Thank you for writing about this very important topic. Several points to consider. One is that small numbers CAN have a significant difference, e. g. there were only 500 votes separating Al Gore from George W. Bush 2000 election. The other point is that beginning in the 1980s, several very conservative millionaires began acquiring the AM radio broadcasting rights across the country and began spewing out the propaganda of people like Rush Limbaugh. This then now morphed into Fox News, OAN, etc. So we know are dealing with several generations that have been lied to and who are now propping up the grift of Donald Trump. Working at the grassroots level is so critically important to begin bridging that gap.
The other point, and I don't know if this is possible, but somehow to be able to have some monitoring on the lies that are being put forth by these cable networks and radio hosts and on the internet. One would think that Fox News would have learned their lesson with the almost billion dollar payout settlement but obviously that didn't hurt enough. And now somebody else is going to come in to make money off of promoting Tucker Carlson; we have to figure out a way stop this monopoly of the airways . Brainwashing has been going on for 40 years.
1. I am persuaded that a civil war is not coming -- that political losses which erode a constituencies identity are disheartening (as the loss was for the Pro Issue One people). As you say, we can, nevertheless, remain Americans and friends and neighbors.
2. I am confident that Democrats success comes through eroding opposition, winning over the people who can be persuaded.
3. Nevertheless, I worry about the danger of militias. If there were to be a civil war, it would not spring up from people who happen to disagree. It would come from people who are armed and practice using their weapons (Like the Michiganders who tried to kidnap their governor). Fortunately, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), militias are declining. Militias have not disappeared, unfortunately. SPLC identifies 200 of them.
think the key to Democrats increasing their appeal to rural white voters does not lie in pointing out to these voters all that Democrats have done for them, but rather for Democrats to understand that the reason many rural white voters prefer Republicans over Democrats has more to do with their hearts and souls than their pocketbooks. There is a subtle and highly significant way that Democrats condescend to these Republican voters. A small but simple example. When people like myself and many middle and upper class Democrats repeatedly vote in ways that hurt us financially, we consider ourselves to be moral and just people who care about the lives of others and are willing to pay higher taxes to demonstrate that. When these voters vote against their economic self interest we are confused and flabbergasted, and some, not you Robert but some, think of these voters as ignorant and stupid. Republicans, like the evil DJT, have a way of reaching underneath the concrete and material and, in a somewhat distorted and psychologically disturbing way, enable a feeling of power in their supporters. No one likes to feel that they are a "charity case", and in subtle ways, Democrats convey that message. We are doing so much for you, why don't you like us? This is a huge problem that has existed throughout history and changing it is hard, but in some ways that is sort of what Obama's "Hope and Change" message did. I think Democrats have to spend less time telling people all they have done for them. That does not mean Biden should not talk about his accomplishments, he should, but not in the context of helping those who have less, but in helping all Americans. I wish I had the solution, I certainly don't, but this, I do think, as a lifelong progressive and a psychoanalyst, is at the heart of why it is so hard for Democrats to appeal to rural white voters (and racism of course).
So pleased you wrote about this. We so need to be reminded there is much more that unites than divides us. I saw the woman who was having the rant predicting civil war. That prompted my silent-scream and turning off the TV hoping the cable gurus felt $$$ draining from their coffers. Substack subscriptions are gifts every day. Can’t imagine being without Today’s Edition, Hopium, HCR, Joyce Vance, David Pepper and others and their inspiring, supportive followers.
I love the word “variegated“ to describe the political blue/red map of the US.
I live in a rural area of Oregon and attitudes are changing rapidly. Certainly, there is a core group that holds on to conservative ideologies, but it is declining, especially as farmland aggregates.
I live in a rural community in NYState, New Lebanon. We flipped our town from red to blue. We have an active climate smart committee which has installed solar panels in the town hall, led lights in the town and other things which have given us bronze working on silver status. We have an active Democratic chapter which helps the community in every tragedy such as a truck accident which damaged a building with meals and state aid. It is an ongoing struggle, but the divide is not impassable.
Yes,yes, I am a Democrat in a very red state, South Carolina. I have found my “ blue community” here but it is hard. I have given up on electing Democrats here. I write postcards and make calls for campaigns in blue states. We do need to educate rural voters but it is a steep climb.
Loved your discussion of 'coming civil war' -- much needed and I hope people and you will disseminate it widely. Your framing of what many, particularly in the media, push as a defining feature of present-day America is the reality and it's a positive one, in my opinion. Yes, much of present-day America -- to me, a 'cradle Progressive' (to borrow from Catholicism) -- is really uncomfortable to think about and to live within. But, most of reality isn't a simple binary but this kind of messy multivariate soup of people, all trying for the same things, really: happiness, well-being for their families, safety. Helpful to be reminded of that, so thank you!
Many years ago, the FCC allowed Sinclair news services to take over rural areas, with the result that the only news outlets available to those areas are right-wing. Right-wing media consistently beats the drum of "Democrats bad, Republicans good." That's why in many rural areas the good the Democratic administrations do are underappreciated.
I live in a rural Red County in Yavapai, Arizona. We have had not one demonstration against the indictment of Trump even though there are weekly demonstrations on our town square by Republicans. They seem to average 25-30 participants. We, despite the political divide, are a friendly town with great neighbors, friendly people and are a close knit community. I regularly talk with citizens of all political stripes and we own an Art Gallery in the downtown area. Sales are down possibly because of the Political unrest but no instances of violence. I think the arrests and prison sentences handed down after the Washington D.C. uprising has given people pause. I don't see an uptick in threats locally since the indictments.
Communication is far more difficult when people are buried in information bubbles in which the generation of rage and/or fear is the point.
MY managing editor and I live in Western Washington. Nearly a decade ago we went to pick up our daughter from a visit with her fiancé in Pullman, not far from the Idaho state line. Along the way we stopped to watch a traditional ploughing contest - and when we climbed into the horse-drawn wagon, the coachwoman had her radio tuned to Fox News.... and clearly had been listening all day.
We were dismayed at how very toxic and deceptive the stream was even then. Social media has immeasurably amplified the noise and the divisiveness.
Here is a good article discussing the research about conspiracy theories and the impact social media is having.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conspiracy-theories-how-social-media-can-help-them-spread-and-even-spark-violence/
I fear that unless and until the Fairness Doctrine or some updated equivalent is reinstated, it will be a really, really long slog.
-----
In spite of all this, Kansas, Michigan, and now Ohio give me hope that the tide is beginning to turn.
Thank you Robert. I live in a rural community, and am definitely in the minority, but I am trying to gather facts that allow me to ask my conservative friends questions which cause them to think. For example, I asked a friend what she thought the inflation rate was. She thought it was still at about 11%. I responded that I had heard that it had dropped. We went and checked it together, and she was stunned to find it was down at 2 1/2 to 3%. This interchange made her question an assumption. That’s what I’m trying to do with my neighbors who are conservative, but are also truly good people.
In my home county in Kansas,, around 450 people voted for the Democrat in 2020. That's 12-13% of actual voters in 2020. You could blow them up in the high school gym. Then there is the Republican apostate. It got lonely after his announcement. During Covid, the local medical professionals who urged masks and distancing were vilified. Just think about that-- the word of highly trained doctors was nothing compared to the messaging of Fox News. So, for starters, I've long thought that a version of the Fairness Act should be passed to even up the messaging in all formats. Now that Roe has been dismantled, it's become apparent even in Kansas, that the right to abortion is much more widely accepted than thought. The political landscape is not monolithic. Democrats need to start showing up.
Republican voter suppression also impacted the Ohio election. "Just five days before Ohio’s special election on Tuesday, Aug. 8, polling locations were changed for tens of thousands of voters in Cuyahoga and Summit counties." - Joyce Vance
Grassroots groups are getting smarter about countering such dirty tricks. We highlight eight in this blog about the upcoming Virginia election. https://thedemlabs.org/2023/08/09/ight-republican-voter-suppression-with-better-technology/
Here is something important I discovered on HCR's newsletter this morning. A group that deserves support. Working to get out the younger votes, and the younger voters are where the power is growing. https://www.turnup.us/about-us
What is generally overlooked, in discussions about how to reach rural or "red" voters, is HOW they can be reached. Because the majority of Democratic Biden supporters are college-educated, I think they don't notice how unavailing it is to try to persuade people (even college-educated ones!) by citing statistics. Indeed, Bidenomics has made huge and measurable improvements in the lives of Republican and rural Americans. But those measurements, by themselves, are not in general persuasive.
There is in fact one universally effective way to reach the hearts as well as the minds of human beings: storytelling. For millennia we have been communicating with one another orally through stories; for only a tiny sliver of time we have been literate and (a minority of human beings) communicating through the kinds of more abstract analysis that literacy enables. We are ALL hard-wired to understand the world through story structures; it's how our brains process information. (See, for instance, the works of Kendall Haven, especially Story Proof -- evidence developed through painstaking experiments conducted by the Dept. of Defense.)
So what does this mean for Democrats? We need the iconic stories -- which certainly exist, though I haven't seen any -- of individual Americans whose lives have been dramatically changed by Biden's policies. We need dramatic narratives that all Americans can identify with, lives that we can imagine.
The generalities and research are true: but only the personal stories will convince.
Thank you for writing about this very important topic. Several points to consider. One is that small numbers CAN have a significant difference, e. g. there were only 500 votes separating Al Gore from George W. Bush 2000 election. The other point is that beginning in the 1980s, several very conservative millionaires began acquiring the AM radio broadcasting rights across the country and began spewing out the propaganda of people like Rush Limbaugh. This then now morphed into Fox News, OAN, etc. So we know are dealing with several generations that have been lied to and who are now propping up the grift of Donald Trump. Working at the grassroots level is so critically important to begin bridging that gap.
The other point, and I don't know if this is possible, but somehow to be able to have some monitoring on the lies that are being put forth by these cable networks and radio hosts and on the internet. One would think that Fox News would have learned their lesson with the almost billion dollar payout settlement but obviously that didn't hurt enough. And now somebody else is going to come in to make money off of promoting Tucker Carlson; we have to figure out a way stop this monopoly of the airways . Brainwashing has been going on for 40 years.
1. I am persuaded that a civil war is not coming -- that political losses which erode a constituencies identity are disheartening (as the loss was for the Pro Issue One people). As you say, we can, nevertheless, remain Americans and friends and neighbors.
2. I am confident that Democrats success comes through eroding opposition, winning over the people who can be persuaded.
3. Nevertheless, I worry about the danger of militias. If there were to be a civil war, it would not spring up from people who happen to disagree. It would come from people who are armed and practice using their weapons (Like the Michiganders who tried to kidnap their governor). Fortunately, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), militias are declining. Militias have not disappeared, unfortunately. SPLC identifies 200 of them.
think the key to Democrats increasing their appeal to rural white voters does not lie in pointing out to these voters all that Democrats have done for them, but rather for Democrats to understand that the reason many rural white voters prefer Republicans over Democrats has more to do with their hearts and souls than their pocketbooks. There is a subtle and highly significant way that Democrats condescend to these Republican voters. A small but simple example. When people like myself and many middle and upper class Democrats repeatedly vote in ways that hurt us financially, we consider ourselves to be moral and just people who care about the lives of others and are willing to pay higher taxes to demonstrate that. When these voters vote against their economic self interest we are confused and flabbergasted, and some, not you Robert but some, think of these voters as ignorant and stupid. Republicans, like the evil DJT, have a way of reaching underneath the concrete and material and, in a somewhat distorted and psychologically disturbing way, enable a feeling of power in their supporters. No one likes to feel that they are a "charity case", and in subtle ways, Democrats convey that message. We are doing so much for you, why don't you like us? This is a huge problem that has existed throughout history and changing it is hard, but in some ways that is sort of what Obama's "Hope and Change" message did. I think Democrats have to spend less time telling people all they have done for them. That does not mean Biden should not talk about his accomplishments, he should, but not in the context of helping those who have less, but in helping all Americans. I wish I had the solution, I certainly don't, but this, I do think, as a lifelong progressive and a psychoanalyst, is at the heart of why it is so hard for Democrats to appeal to rural white voters (and racism of course).
So pleased you wrote about this. We so need to be reminded there is much more that unites than divides us. I saw the woman who was having the rant predicting civil war. That prompted my silent-scream and turning off the TV hoping the cable gurus felt $$$ draining from their coffers. Substack subscriptions are gifts every day. Can’t imagine being without Today’s Edition, Hopium, HCR, Joyce Vance, David Pepper and others and their inspiring, supportive followers.
I love the word “variegated“ to describe the political blue/red map of the US.
I live in a rural area of Oregon and attitudes are changing rapidly. Certainly, there is a core group that holds on to conservative ideologies, but it is declining, especially as farmland aggregates.
I live in a rural community in NYState, New Lebanon. We flipped our town from red to blue. We have an active climate smart committee which has installed solar panels in the town hall, led lights in the town and other things which have given us bronze working on silver status. We have an active Democratic chapter which helps the community in every tragedy such as a truck accident which damaged a building with meals and state aid. It is an ongoing struggle, but the divide is not impassable.
Yes,yes, I am a Democrat in a very red state, South Carolina. I have found my “ blue community” here but it is hard. I have given up on electing Democrats here. I write postcards and make calls for campaigns in blue states. We do need to educate rural voters but it is a steep climb.
Loved your discussion of 'coming civil war' -- much needed and I hope people and you will disseminate it widely. Your framing of what many, particularly in the media, push as a defining feature of present-day America is the reality and it's a positive one, in my opinion. Yes, much of present-day America -- to me, a 'cradle Progressive' (to borrow from Catholicism) -- is really uncomfortable to think about and to live within. But, most of reality isn't a simple binary but this kind of messy multivariate soup of people, all trying for the same things, really: happiness, well-being for their families, safety. Helpful to be reminded of that, so thank you!