September 14, 2008
The Cultural Divide
This is an unabashed reposting of a brilliant Klosterman quote which, by my reckoning, is one of the most astute articulations of the cultural divide in America:
“People talk about how strange it must have been growing up on a farm in North Dakota. But I think kids who grow up in Manhattan have the weirdest understanding of what the world is like. They essentially don’t even live in America. They live in this place where nobody drives, where you can get anything you want at any given time, where diversity is normal. A political moderate here is somebody who, like, doesnt want McCain to die. To me, that would be weird.”
I have always been of the opinion (coming from a conservative background) that the major news sources were never really liberal, just coastal.
The rest of the interview is also a worthy read for nonpolitical reasons.
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A great observation.
A friend and I took a 40 mile bike ride through the center of the state last weekend, where tiny rural towns grace the rolling hills that tourists on I-95 never get to see. There were vegetable gardens, and shady oaks, and a thousand shades of rust. Signs said “Tractor work” and “Goats for sale.”
It was in the midst of this peaceful environment, staring out at the hills and the big sky, that I realized why people could be and vote conservative. From this viewpoint, America was one big countryside, pristine and beautiful. How could one truck’s exhaust hurt this? And why on earth would anyone choose to live in the city, with the drugs and the crime? Things looked alright; why change?
It’s kind of funny/sad how he can so easily define Manhattan urban as being not American. It’s not North Dakota, but why should that make it not American? One of the problems with the “conservative” mindset–as I see it (and not that I’m accusing Klosterman of any particular mindset)–is the presumption that “the way I do it is the right way to do it, for everyone.” My way or the highway. It’s the root of intolerance, isn’t it?
Yes, Cooper, you’re right.
I hear you, Cooper. I was amused to learn there are more American players of World of Warcraft than there are farmers. Real Americans, indeed.