Let me get this straight: it wasn't about the price of eggs after all?

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Sagittarius_Galaxie Yes, I think this is true of a large swathe of the American public, unfortunately. Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman's book on white rural rage is eye-opening in this regard.

[sagittarius_galaxie@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

I will find out more about the book. I haven't heard about the book yet.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Sagittarius_Galaxie I highly recommend it.

[billyjoebowers@mastodon.online]

@wdlindsy

Yes, there are problems with the economy. But I have always maintained that "the economy" as an answer to "what concerns voters most" is bullshit.

"The economy" is what stupid people on the street and stupid people in news media say when they have no fucking idea what's going on but they think it makes them sound smart.

It's like one of those old jokes about phrases you throw out at parties when you don't know what people are talking about.

[slotrak@hachyderm.io]

@wdlindsy @Sagittarius_Galaxie Living in rural very white America, I see that education is not valued as a pathway to advancement, and that was true thirty-five years ago when I first moved here, although the tuition crisis has solidified that position.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@slotrak @Sagittarius_Galaxie Yes — so much so. I say this as someone born in the educationally impoverished state of Arkansas, who lives there still. Very good commentary on this challenge is to be found in Monica Potts' book The Forgotten Girls.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@billyjoebowers I very much agree.

[laloofah@mstdn.social]

@wdlindsy “We are talking about errors of perception measured by orders of magnitude. On the trans population, the average American’s estimation is off by 2,000 percent.”

[slotrak@hachyderm.io]

@wdlindsy @Sagittarius_Galaxie I will look for it. Thanks for the rec.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@slotrak @Sagittarius_Galaxie You're welcome.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Laloofah Astonishing, isn't it? And the belief that we can treat any minority group, no matter how small, inhumanely and not dehumanize all of us, is so off-base.