(10-01-2010 01:18 PM)emmiesix Wrote: (10-01-2010 10:10 AM)tanq_tonic Wrote: (10-01-2010 08:02 AM)emmiesix Wrote: (09-29-2010 01:38 PM)tanq_tonic Wrote: In other words: the libtard we like is ineffective, and the repubtard is vewy vewy scawy for us Bay area "non-bitter clinger" elites.....
Ugh, I find the "elite" term extremely overused, not to mention ignorant of reality. And I have no idea what the epithet "non-bitter clinger" is supposed to mean.
Might be overused.
Point 1: As for "ignorant of reality", well...... I suggest you spend a very extended time here in the Bay Area and observe the typical response to anything non-SF and non-NY.
My observation from a very long time in this area is that the term (while potentially overused), is pretty much spot on.
I suppose labels of any kind are annoying, but I find this one grates me the same way "liberal" used as a slur does. If "elite" includes liberal-leaning academics as a rule, I find it at least odd. I'm one, and I'm not rubbing elbows with anyone other than a few beer distributors at Valhalla. Yup, that's my path to power.
(10-01-2010 10:10 AM)tanq_tonic Wrote: Point 2:
Quote:Thirty words White House hopeful Barack Obama said at a private California fund-raiser threatened Friday to torpedo any hopes he had of catching up to Hillary Clinton in the all-important Pennsylvania primary election 10 days from now.
Talking about how the loss of jobs over 25 years has sapped the hope of small-town Pennsylvania residents, Obama said at the Sunday fund-raiser, "they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Obama: God, guns are only refuge of bitter Pennsylvanians
btw, I will give you *one* guess as to the city in which this statement was made and the people to whom this statement was made. Hint: it kind of is related to my Point 1.
I don't know, I find some truth in what he says even if it is an overly broad characterization. Read the book "Whats the matter with Kansas?" sometime, same idea.
(10-01-2010 10:10 AM)tanq_tonic Wrote: Point 3: I won't make a comment on your implied characterization of my comment (and potentially me) as "ignorant".
But it is far better than the explicit characterization of the same that I get for being a native Texan in this area. Which, suprisingly, circles back to Point 1..... (funny how that keeps happening, eh?)
I have no idea who you are so I apologize if I called you ignorant (I suppose I did). I was drawing the conclusion from a term I rarely hear used by those conducting a reasoned debate.
Emmie:
Elites can be used to characterize (and is spot on for) application to people regardless of party affilitation or political leanings.
It is "not" a general term to cover academic liberals (or progressives, whichever term you choose). I know many academic lib-progress. that I would in no way characterize as elite, and I know as many conservative business CEO types whom I most definitely would characterize as such.
I most definitely characterize the general attitude of the Bay Area as one of the few places that has a severe issue with a superiority complex -- I really won't go further into this.
As for your views on "Kansas country" -- you are free to believe however much you want. I find Obama's statement to exhibit nearly as much implied ignorance as he cries out about...... Funny how that happens.
As for "reading a book" about Kansas, sorry, won't do it. In the course of my career(s) I have had the opportunity to spend a *lot* of time in deep, deep "bum**** egypt" country (as many would refer to it, or perhaps the more genteel but as offending but more snide "fly over country"), and I think after my years in the oilfield services industry that those people are a far cry from the vapid generalization given. So Emmie, with all due respect, I'll use my very long experiences with the deep BFEians (and potentially being raised as one in the very BFE-esque far West Texas) as opposed to a visiting constitutional law lecturer and street organizer's characterizations of them.
And, if you are a Valhalla-liking gal (apologies in advance if the term "gal" is too neanderthal, as I know that many here in Bay Area cringe when I use what is actually, in many areas of the country a very positive term), I am absolutely positive that even though you are a self-described "academic liberal", you do not (and probably won't ever) get close to the "elite" line in my simple, backwards, redneck point of view......