Six Reasons For Trump's Rise That Nobody Talks About

Well. if you look at the title of the URL, that's what it says. The editors chose a more provocative title that wasn't going to fly here... "How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind" -- and of course, the source is Cracked.

Cracked is actually putting out some excellent articles these days, and this is one that everyone might enjoy reading because it gives you a realistic picture of what Those Guys Voting For That OTHER PERSON are like (yes, it includes both 'OTHER PERSON VOTERS' - Clinton voters and Trump voters.)

So... let's dive right in (WARNING - THIS IS CRACKED. CRACKED'S LANGUAGE IS NOT ALWAYS SAFE FOR WORK. While I wish they weren't into the shock value language, what the writer says is really worth reading and discussing) As always, Cracked articles are full of images so the excerpts don't really carry the full flavor of this.

I'm going to explain the Donald Trump phenomenon in three movies. And then some text.

There's this universal shorthand that epic adventure movies use to tell the good guys from the bad. The good guys are simple folk from the countryside ... while the bad guys are decadent ******** who live in the city and wear stupid clothes:

And if you stop and think about it, you realize that this is the meme presented by a whopping boatload of films and books going back to the original books of the Bible and earlier.

The theme expresses itself in several ways -- primitive vs. advanced, tough vs. delicate, masculine vs. feminine, poor vs. rich, pure vs. decadent, traditional vs. weird. All of it is code for rural vs. urban. That tense divide between the two doesn't exist because of these movies, obviously. These movies used it as shorthand because the divide already existed.

And you can see it played out here, often in the way that battling sides start throwing accusations at each other. So let's look at some of the particulars:

It's Not About Red And Blue States -- It's About The Country Vs. The City

The map they show is eye-opening. Our country is not one solid city pavement - cities are concentrated in certain areas - so most of the votes (population wise) come from these area leaving broad swaths of our land under represented because the area is farms and small towns and communities. Areas that vote for liberal policies are usually city areas; those wanting conservative policies are almost always small community and small town areas.

And the writer makes this observation:

Every TV show is about LA or New York, maybe with some Chicago or Baltimore thrown in. When they did make a show about us, we were jokes -- either wide-eyed, naive fluffballs (Parks And Recreation, and before that, Newhart) or filthy murderous mutants (True Detective, and before that, Deliverance). You could feel the arrogance from hundreds of miles away.

Coming up with some counterexamples is tough, let me tell you.

But what I can say, from personal experience, is that the racism of my youth was always one step removed. I never saw a family member, friend, or classmate be mean to the actual black people we had in town. We worked with them, played video games with them, waved to them when they passed. What I did hear was several million comments about how if you ever ventured into the city, winding up in the "wrong neighborhood" meant you'd get dragged from your car, raped, and burned alive. Looking back, I think the idea was that the local minorities were fine ... as long as they acted exactly like us.

If you'd asked me at the time, I'd have said the fear and hatred wasn't of people with brown skin, but of that specific tribe they have in Chicago -- you know, the guys with the weird slang, music and clothes, the dope fiends who murder everyone they see. It was all part of the bizarro nature of the cities, as perceived from afar -- a combination of hyper-aggressive savages and frivolous white elites. Their ways are strange. And it wasn't like pop culture was trying to talk me out of it:

It's not just perception, either -- the stats back up the fact that these are parallel universes. People living in the countryside are twice as likely to own a gun and will probably get married younger. People in the urban "blue" areas talk faster and walk faster. They are more likely to be drug abusers but less likely to be alcoholics. The blues are less likely to own land and, most importantly, they're less likely to be Evangelical Christians.

Trends Always Start In The Cities -- And Not All Of Them Are Good
...(section snipped. You should go read it, though)

Church was where you made friends, met girls, networked for jobs, got social support. The poor could get food and clothes there, couples could get advice on their marriages, addicts could try to get clean. But now we're seeing a startling decline in Christianity among the general population, the godless disease having spread alongside Valley Girl talk. So according to Fox News, what's the result of those decadent, atheist, amoral snobs in the cities having turned their noses up at God?

Chaos.

So, yes, the world looks scary from that viewpoint. You can see how those supporting Trump might find his bombast a lot more comforting than Clinton's speeches.

Don't message me saying all those things I listed are wrong. I know they're wrong. Or rather, I think they're wrong, because I now live in a blue county and work for a blue industry. I know the Good Old Days of the past were built on slavery and segregation, I know that entire categories of humanity experienced religion only as a boot on their neck. I know that those "traditional families" involved millions of women trapped in kitchens and bad marriages. I know gays lived in fear and abortions were back-alley affairs.

I know the changes were for the best.

Try telling that to anybody who lives in Trump country.

There's a list of statistics there that are sobering, including that the rate of drug abuse (and overdose deaths... have you been reading about that lately?)

Anyway, the article is an interesting read If you're on the other side of the fence (ANYBODY but Trump (and I'm right there with you)), then I think it's a necessary read so that you can open dialogues without falling prey to the idea that only uneducated morons would vote for Trump.

And if you are a Trump voter, you might have a look at the article and then consider whether it's worth pointing out to some of your harshest critics.




...as always, hoping for an interesting discussion
- Byrd.

a reply to: Byrd

It seems to me to be right v left, always.

Worship the rich, demonize 'others' on the right.
Let it all hang out on the left.

a reply to: Byrd

What's clear to me is that if Trump were in politics as long as Hillary has been, his list of corruption(s) would be a lot longer and contain much worse than what Hillary has done.

a reply to: Byrd

No, cracked is putting out a lot of left wing SJW propaganda talking points lately.

They should try sticking to being funny and not try to push their political agendas.

But I digress, this article was one of their better efforts.

a reply to: lostbook

What's crystal clear to me is that Hillary has been in politics longer than Trump has been, her list of corruption(s) is longer, a lot longer.

originally posted by: LifeMode
a reply to: lostbook

What's crystal clear to me is that Hillary has been in politics longer than Trump has been, her list of corruption(s) is longer, a lot longer.

That's a given; politics is a dirty game. What I'm saying is that if Trump had been in politics for as long a period of time, his list corrupt achievements would be far greater and worse.

originally posted by: lostbook

originally posted by: LifeMode
a reply to: lostbook

What's crystal clear to me is that Hillary has been in politics longer than Trump has been, her list of corruption(s) is longer, a lot longer.

That's a given; politics is a dirty game. What I'm saying is that if Trump had been in politics for as long a period of time, his list corrupt achievement would be far greater and worse.

Business is also a dirty game in that regard. Would Hillary be more corrupt in the business world? Probably more so if you look at her one entry in cattle futures.

Cracked has put out some of the better stories on trump, they all seem very well thought out. "Left" leaning or not.

originally posted by: crimsongod21
Cracked has put out some of the better stories on trump, they all seem very well thought out. "Left" leaning or not.

This one, to me, gave the clearest picture of why people would actually consider voting for Trump - and how in the heck they could think America was worse off when the numbers show that employment is down and we're reducing the national debt and so forth. I've chuckled at some of the more outrageous things on Cracked, but I thought that this one was intelligent and insightful and something that my fellow liberals could appreciate.

And perhaps Conservatives and Libertarians as well. Sometimes we notice issues like the failure of small local businesses in small towns but it doesn't translate to "there's going to be a huge social problem in this area."

originally posted by: LifeMode
a reply to: lostbook

What's crystal clear to me is that Hillary has been in politics longer than Trump has been, her list of corruption(s) is longer, a lot longer.

I would say the poster you replied to has perhaps inadvertently hit on something that goes some way to explaining the popular appeal of Donald Trump. All Clinton et al have ever been is college kids, lawyers and politicians and therefore members of an "out of touch" political elite. Trump is perceived by many as having more understanding across the blue/white collar perspective and I predict that he is no were near as far behind as the biased Clinton media machine would prefer us to believe.

Can't stand either of them....


....but the rural vs urban....i've said for a few years here on ATS that we will have another civil war, and it will be city vs country folk. The current miimum wage flap amounts to economic warfare on rural areas, with the Fed forcing homogenity in the various economies. They piss away the value of the dollar in the cities, and then tell us folks in the country that its raining when they pull some crap like the exempt employee law in effect on 12/1.

The gun thing....how a city person thinks country folk (who share a border with a nation our illustrious freaking government saw fit to sell unregistered firearms to) should be left defenseless is beyond me. I pity any felon who feels the need to live in the country (since background checks will make it a choice of country ghetto or urban ghetto), since its against the law for them to own a gun.

It aint fat men in the country who run this nation. And as soon as we elect them and send them to the city to represent us, they wil only return with a camera crew or to kiss babies.

The article seems to try to insinuate upon me that I perpetuate the history of racism because of my views. When, the fact is no neighborhood scares me. Its the fat old farts sitting on Capital Hill (or on Congress Ave) that scare me. They are the ones that have actually done something (time and again) to me.

a reply to: Byrd

Cute article and funny.

We say yes ma'am and I will pray for you and they say... f you why are you praying for me?

Love it... I get it.

What I don't get is how we can change what's been in the making for over 100 years.

We are left with dumb or dumber and there is no light at the end of the tunnel as far as I can see.

This article is important because it explains the Trump phenomena to intelligent progressives.

The comfy elite libs simply cannot fathom why anyone would buy Trump's brand of yuck, and this explained it very well.

Desperation does weird things to people... our leadership on BOTH sides are dangerously out of touch and collectively ignoring the important issues and the people behind them.

It seems Trump is rural folk's version of Bernie... whom I wish was still on the ticket.

a reply to: Baddogma

Me too. Not because i'd vote for him....but because he was a burr under Hillary's saddle.

I do like a bit of cracked.com now and then and i havnt been there for a while, thanks for the heads up on this one OP o/

2

Maybe dens should achieve paying for their own healthcare and birth control before telling the other side anything. If I was a member of the party of the poor I'd for sure keep quiet and know my role but now you got the internet where even baristas talk geopolitics.

originally posted by: MamaJ
a reply to: Byrd

Cute article and funny.

We say yes ma'am and I will pray for you and they say... f you why are you praying for me?

Love it... I get it.

What I don't get is how we can change what's been in the making for over 100 years.

We are left with dumb or dumber and there is no light at the end of the tunnel as far as I can see.

Well, we CAN change if we first learn how the other person REALLY sees it (a lot of things I see posted as "liburulz think this way" really have nothing to do with the way I think... and I'm sure that a lot of the "dadgum dumb thangs cornservatives believe" has little to do with the world view of conservatives.) Once you understand, you can try and see if there's a meeting ground on the needs of both.

But entrenching yourself in a caricature of the other side simply creates division.

So it starts with us.

(and this is something I read that educated me on how and why the conservatives came to their position. It humanizes these positions and educates me as opposed to amusing me and demonizing them.)

a reply to: lostbook

NO it ISN'T clear and WE ALL don't make decisions on EMOTIONAL possibilities ,it's cowardice to do that .
NOTHING would get done if things APPEARED difficult, Hillary is a perjured criminal ,WAITING to be charged when her BACK cover is removed.

She will NEVER get cleared for being a damn dog catcher much less a classification required for the presidency,it is a distinct possibility the leaks are OUR OWN intelligence agencies THAT dumb cow picked HER LAST fight,spooks don't play politics.

originally posted by: Byrd

This one, to me, gave the clearest picture of why people would actually consider voting for Trump - and how in the heck they could think America was worse off when the numbers show that employment is down and we're reducing the national debt and so forth. I've chuckled at some of the more outrageous things on Cracked, but I thought that this one was intelligent and insightful and something that my fellow liberals could appreciate.

Hold on a minute. I can understand how someone could think unemployment is down if they believe the government's number fudging. But how can anyone believe we are reducing the national debt when it has gone from 10 trillion to nearly 20 trillion?