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Comments
Gonna have to part with you on this posting.
For the record, Christmas isn't stupid. And, it has nothing to do with Donald Trump or Barack Obama for that matter. It is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ usually on Dec. 25 (Orthodox Christians celebrate on another date). Since his exact date of birth is unknown that date was chosen as essentially replacing the Roman pagan holiday, Sol Invictus or Invincible Sun that commemorates the Winter Solstice.
What is foolish is the ostentatious display and over consumption of those who do celebrate that holiday or Yuletide, a secular manifestation of Christmas. That consumption can be found in the city (have you visited Candy Cane Lane in Seattle?) or the country (Kelso?). Here in America or elsewhere.
I don't like that consumerism any more than you. But, I do have fond memories of my parents' efforts to render the Christmas holiday celebratory. That included, a Christmas tree, house lights, a creche, mistletoe and poinsettas, egg nog and singing carols among other traditions and displays.
It's a good holiday that actually wishes "Peace on Earth & Goodwill to all mankind".
Nope, it's not stupid at all.
Can you point to any rural Trumpists who AREN'T white people?
Few years ago a young family member was compelled by circumstance to live for 7 months in Longview. I made quite a lot of effort get him to understand why the number of psychological cripples was so high, and elicit some sympathy for them, but young people can have trouble processing how a particular psychology, like economic conditions, can develop deeply over generations, especially when outside sources of information and opportunity for them are limited and twisted.
This is not unique to New Mexico. Look at the vote by county maps.
Such hateful, divisive rhetoric...
In Chicago?
"The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has had a presence at the Port since the late 1930s, after the famous San Francisco general strike of 1934. Longshore workers, led by Harry Bridges and other radicals, including many Communists, defeated the shipping companies and forced them to accept a union hiring hall. This would dispatch workers, according to union rules, to any employer on the docks that needed them. Such a hiring hall arrangement, operated by ILWU Local 21, is in force at the Port of Longview. The Port has an agreement with the union that all of the shipping businesses using the port will utilize ILWU members to load and unload cargo. The ILWU also has a collective bargaining agreement with all of the owners of export grain terminals at ports along the Pacific Coast, an agreement that spells out the wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment of the ILWU members who work at grain terminals."
BUT, the logs stopped coming in the amount that they did, and the work dried up and the dream caught on fire and the hazy smoke fills the sky and bloxks the sunlight...
What happened, Charley, what happened to make all those Lefty, hard working Union Folks turn to dust and dry away and the scattered grit and the leftover houses now filled with the twekers seeking anything, the elderly, the bitter, the ignorant, the cynic....
What happened Charley. Instead of your drive by cultural stereo type, how about putting your black shoulder to the wheel and digging in.
Tell us what happened to the dream, Charley.
How did the flowers die and the bitter evil molds and mosses take sprout.
Tell us, Charley, and then you'll know too,
and THEN, you'll know where you are, because you took a wrong turn near Christmas Cynic Junction, only you don't knows it yet...
And beyond that,the less said the more better.
This is like the Ld-50 level of smug right here. Jesus Christ you are a like a fucking parody.
@15 - spelling fix: Bernalillo
Funny, I've met adults in the Rainier Valley who couldn't read at all despite a top notch education at Seattle Public Schools.
I'm trying to wrap my head around the point of this post. i get that blogging is a forum for informal writing and that underdeveloped thinking is par for the course (really, the whole point of the medium). But usually I can see some kind of thesis that's being worked out.
The theses here seem to be:
1) Christmas, especially in its modern, consumerist form, unanchored from its religious origins, is stupid, but that's OK. (OK, yes, fine)
and
2) Trump voters like Christmas, and are stupid, and Christmas is stupid, and that's not OK.
To which I respond, well, fine, I can understand why you might think so. But what is the point of stating this? Are you trying to convince Trump voters not to be stupid? (This sure won't do it). Are you trying to convince undecided voters that voting for Trump is stupid? (A day late and a dollar short on that one) Are you virtue-signalling to your fellow Clinton supporters? (Um, OK, but you opened by calling urban-holiday celebrating stupid too, which kinda contradicts that). Are we rallying the troops here? (let's just say this post ain't exactly Braveheart)
I guess you could just be venting steam, but this isn't really even good polemic.
Or maybe this is some kind of satire that's flying over my head? "Stupid" is a word that most of us leave behind on the middle school playground. Or is that part of the elaborate satirical nature of the post?
I guess my takeaway is that either I'm stupid because I don't get it, or the post is stupid.
Longview itself was built by the Long-Bell company in the mid 20s as an insta-town for 14000 millworkers and 50,000 inhabitants. Even as the port and later more industry in the region became unionized, efforts never stopped to keep labor de-politicized, beyond the contract at hand.
As regional industry and resource extraction has foundered in the past 30 years, so too has income and quality of life for younger generations of the working class. But lacking clear understanding of what has been happening to them, and not possessing relevant political or cultural response to the changes that have swept over the region, large numbers of the working class are self-identity basket cases, much like members of non-thriving farming community members in the midwest, despite that they are less than an hour away from a modern urban center, and so it is not surprising they vote like those in rural Indiana, and do meth like some economically basket case county in Kentucky.
I think Charles's take on the vibe there is pretty accurate, in spite of the partial labor history you describe. Cowlitz county is tied with Adams county for the 2nd highest obesity rate in the State of WA. Despite the efforts of many, it can be very very depressing - change is slow...
You're not in their shoes. You cannot say that you know about what is happening to another person more than that person.
This is precisely the brain dead pseudo elitist thinking that caused Hillary to lose the election.
However, you're more than welcome to ask them what they think and then have a conversation.
Frickin' cowardly parasites.
52.9% of Cowlitz County voters opted for TRUMP - giving him a total of 24,066 votes.
21.7% of King County voters opted to put in their ballot for TRUMP - for a total of 197,781 votes.
your language and the tone of this article suggests you are not fit to effectively communicate with people of rural backgrounds - maybe this blog post (?) would read better if you used your words to project shame and contempt for your urban counterparts.
I've heard that Hillbilly Elegy is a good read on this.