It's frustrating. The Trillbillys illustrate how poor rural white communities are primed for leftist activism.
But libs tend to confuse "rural white poor" with "white nationalist". They come out of it thinking J.D. Vance is someone who could be a secret leftist.
There are plenty of people who haven't formed a strong ideological view yet, and simply display a right-wing aesthetic because its baked into the culture. Like waving a Confederate Flag because you enjoy Dukes of Hazard reruns and Lynard Skynard albums. And its good to approach these people with some degree of tact, because they legitimately don't understand the historical dialectic of the thing they're waving over their heads.
But this is an argument for youth-oriented organizing. Not right-wing oriented organizing.
20-year-olds echoing the aesthetic of their parents and older friends are potentially accessible and open to discourse. 40-year-old guys in pickup trucks waving Confederate Flags either know better or don't care. 60-year-old sponsors of the Confederate Veterans Society absolutely know better and most likely want to either recruit you or lynch you, themselves.
That's a very good point. It's hard to get past the people saying shit like "Sanders supporters are just Trump supporters with different hats!" They refuse to engage with the economic similarities between working-class right-wingers and leftist policy goals. Instead, they try to align the two based upon their least desirable qualities.
Youth-oriented organizing is huge. Not just in rural communities, of course. I don't see many lib boomers/gen xers going too far left either.
It's frustrating. The Trillbillys illustrate how poor rural white communities are primed for leftist activism.
But libs tend to confuse "rural white poor" with "white nationalist". They come out of it thinking J.D. Vance is someone who could be a secret leftist.
There are plenty of people who haven't formed a strong ideological view yet, and simply display a right-wing aesthetic because its baked into the culture. Like waving a Confederate Flag because you enjoy Dukes of Hazard reruns and Lynard Skynard albums. And its good to approach these people with some degree of tact, because they legitimately don't understand the historical dialectic of the thing they're waving over their heads.
But this is an argument for youth-oriented organizing. Not right-wing oriented organizing.
20-year-olds echoing the aesthetic of their parents and older friends are potentially accessible and open to discourse. 40-year-old guys in pickup trucks waving Confederate Flags either know better or don't care. 60-year-old sponsors of the Confederate Veterans Society absolutely know better and most likely want to either recruit you or lynch you, themselves.
That's a very good point. It's hard to get past the people saying shit like "Sanders supporters are just Trump supporters with different hats!" They refuse to engage with the economic similarities between working-class right-wingers and leftist policy goals. Instead, they try to align the two based upon their least desirable qualities.
Youth-oriented organizing is huge. Not just in rural communities, of course. I don't see many lib boomers/gen xers going too far left either.