[GCFL-discuss] Neighbors

[gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net]

One of the things that people who define trends have been telling us
about ourselves is that we live in isolated communities where everybody
agrees with each other and nobody knows anyone who believes much
different. E.g., most Bush voters live in communities full of Bush
voters, while most Kerry voters live in communities full of Kerry voters.

I find this odd. I drive a morning shift around a good part of the city I
am currently living in. Almost everywhere I see a Bush/Cheney sign, there
is a Kerry/Edwards sign across the street, and vice versa. Or, there may
be three in a row of one, then three in a row of the other. But we are
obviously living next door to each other, or in each other's back yards.

The fantasy of "red states" and "blue states" follows the same pattern of
unreality. There are a few states, like New York and Wyoming, where the
vote was pretty lopsided, but most states were very close. That means
millions, or hundreds of thousands, of "red state" voters in "blue
states," and millions of "blue state" voters in "red states." Millions of
Texans have NEVER liked George Bush (you can have millions in Texas
without being a majority), just as millions in North Carolina have NEVER
voted for John Edwards.

It is true that nobody I work with would even think of voting for Bush,
nor would anyone at one of the two churches I am in the habit of
visiting. But at least a third of the passengers I drive undoubtedly
will, and some members of one other church I know probably would too.

Maybe we should just stop listening when the media tries to label us.

Siarlys


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