New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is at it again.
In his Feb. 26 column “The Mystery of White Rural Rage” he essentially criticizes rural voters’ support of Donald Trump without presenting any kind of specific reasoning why Biden could theoretically be a better option.
And more than that, he mostly just throws shade at rural folks. By “rural folks,” I generally mean everyone who lives west of the Appalachian Mountains or east of the Sierra Nevadas.
I have to assume all snooty urban elitists crap on rural America while within their social circles, so I guess I’ll give him credit for doing it publicly rather than behind our backs.
The column isn’t very cohesive. He starts by talking about how technology and innovation can be job killers, then he does a book review, then starts bashing rural support for conservative politics.
He claims “white rural rage is arguably the single greatest threat facing American democracy” which of course means he doesn’t like that we vote for Trump.
He is fundamentally confused about rural culture. In this excerpt, after he talks about the loss of jobs to technology, and the resulting use of federal programs as a social safety net and the loss of dignity associated with that, he writes:
“This feeling of a loss of dignity may be worsened because some rural Americans have long seen themselves as more industrious, more patriotic and maybe even morally superior to the denizens of big cities — an attitude still expressed in cultural artifacts like Jason Aldean’s hit son “Try That in a Small Town.”
“In the crudest sense, rural and small-town America is supposed to be filled with hard-working people who adhere to traditional values… but the economic and social reality doesn’t match this self-image.”
He’s right on the first part and wrong on the final part.
I’ll just speak for Kansans.
We ARE more industrious, more patriotic and morally superior to city folks. This self-appraisal is nothing new. I admit it. We definitely look down on the folks Krugman represents.
In general, we believe the coastal elites are soft and stupid.
They couldn’t really care for themselves if they had to and couldn’t defend their communities if it somehow came to that.
And what the heck are they thinking? Urban folks have become so deluded in their woke narrative, they’ve lost touch with reality – I mean, they can’t even seem to tell the difference between male and female anymore.
It’s easy to counter his last sentence. Does he contend urban areas are filled with hard-working people or folks with traditional values compared to rural areas?
I mean, we’ve all seen the post-apocalyptic scenes of homelessness and human carnage in San Francisco or Los Angeles. Even the worst of Kansas City couldn’t compete with that.
And as liberal as college towns can be, the rainbow mafia wasn’t born in Manhattan, Kansas, but the alphabet army wields power in Manhattan, New York.
Does Krugman think rural communities won’t meet their highest potential until they all have their own skid rows or monthly drag queen story hours at the public libraries? No thanks.
Dan Thalmann is the owner/publisher of the Washington County News and is a Past President of the Kansas Press Association. He has won numerous journalism awards in many categories over the years, including multiple awards as the best mid-sized weekly newspaper in Kansas.
YIPE! Mr Thalmann, indeed what you’ve written is 100% accurate. But don’t tell Krugman and his cohorts! The last thing the good people of Kansas should want is for the NY Times crowd to decide “hmmm… maybe KS (or for that matter, MO) is a good place to relocate to.” For that matter, people in rural New York don’t want them either!
For an additional good op-ed re Krugman’s whine, see https://www.planet-today.com/2024/03/taibbi-msnbc-paul-krugman-panic-over.html by Matt Taibbi.