Mississippi Conservatives - god help us!

[FBM]

Nothing Ayaan wrote indicates that the people in the video were not cherry picked. And, Ayaan clarified that it was a religious, conservative dominated state and she stated that her atheist group had trouble meeting. How does that translate to the toothless, racist dopes in the OP video somehow being representative of Mississippians?

I suppose I should chime in, since I lived the first 20-something years of my life in that state. The people interviewed in the OP video are pretty representative of the opinions, reasoning skills and dental health you'll find among the poor and un(der)educated population of MS. And that's a large chunk of the population. However, there are university towns where those opinions do not prevail, and there are well-educated professionals, mostly in the larger cities, who reject such conservatism. But they have to be quiet about it.

It is not a state for someone who is out-spoken as a liberal - or as an atheist. Conservatives hold a lot of power in the state. For many people, the only reason to have universities is because of football.

A year or so before I left the state I got involved with an atheist group. Once we outgrew meeting at someone's house, getting together became a problem. We simply couldn't meet in public as an atheist group because people could lose their jobs. When I left, we were meeting in an art studio owned by the friend of one group's members.

FBM is not from MS. ...The material you highlighted was from FBM.

I was born and raised in MS and didn't move away until I was in my mid-twenties. Even then, I just moved to TN. Not that much difference wrt the OP.

[Svartalf]

You're even less funny than I am.

[FBM]

Sorry. I have a cold. I have to pick and choose the posts I put effort into. This one didn't make the cut.

[Ayaan]

What's even more depressing about that clip is that the people interviewed weren't cherry picked, according to the filmmaker. Unfortunately since she's the daughter of Nancy Pelosi I'm sure most conservatives will dismiss it.

Why would one take her word for it that they weren't cherry picked? And, why wouldn't someone be skeptical about it given who made it?

I've been to Mississippi. I didn't find the people in the above video to be representative of people there. I am opposed to the Bible Belt politics and Christian conservatism, but I have to say that I can't believe anyone can watch that video and say that it is representative of Mississippians. The people on that video are toothless, racist, and idiotic. If one is claiming that such folks are not "cherry picked" then one is making a serious indictment of the typical Mississippian.

Okay, so the toothlessness may have been a bit exaggerated (although there are pockets in the state that have little access to any sort of medical or dental care). However, the attitudes weren't. Mississippi is a backwards state. Scratch the surface, and it bleeds racism and stupidity. Things are getting better, but it is a slow, drawn out process, made even slower by many residents of the state wishing they could drag it back to the 1950's, when 'everyone knew their place.'

[Ian]

When this clip was played on Bill Maher last week, he explained that Alexandra Pelosi included with it a letter claiming that nothing was cherry-picked, and that there were a number of other "dentally-challenged" people who were left out of the clip so as not to give the impression that they specifically included all the toothless hicks they could find.

Maybe if she spent more time in downtown Jackson or someplace she'd find more educated and articulate specimens though. I don't know, and I don't want to assume too much since I've only been to MS for brief trips to Bay St. Louis for work, and I've never spent any time hanging around town.

[Ayaan]

When this clip was played on Bill Maher last week, he explained that Alexandra Pelosi included with it a letter claiming that nothing was cherry-picked, and that there were a number of other "dentally-challenged" people who were left out of the clip so as not to give the impression that they specifically included all the toothless hicks they could find.

Maybe if she spent more time in downtown Jackson or someplace she'd find more educated and articulate specimens though. I don't know, and I don't want to assume too much since I've only been to MS for brief trips to Bay St. Louis for work, and I've never spent any time hanging around town.

Go to Oxford, Mississippi or Jackson, Biloxi, Gulfport or other areas like that, you will find more educated and articulate people. However, Mississippi is a very rural state and those areas are the exception. You also have to factor in that most people who are just visiting the state are highly unlikely to find themselves in backwoods Mississippi.

[FBM]

Yeah. That's just the point. You have to go looking for well-educated people with some hint of progressive thoughts. You run into the other type all day long while looking for those exceptions.

[maiforpeace]

Nothing Ayaan wrote indicates that the people in the video were not cherry picked. And, Ayaan clarified that it was a religious, conservative dominated state and she stated that her atheist group had trouble meeting. How does that translate to the toothless, racist dopes in the OP video somehow being representative of Mississippians?

I suppose I should chime in, since I lived the first 20-something years of my life in that state. The people interviewed in the OP video are pretty representative of the opinions, reasoning skills and dental health you'll find among the poor and un(der)educated population of MS. And that's a large chunk of the population. However, there are university towns where those opinions do not prevail, and there are well-educated professionals, mostly in the larger cities, who reject such conservatism. But they have to be quiet about it.

It is not a state for someone who is out-spoken as a liberal - or as an atheist. Conservatives hold a lot of power in the state. For many people, the only reason to have universities is because of football.

A year or so before I left the state I got involved with an atheist group. Once we outgrew meeting at someone's house, getting together became a problem. We simply couldn't meet in public as an atheist group because people could lose their jobs. When I left, we were meeting in an art studio owned by the friend of one group's members.

FBM is not from MS. ...The material you highlighted was from FBM.

I was born and raised in MS and didn't move away until I was in my mid-twenties. Even then, I just moved to TN. Not that much difference wrt the OP.

I wonder if there's a chance that CES will admit he misread this, or does he just obtusely ignore the obvious on purpose.

[FBM]

[Robert_S]

It's not the stupidity and ignorance, it's that they're fucking proud of it like it makes them closer to God or something.

[Ayaan]

It's not the stupidity and ignorance, it's that they're fucking proud of it like it makes them closer to God or something.

Yeah, there is that too. There is nothing wrong with being ignorant. There is something wrong with taking pride in it and refusing to do something about it.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

My cousin, Gary Ch@vers, had one tooth the last time I met him. He refused to spend any money on a dentist, and let his teeth fall where they may. Once they were all gone he planned on getting dentures via the Internet.

[JimC]

We could do one in Oz about Queensland conservatives...

That's our "Deep North"...

[MrJonno]

According to this article, Brits can only get abortions up through 24 weeks (presumably with exceptaions thereafter if it's, like, a threat to the mother or something). So, your law does make it hard for a woman to get an abortion, after a certain point.

As I mentioned before this is no direct right to abortion only medical care, abortion is just legal up to 24 weeks pretty much only on the grounds of putting the health of the mother in danger or serious handicap. Of course 'health of the mother' in the UK includes mental anguish of having a baby they don't want which does show unless you carefully word laws they rapidly warp into something quite different. After 24 weeks up to birth its only in the case of serious physical risk to the mother or serious handicaps of the fetus.

I've never really seen tinkering with the extreme ends of what week to really be related to pro or anti abortion, I like to think we have moved beyond that. It's generally a discussion of whether a fetus is viable at 24 weeks. According to UK doctors it is and they will try to save a premature 24 week baby with about a 1% chance of success without it growing up as a vegetable while Dutch hospitals will automatically leave it to die. I don't think either country is wrong on this just trying to balance the suffering of the mother, baby and of course finances

[Gawdzilla Sama]

We could do one in Oz about Queensland conservatives...

That's our "Deep North"...

I thought everybody in the North of Oz was exactly like Crocodile Dundee? Or is it Steve Irwin? I get those two mixed up.