-
We’re all in this country together, and we all contribute how we can. But to the extent that people keep wishing for the 5th largest economy on earth (California) to just disappear, or go off calling folks in blue states un-American trash, sometimes a reality check is needed. @Acyn/1669885548826075138Permalink On twitter.com
Mood 0
-
There’s a lot of ways to cut these numbers (here are 2), but there’s no world in which the narrative of NYC, Chicago, and SF being crime-ridden hellholes is remotely correlated with anything but vibes from propagandized trolls. southwestjournal.com/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-us-2023-a-comprehensive-analysis/ @ChrisLikesData2/1669755243054391297Permalink On twitter.com
-
Instead, it turns out crime follows poverty, unemployment, and substance abuse, and daily attention on absurdist cherry-picked narratives not backed by context and broader understanding prevents us from helping our countrymen who are actually in need.Permalink On twitter.com
-
We also happen to give the most too, often in the face of states choosing to offer little or no services, leaving the rest of us with the tab. But such a one-sided arrangement is incompatible with a near-homicidal hatred based in fear and lunacy. moneygeek.com/living/states-most-reliant-federal-government/On twitter.com
-
And who stirs up all this hatred, contempt, and increasingly, violence? It’s not America’s forgotten people. It’s an ecosystem of white-shoe rage-entrepreneurs for whom every school board resolution and every draft state legislature resolution is a tool to cash in on their marks.Permalink On twitter.com
-
I often talk about the alternate reality many live in, where facts are just opinions and vibes are the one truth. As Tom Nichols points out so cogently, a chunk of Americans are so well-off and so bored that they’re going to take the whole thing down for the nihilistic spectacle. @augustf/1669752216092045313Permalink On twitter.com
-
So no, this isn’t a thread about how awesome people in blue areas are, or how Gavin Newsom is such a truth-teller. Instead, it’s a plea to respect the contributions of all our citizens and to remember that we’re all equals in this enterprise, but only if we can keep our heads.Permalink On twitter.com
-
And not just keep our heads, but actively resist a massively well-funded and profitable media/political ecosystem that makes its money and gets its power from a constant cycle of rage and lunacy with little if any basis in reality, and wildly out of context with the world.Permalink On twitter.com