county worker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu Oct-28-10 08:33 PM
Response to Original message
6. I use to live in the mountains east of Bakersfield, CA. We were 30 miles from any urban center.
Edited on Thu Oct-28-10 08:34 PM by county worker
I think my wife and I were the only non-conservative types of all the people we came in contact with in the 5 years we lived there.
Now none of us locked our doors at night, if someone needed money for an operation or something you got a flier in your mailbox about a pot luck dinner you were invited to. You had to bring something to pass and $10 or more sometimes. All the money went to the person who was having the trouble.
We all had horses and if one of yours had colic or something, before the vet arrived your neighbors were there to help. If there was a fire everyone took off of work to go and help move the animals to safety and get the people and their important possessions to safety too along with trying to put out the fire yourselves. We all had wells and tanks with fire hose hookups.
To make sure we were part of the community we did not discuss politics. When one of our neighbor's son died in Iraq we all went to the memorial.
The people just assumed we hated all those elitist liberals too.
So, in other words, you lived in a community where conservative values had reign, and it was a wonderful, safe place to live. What a thought!
arbusto_baboso Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu Oct-28-10 08:36 PM
Response to Original message
8. Teabaggers are the latest manifestation of America's anti-intellectualism.
The most vehement, vocal nutcases always hate those who are better informed and educated.
proof: Have a debate/discussion with a teabagger and shoot down their assertions with facts. Wait to see how long before they say, "So, you think you're BETTER than me, college boy?" I say wait to see how long, because it WILL happen. Every single time. That phrase, or variants of same.
Come on over here, and I will debate you, one on one, on any topic you like. I swear no variation of "so you think you're better than me, college boy" will ever pass my lips. In fact, I have a Bachelors degree, and I've never had anybody denigrate my education, conservative or liberal. However, I did have a professor freak out on me when she found out I voted for Bush in 2004, "but you are an intellectual! How could you vote for him!" I then got to defend my political views, in French. Not very fun, though she did apologize the next day saying that her reaction was inappropriate.
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arbusto_baboso Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu Oct-28-10 11:08 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. That's true as far as it goes. But most wear their lack of higher education as a badge of honor.
Edited on Thu Oct-28-10 11:08 PM by arbusto_baboso
They refer to anyone with a college degree as an "educated idiot".
What they believe they have is "superior common sense"; so it IS about turning their inferiority complex around and trumpeting it as a virtue.
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KharmaTrain Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Fri Oct-29-10 08:25 AM
Response to Original message
18. Street Smarts vs. Book Smarts
There's a definite disdain among most wingnuts to higher education and those who they consider the "intellegensia". These are the trouble makers with their theories on evolution, global warming and their ability to throw cold water on the wingnut paradise of unlimited resources and exploitation. It's a selfish and paranoid view as they will automatically take an opposite position without any thought, it's almost Pavlovian. This has allowed the puppetmasters to manipulate so many into voting against their own best interests and to ignore their own hypocrisies.
Remember, the right wing thrives on boogiemen...knowledge is a threat and those who possess it are evil.
No, I value education quite highly. Most science field really require a Masters degree or higher to gain proficiency. However, I do think that getting a graduate degree solely for the sake of the degree is ridiculous. If you not going into a field where extensive knowledge of history is required, ie curator, professor, etc., then why would you need an MA in history, let alone a PhD. The same goes for pretty much any topic. Bachelor degrees are practically a dime a dozen now, but many fields require a bachelors degree, whether it is really applicable or not. Very few fields, outside of scientific fields and high specialized careers, require a Masters degree, so what is the real point of getting one.
I have disdain for those who place higher importance on a degree than work experience, or those who feel that education gained in a classroom is better than any other, or those who feel that their education makes them better than anybody else.
