Re:The Der Spiegel journalist who messed with the wrong smal...
by mikestew on Sunday December 23, 2018 @11:43AM
(#18747000)
Maybe they were too willing to believe his depiction of small town America as a bunch of poorly educated, bigoted hicks?
That’s the part that annoys me most. You want bigoted hick towns? As of twenty years ago, I could have rattled off a half-dozen towns in Indiana that would have qualified (though the author’s pre-conceived image would have been a stretch for even these towns). I can’t believe that in twenty years they’ve all turned into liberal enclaves. But that would have taken more work and research, so pick an innocent town on the map and write your narrative about them instead? And if all places, Minnesota? Of all of small town America, I picture MN as probably most “liberal”, for lack of a better description, though I admit little data.
I dunno, in the end I’m annoyed that the reporter didn’t even do a very good job of faking it, and a small town of what are probably nice folks (“damned good folks”?) took the hit.
That’s the part that annoys me most. You want bigoted hick towns? As of twenty years ago, I could have rattled off a half-dozen towns in Indiana that would have qualified (though the author’s pre-conceived image would have been a stretch for even these towns). I can’t believe that in twenty years they’ve all turned into liberal enclaves. But that would have taken more work and research, so pick an innocent town on the map and write your narrative about them instead? And if all places, Minnesota? Of all of small town America, I picture MN as probably most “liberal”, for lack of a better description, though I admit little data.
I dunno, in the end I’m annoyed that the reporter didn’t even do a very good job of faking it, and a small town of what are probably nice folks (“damned good folks”?) took the hit.