Give me one reason while I should have empathy for the Deplorables...

[Thirties Child]

110. So many of our attitudes, philosophies, political leanings, depend on our exposure.

I grew up in one of the most conservative areas of the country--a small town in the Great Plains. My exposure, through parents, newspaper editorials, education, church, was conservative. I emerged, as you might expect, conservative, or, according to your definition, a deplorable. Since 1957, when I graduated from college and married, I've lived in cities--Dallas, New Orleans, D.C., Atlanta. I was exposed to different attitudes, philosophies, politics. And emerged a Progressive. I look at my high school classmates and see what you define as deplorable, what I see as a product of their upbringing. The difference between most of them and me is that I had exposure, they didn't. I ask myself if I had stayed, if I hadn't been exposed to other ways of living and thinking, would I still be conservative. I can't honestly answer that question. Nor can I judge those who stayed. So, yes, I have empathy for them. We can't know what they've experienced, what they've been exposed to.