Ugh, I just had it out with my neighbor

[better]

35. This kind of thing really highlights the fallacy of the saying that "all politics is local".

I too have a neighbor who is neck deep in the right wing media bullshit, and all that that entails. And yet, you can see in how he treats the people around him, people with whom he actually comes face to face, that his politics and his morals are at complete odds with one another. This is what I'm talking about when I say that by far most Republicans are actually decent, though tragically misinformed, people.

The problem is the fact that Republicans have very well figured out that all politics is NOT local, and in fact it can be very successfully used to manipulate people's perceptions about groups and interests that are specifically not local. Not a lot of Muslims in rural America, so it's a lot easier to manipulate the perception of Muslims in those areas, because most people who live in those areas don't actually know any Muslims, so they lack the benefit of personal experience that runs contrary to the narrative they are fed. Try peddling that shit in Metro DC where you're going to encounter people of all faiths, races and orientations just walking to the neighborhood coffee shop and it's not going to fly with the vast majority, because since it's about something that is local, people know better from their own experience.

It's that divide, people who actually have the experience to make it clear when they're being fed a line of bullshit versus people who only have know what they are fed by the media they consume, that really defines politics in this country. One of the things that struck me about my neighbor is the degree to which his ignorance is the result of him not having internet, which means that the only points of view he is ever going to see or hear are those peddled by someone who owns a radio or television broadcast system.

We too often take for granted the ease with which those of us capable of making it to this website are able to ascertain whether what's being said is true or complete bullshit.