DUers in Heavily Red Areas/States - Do you ever fear for your lives?

[Taverner]

I've always wondered this - I'm not really talking about Austin or Raleigh, or even Orlando. I am talking about those who live in rural areas, or states like Mississippi.

Yes I know you can have small pockets of liberalism out there, but just look at how the folks vote out there! You can't say there's not a danger - in these times.

[Neecy]

1. I live in a rural red area and no.

Everyone knows I'm a Democrat and they don't really care.

[texastoast]

2. 78% straight puke ticket county here

And no, I don't. I display the liberal bumper sticker of the week and when people give me shit, I blow them kisses and wink.

[ddeclue]

3. Not usually but I've lived in the Deep South in very red places much of my life.

Orlando is not nearly so "red" as say Shelbyville Tennessee, Augusta Georgia, or Huntsville Alabama for instance.

Actually Orlando is blue and Orange County is blue and Florida is blue these days at least as far the election went and the voter registration figures show.

Of course I've been in demonstrations and events across from wing nut teabaggers so some of these guys can be pretty nuts and I keep my guard up.

Doug D.

[Redneck Socialist]

4. Nah, there was a dude at the gun range the other day with an Obama sticker on his truck.

The wingnuts are crazy, but they're not that crazy.







Yet.

[Donnachaidh]

5. yes.

I'm in Newt country, and these people are foaming at the mouth NUTS in their hatred of anything left of Ronald Reagan.

[Maru Kitteh]

6. My husband has taken a couple of thinly veiled gun threats from a Rush-sucking co-worker.

The kind that are just shy of being reportable, but fairly clear none the less. He does worry that this particular co-worker could show up armed and violent at some point.

edit to add: our location is rural, Central Nebraska

[Lisa0825]

7. Texas here..... not my life, but my car.

I actually live and work in a union heavy county, so it is not as bad as the rural areas. I have had my car bumper vandalized due to offending bumper stickers.... specifically, "I'm straight but not narrow." Oh, almost forgot.... that one also got me a screaming, red-faced hissy fit from a lady on the highway with a "Marriage = 'man symbol' + 'woman symbol'" sticker. I blew her a kiss, but somehow, that didn't seem to calm her down.

[w8liftinglady]

10. lol...see my post below-Texas,too

[Cresent City Kid]

25. I'm just outside San Antonio

The city goes Democratic in elections, but I live in a rural county to the south. I saw a bumper sticker today that said:

RIP America July 4, 1776 - Januray 20, 2009

I guess he's saying Bill Clinton didn't kill America.

2 others on the truck's rear window-

Can't feed 'em, don't breed 'em!
and
Some people are alive only because it's not legal to kill them.

That's about as bad as it gets, normal conversations don't usually get political.

[Lisa0825]

41. That's not very pro-life of him!

I actually agree that it's best not to have kids one cannot support, but as the ol' saying goes, "Life is what happens when you are making other plans." But those Pro-fetus folks are supposed to consider every fertilized egg to be a gift from God! He could lose his repug membership card over that!

[treestar]

72. Wonder what his opinion on abortion is

Hmmmm.

[w8liftinglady]

8. sometimes when I drove my "Liberal-mobile"

...my heavily bumperstickered mustang...with things like "Draft Young Republicans"....and I'd pull up next to a couple of rednecks...um...I made sure the doors were locked and the windows were up.

[Lisa0825]

43. I have had a fantasy of.....

sticking "draft young republican" stickers on cars that have "support the troops" magnets along with right wing stickers. :evilgrin:

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. No fear for my life in this red area of N. Raleigh. I fear for my sanity!

[HughMoran]

11. They might

not me.

[Taverner]

12. But what if they show up in numbers?

When I used to live in Oregon, occasionally I would get in a fight with a wingnut. I would win.

But then he'd show up the next day with his brother, cousins, etc.

[HughMoran]

15. Gun

:shrug:

[Taverner]

34. What if they bring guns?

[HughMoran]

69. Live Free or Die

It's my state's motto.

[laconicsax]

16. Do you mean brother and cousins or a brother who was also his cousin?

:shrug:

[Old Codger]

23. I am not

I live in Oregon now, actually in the middle of a pretty red valley, I also have a concealed carry license .. but no problems here at all, they mind their own business and I mind mine...

[TwilightGardener]

49. oops, wrong spot.

[Syrinx]

13. no

[MadHound]

14. Fear for my life, no. Fear for my country, by all means

What was the last major industrialized country to be taken over by a radical right wing minority?

Oh, yeah, Germany.

I see that happening here in the relatively near future.

[tammywammy]

17. No n/t

[customerserviceguy]

18. The rural areas I lived in out in Western Washington

were "live and let live" places.

You're really not helping unify us as Americans if you keep fanning the flames of the idea that everybody who doesn't live within an hour of a Starbucks is somehow a character from "Deliverance". I sure do see a lot of bashing of country folks here, aside from a few snake handlers, they really don't deserve it.

[BolivarianHero]

19. Furthermore...

Rural liberals will often be among the most laid-back, live-and-let-live people you can ever meet.

[customerserviceguy]

30. So are most all conservatives out there in the sticks

They're not big money people, trying to grab every buck they can, like urban conservatives. They often have people of all political persuasions as friends, and try to keep politics out of everyday interactions, for the most part.

That's my experience, anyway.

[Jennicut]

21. I don't like bashing of the South and I live in very blue CT

But some people are just nuts and will threaten you regardless of where you live. I have come across a few nutters even in old liberal CT.

[tabbycat31]

42. I dealt with quite a few of them in liberal NJ

and I am very sure that most of them were not from in state, but I'm not sure how far they traveled. I do know that PA has its fair share of nutjobs. And I venture into rural PA for a party on Saturday.

[Jennicut]

44. They are everywhere! My parents are conservatives but not so looney

they would threaten people. But some...border on crazy. Sometimes they are worse in more liberal areas as they feel more threatened from being around us.

[customerserviceguy]

57. I certainly know I hear more racist remarks

from white people here in the NY/NJ area than I heard from white folks out on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.

[Taverner]

76. I would consider many parts of NY, NJ and even Queens to be a "red area"

Just by voting patterns

[brendan120678]

63. Yeah...some areas of CT are unusually conservative.

Heavily Democratic, but still conservative. Like here in Waterbury, for example. Lots of Democrats, very few liberals.
Our mayor is being endorsed by both the Republicans and Democrats for this year's municipal elections. He's a registered Democrat, and facing a primary on the Democratic side, but not the Republican side.

[Taverner]

29. That's not what I meant and you know it

Don't be so thin skinned

You have to understand its not just a baseless stereotype...

[customerserviceguy]

35. It is baseless, for the most part

You need to spend a week or two outside of the city bus lines sometime. You might even understand why some of them are so easily manipulated by the Rethugs, and it's not just because they're inbred mouth breating knuckle draggers.

Just because someone owns a gun does not mean he or she is some sort of killer, looking to solve all their problems with shooting at things.

[Taverner]

37. No - it's not baseless

Whens the last time you heard of a Liberal Militia?

[cliffordu]

55. ROFL.....Fuck with me and I'll stab you with my runcible spoon!!!!!

[customerserviceguy]

56. About the last time I actually SAW a member of a right wing militia

which is to say, never.

You have this image that as soon as you get out of range of an organic grocery store, there are Montana Freemen waiting behind trees with automatic weapons to take dead aim at your Obama sticker. That's what's laughable.

Oh, they exist, and they're really fun for journalists to dig up, but they have to look under a LOT of rocks to find them.

My advice, again, spend a week or so out in the sticks. You might learn to appreciate country people. If I took every one of your talking points, and substituted "urban street rap types", you might see how silly it looks to make broad generalizations about people you really don't know anything about.

[Taverner]

68. Yeah, that's the ticket. The militias don't exist. Timothy McVeigh was a lone nut.

:eyes:

[customerserviceguy]

95. They exist

and so did the Black Panthers. That fact doesn't make all African-Americans into violent extremists, and the few militia members running around impressing each other with their gun collections don't make rural folks into violent extremists, either.

[Taverner]

97. The Black Panthers DID exist

They do not exist, at least in the form they were in the 60's and 70's today

And, the BP party was a reaction to every single black leader being killed, and many more having warrants for their arrest. If I were black in the 60's, I'd think White America was trying to suppress and kill me too.

[customerserviceguy]

101. Again, the threat of RW militias is overblown

You want an example of terrorism that did not involve right wingers? How about John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo? They effectively terrorized an entire region of the country.

I can't think of anything the RW's have done that was of such an ongoing nature, and so pervasive. McVeigh was a one-shot deal, and even Eric Rudolph didn't kill anywhere near as many people.

Bad people exist at the fringes of every part of society. The enhanced security measures taken since 9/11, while overhanded and ham-handed, have stifled the abilities of the violent to do much more than a lone murder here and there.

[Taverner]

107. John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were not Left Wingers

That's like me saying Ted Bundy was a Republican, and he terrorized all the women in this country as a result

You know you're just being stupid now...

[customerserviceguy]

110. They weren't Montana Freemen, either

they were just unhinged violent loners, who took their big talk and turned it into dangerous action. They left a roadmap of how a dozen teams of terrorist pairs could shut down America, if only ransom money wasn't a motive.

[Taverner]

114. unhinged violent loners being the keyword

When I speak of militias, I am not talking about those two

I am talking about folks who get together for the purpose of intimidating or bringing down the government.

I am talking Christian Dominionists, Racist groups and Militia folks who I fear are just in it for the adventure.

There are plenty. Not all militias call themselves "militias."

But Timothy McVeigh was a member of one. And he worked with other members to bring down the Murrah building.

[treestar]

73. Are you using the Freeper Debate Manual?

Taking everything to the extreme and seeing no grey areas, accusing the other side of being much farther to the extreme than they are?

[customerserviceguy]

91. All I'm saying

is that people in rural areas aren't out to kill you, you're certainly safer there than you would be in most of America's big cities, especially at night.

The President has called on all Americans to unite, he's not a phony, "I'm a uniter, not a divider," that Bush was. He knows that to accomplish his goals, he needs the support of a broad swath of Americans, not just people from the cities and their suburbs. Yes, that includes people from the rural areas, as well.

This whole "rednecks are out to gun us all down" talk is not helping him in his goal of reducing the political polarization of America.

[Taverner]

96. "you're certainly safer there than you would be in most of America's big cities especially at night"

HA

HA HA

I lived in South Oakland for 1 year

Never had to worry about my life.

My property, yes, but not my life

Lived in Rural Oregon, a "blue state" and I did have to worry for my life on many occasion

You are probably white

If you are or look white, you have nothing to worry about

You have olive skin (like me) and an Obama sticker and you are just ASKING to be raped and killed out there

No, its not safer in rural America

Its more dangerous

It looks like some of the folks here had no problems, and I'm guessing they're White and Straight.

Lets just say you are gay

or black

or Asian

or Hispanic

What are your survival chances now?

[customerserviceguy]

105. Not sure what part of Oregon you're talking about

but I've been to several parts of that state, and like I say, there's a live and let live ethos in the Northwest.

I did run into people of color who I worked with in Tacoma who thought that going to my town on the Olympic Peninsula would be undesirable for them. They just didn't believe me that we had black, brown, red, yellow and gay people there, too.

I just considered them paranoid, and after what you've written, I see you seem to have that problem, too. I'm just glad that President Obama didn't feel that way when he was campaigning in the backwoods on his way to the Presidency.

By the way, in the Democratic Caucuses of last year, Obama won in ALL 39 counties in that state, not just in Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, and Spokane. You'd think that Hillary would have done better with "rednecks".

[Taverner]

118. Well I have personal experiences in Lebanon

But my wife grew up in Eugene. And while Eugene was awesome and a oasis of thinking that beats my entire state, when they traveled they always had to factor in the racism.

And they are not white, for the record.

[treestar]

111. Good point. Maybe some African Americans will answer

While it is great to have a black President, if you live in an area like that, does it feel more dangerous because of the white right wing hysteria being greater than usual.

[customerserviceguy]

113. You're seeing a magnification of this

because of the old journalistic saw, "If it bleeds, it leads." A small handful of big mouths at the town hall meetings is not representative of the level of intensity of feeling of the vast majority of the people in those areas.

Yes, there is fear. That's mainly because the whackos have figured out how to coalesce around a "No!" message better than we've been able to rally around a plan that is still largely unformed.

[treestar]

121. Well that's true

Sometimes I don't worry about the media circus, imagining that most people watching it are watching for the freak show aspect and aren't being persuaded by it.

[customerserviceguy]

123. What is far more dangerous to healthcare reform

is what you haven't seen on TV: the stacks of faxes, emails, and snail mails that have been piling up in Congresscritters' offices over the subject. And that's what's going to kill this thing off, not a few nutcases with a microphone at a town hall.

Congress will listen politely, and clap loudly, but when the lobbyists and the constituents are pretty much in agreement, they won't vote for any meaningful change.

[LanternWaste]

87. ELF?

ELF?

[Taverner]

88. I don't think ELF counts as a militia

There's debate whether they are terrorists (I happen to think they aren't, but I have heard many well crafted arguments saying they are.)

But being unarmed, I don't think they can be called a militia

[customerserviceguy]

93. Unarmed?

No, they just put spikes in trees that are legally being cut. This causes a chainsaw chain to snap and propel itself back towards the operator. If you want to know what raises the hackles of the folks in timber country in the Northwest, it's the Earth Firsters and ELF.

What they do is as criminal and as terrorist as anything the Montana Freemen have done.

[Taverner]

94. Criminal, and Terrorist is debateable - but armed?

What "arms" are they carrying?

Spikes?

By that logic, is my tire iron also being "armed"

Sorry dude, no cigar

[customerserviceguy]

99. If you use your tire iron as a weapon

to commit an assault, see what they charge you with.

Am I making my point? That there is a tiny fringe out there with severe anger management issues (to put it politely) at the edge of every socioeconomic and ethnic group should not mark the entire group.

Your positions sound as ludicrous as my friends from the Pacific Northwest who thought I'd be shaken down by the Mafia when I moved to this area a couple of years ago!

[Taverner]

104. Not at all - your life has never been theatened by Rednecks before, has it?

And yes, I am using redneck.

You DUers who THINK you are Rednecks aren't

These fuckers were. Big Confederate Flag on the front license plate. These guys even had red necks.

I never had any idea a chain could hurt so much when whipped with it.

I also never knew they hated "Wetbacks" so much that they'd beat anyone who even remotely looked Hispanic within inches of his life

I wish I could say I got at least one punch in

I didn't

I wish I could say they didn't threaten to sodomize me with a rake

I'm glad they didn't

All this for having a Jerry Brown sticker on my motorcycle back in college and driving in Lebanon, OR

So I can only laugh at your rose colored view of rural America

[customerserviceguy]

109. Yeah, mine has been

Had three drunk fuckers coming at high speed out of a small town I lived near about an hour north of Seattle. They ran my car into a ditch, and were threatening to bust open a window on the driver's side. I kept honking the horn until enough people finally stopped, and they beat it out of there.

I bought a handgun the next week. I never had to use it. I do understand your paranoia, but eventually I got rid of the gun. I hope that you can get past what happened to you, and not blame everybody who lives out in the boondocks for that occurance.

[Taverner]

112. Thing is its in their culture

I've met a lot of people who call themselves rednecks, but when it comes down to it they are either (1) Cowboys, (2) They own a truck, (3) They Live in the Southeast, (4) Their parents were rednecks, (5) Their hobby is guns, (6) They like Country and Western music or Southern Rock, or (7) They are Republicans.

None of these, and even if someone has all of these traits - it does not make them a Redneck.

Redneck is a very specific persona, which goes back all the way to The Confederate States of America and the Ku Klux Klan. The term "redneck" was originally an epithet for Scotsmen in England. When the Scotch-Irish immigrated to the US, and specifically the South - there were huge networks built up, based on "kin." Sure other immigrants came to the South, but the social structure came from Scotland, or more specifically, the wayward Scotch-Irish.

If you will notice the Confederate Naval Flag (the "Southern Cross") itself is based on St. Andrews Cross, which is also the flag of Scotland.

Not all Scotch-Americans of Scotch-Irish-Americans are rednecks. Not all rednecks are Scotch or Scotch-Irish.

But its all about a mindset. Discourage education, distrust others, keep as close to "kin" as possible and if someone looks different, kill them.

[customerserviceguy]

117. Well, I guess it's a matter of definition

Had some friends on the Peninsula who had two clothing shops that they called "The Redneck Store". Sold work shirts, jeans (the rugged kind, not the fancy stuff), and at the grand opening of their first store, they played Jeff Foxworth comedy albums on a stereo outside the entrance. Most people in rural areas don't mind the term as they understand it.

By the way, in the same town, we had a candlelight vigil that was in honor of the victims of 9/11 held by a family that owned the gas station across the street from the vigil. The family was of recent immigration to the States, they were all Sihks. Their "redneck" neighbors stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them that day, and never forgot their memorial.

It's not as bad as you think, really.

[Taverner]

120. Like I said, most of the folks who call themselves rednecks aren't

I had a boss who called himself a redneck

He loved Country

Had a truck

Had a horse in a stable

His wife and he were from Texas

He was not a redneck

---

For one, on the economic front, made more than $1m a year

For another, on the education front, he had a MBA in IT Tech. He also wrote a paper in college on the similarities beteween Louis L'Amour and Homer's work. The Sacketts were compared to Odysseus.

This is not a redneck, this is a Cowboy.

By the way, he was a good boss.

[customerserviceguy]

122. And he's typical of the folks you'll find out in the backwoods

Not dangerous, not crazy, maybe has some political ideas that are different from people in the city, but he's not going to shoot anyone over it.

[LanternWaste]

115. I imagine one man's terrorist organization is another man's militia movement...

I imagine one man's terrorist organization is another man's militia movement-- regardless of whether the weapon is a plane or a pen, a firearm or a tree spike, as the results all appear to be the same, differing in degrees if not in intent.

I imagine we all define things as to better validate our own positions.

[Skittles]

20. those ignorant bastards don't scare me one bit

and this female liberal could outshoot any one of those redneck pieces of shit any day, too

[TK421]

83. Forget outshooting them, they would piss their overalls in anticipation of

a Skittles ass kicking! :D

[Lagomorph]

22. I've had some hilarious political arguments...

However, when we get down to it, we are usually both shaking our heads at the current situation.

[havocmom]

24. Of late, yes

If I go missing for long, call the FBI ;)

[madamesilverspurs]

26. Nope. That said,

I'm not dumb enough to pretend that I'm not surrounded by blood-red thinking. Even though the state went blue in November, this little pocket is virulently red. The police chief and DA are both extremists (and the DA recently lost a suit brought by the ACLU against him and the sheriff). Our mayor is an over-grown playground bully who was elected with the help of illegal campaign practices on the part of the Dobsonites; before he was mayor he was working as a school security guard and pulled a gun on a carload of kids as they were leaving the school parking lot, so no surprise when he mauls a kid and throws him to the ground for making noise with a motorbike. Mayor also works part-time as an investigator for the DA, who helped to engineer the mayoral race in order to replace the mayor who had gone to DC to suggest a humane approach to resolving immigration issues.

Couple years back, at one of our local holiday parades, a guy jumped off the GOP float in order to slug one of the Democrats marching a couple units behind; he got a suspended sentence, and showed up recently at the bussed-in antihealthcare rally in the park. Big guy, likes to stand inside your personal space and lean toward you while smirking. I asked him if it made him feel like a real man to intimidate an old lady on oxygen; he left and did his hovering over a petite grandma who kept telling him to back off.

DA's wife got her pic in the paper with Karl Rove, she thinks he's just 'the sweetest thing!' She's a member of the all-republican county commission. Last year she approached one of our stalwarts who was marching in a parade with a group of veterans, loudly proclaiming that he couldn't possibly be a veteran because no self-respecting member of the military could ever be a Democrat (he's a retired attorney, graduate of West Point). Her hubby, the DA, is on tape answering a press question about the greatest dangers facing the county, in which he answers "criminals and liberals".

I've been flipped off, cussed at, yelled at, had fists shaken at me, glared at and called some really special names. But I think they sense that if they lay a finger on me they'll have hell to pay for doing so. Maybe it has something to do with the way I grip that cane when they head in my direction. Do they piss me off? Sometimes. Disgust me? Oh, yeah. Scare me? Only in their dreams.

[Taverner]

33. ROCK ON!!!!

That post, and you, simply rock!

[madamesilverspurs]

77. ...

[seabeyond]

27. amarillo texas. after 2006 election. immediately. i had tons of stickers on car

in a 24 hour period i had three incidences with young aggressive males. twice i had kids in my car. one a car pretended to ram us. one a car drove up on bumper and flipped us off. and last was sittin in a fast food line with three guys in car behind and they were jumping up and down in car yelling and arms flapping around. hateful faces.

pulled stickers off next morning. waited about 6 months and got some more.

i was concerned when i put kerry stickers on in 2004. first time i had ever done something like that, but was totally cool and fun. had interaction, but nothing threatening. 2008 i had lots of obama stickers and again, all was fine.

[rucky]

28. No, but I'm white and clean-cut.

I'll get a surprised or pissed-off look from people reading my bumper stickers - sometimes they give me the bird.

But from what I've seen and heard, I wouldn't want to be a person of color in my area, or "gay acting" by any stretch.

[sierraok]

31. Rural Okie here!

Have never feared for my life exactly, but it is very, VERY lonely here. My entire family belongs to the RW Nuttery Party, and I have only 2 Dem friends here. I wholeheartedly believe in my President, but am not usually very vocal about it. I know it's wrong and often feel very guilty about that, but I have 3 kids in school and the taunts they receive for my Obama shirt and magnetic bumper sticker (which has been stolen twice) is heart wrenching. I can deal with the idiotic responses from these morons, but don't want my kids to go through that, even though they know to stand up for what they believe!! Mom is still working on that.

BTW...our small school did not show the President's speech today and didn't even acknowledge that he was speaking today. My 16 y/o asked about watching it and was told that "nobody wanted to watch it" so they weren't going to show it. She came home saying she wanted to move and I agree with her. (We watched it online when they got home.) It's really awful here sometimes.

Also, please Twitter me because I desperately need Dem friends to help keep me sane here!!

@alwaztypin :)

[ccharles000]

46. welcome to DU

:hi:

[RagAss]

51. Welcome...great post !

[ipfilter]

61. Your not the only Dem in Oklahoma.

But we are few and far in between.

[sierraok]

67. Thanks for the welcome wagon!!

I know I'm not the only Dem around, but sometimes it feels like it! Even though I don't post much here (obviously - 5 posts!), I've been "lurking" daily for over a year to learn and laugh and just basically feel NORMAL after being around the Obama bashers here. It's not all that bad as I work at home and don't have to be around the lunatics that much, but I'm a single mom in a small town and DU, HuffPo, DailyKos, etc., as well as MSNBC are my only friends. I love my family, but they are all Faux-inebriated so that's difficult too. Also, I haven't been able to contribute yet, but hope to soon bc DU has gotten me through some pretty rough times, especially during the election! God what a moment that was!!

I'm sure it's probably not wise to do this online, but I'm truly desperate for Dem friends. If anyone uses Twitter, please add me, especially if you live in Oklahoma.

Have a great day everyone! :yourock:
twitter.com/@alwaztypin

[guitar man]

79. hey fellow Okie

Welcome to DU :hi:

[Taverner]

82. FTR Bartcop is also from OK

can't say he's thrilled about living there though... :)

[Froward69]

32. only when I travel

then I am very weary about what I talk about.

I got in a really bad bar fight in a neighboring state once. I am pretty sure I put him in a hospital. I did not stick around.

[librechik]

36. Dem HQ got our windows broken out a couple weeks back--and that was lefties!

aaarrrghhhh

[girl gone mad]

38. No.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. It was true when the Nazis used fear to manipulate an entire population and it's true today. Any liberals who are afraid of their neighbors need to get the hell over it, fast.

[RagAss]

39. No....these assclowns would never come into my neighborhood anyway !

[Penguin31]

40. My native county (KY) went 80.7% to 19.3% for McCain

Thing is though that I'm not surprised. I've lived there long enough (born there, didn't live elsewhere until I started college a few years back) to know the types living there. Out of a graduating class of 90, I can name off probably a dozen out that 90 that openly aspired to join the KKK - and no, they weren't the outcasts either.

The KKK an aspiration? Understand something about the county's demographics, via Wikipedia. (If you look up the stats, you can figure out the county):
As of the census<2> of 2000, there were 9,634 people...in the county.

The racial makeup of the county was 99.09% White, 0.10% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.04% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 0.08% from other races, and 0.32% from two or more races. 1.22% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

If you do the math, rounding: 10 *people* were African-American, 24 were Native American, 4 were Asian (I know these: The family that runs the local Chinese restaurant.), 11 were Pacific Islander, and it follows similarly from there. 10 African Americans TOTAL in an area whose population is ~9600.

And most own guns. So yeah, fear has entered into things once or twice. If I ever were to drive a Prius w/ Obama sticker into town (I once heard this very type of vehicle referred to as a "Box trap for lib'ruls"), I could see a situation in which I didn't drive back out.

Thank all things good & decent for a)college, and b)the fact that my aunt is a liberal. (ENTIRE rest of the family? Hardcore Republican) Without those two things, I might not have turned out how I did.

[kelly1mm]

53. Prius = "Box trap for lib'ruls". That is actually kind of funny! nt

[onestepforward]

45. I live in the extreme far edge of Houston

and it is solid 90% repub. I don't fear for my life, but I don't feel safe putting political stickers on my car due to fear of vandalism or being run off the road. I've heard several people who put democratic stickers on their cars and they were often harassed while driving, some very aggressively, including attempts of being run off the road.

[EndersDame]

47. I have lived in Wacko tx and not really

When an openly gay dude started working at the restaurant I worked at . I with my Austin ways of thinking about rural places feared for him. Everyone at work accepted and liked him for who he although we were all late teens early twenties. There are crazies out there like my former landlady but but there cool tyoes of people you would not meet in urban areas such as Redneck Feminists !

[era veteran]

48. No they can kiss my ass

I'm a proud Kentuckian some of my fellow citizens are politically challenged. I have very provocative bumper stickers on purpose to get people thinking, the one that says proud to be a veteran ashamed of George Bush pisses them off but my veteran cred keeps them quiet usually. Some have given me the finger etc. but that has been part of the fun. I will always call a NAZI a NAZI. I am getting ready to get a new generation of stickers. I don't care anymore if it bothers them and I WILL NEVER BE SCARED OF THESE PEOPLE!!! Send these criminals to The Netherlands to stand trial.... This I Defend

[TwilightGardener]

50. No. Nebraska doesn't have a lot of wackaloons--or should I say,

VIOLENT wackaloons. Minus 25 in the winter discourages the ne'er-do-wells.

[RoyGBiv]

52. Not because of politics, no ...

I lived most of my life in a so-called "red" area. And yes, I can say that there was no more danger there than where I am now, in a nice little liberal enclave inside of Houston. (All my neighbors are fairly liberal. Obama stickers and signs ruled the entire apartment complex during the election season.)

Most of these people are just blow-hards. Most of even them don't blow around anyone they don't know. And most of the ones I knew personally could easily put aside politics after the argument was over.

I am far more concerned for my personal safety where I am now. And, it has nothing to do with politics.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

54. yes.

Very racist and conservative east texas. The county went 2 to 1 for McCain.

People in this town gawk at you even if you don't have bumperstickers on your car.
They wander across your property and gawk at anything unusual, like a guy cutting a tree down.

I'm getting a surveyor out here and after that a privacy fence to keep 'em off.

[kctim]

58. Nope, never...

until I drive into KC.

[RebelOne]

59. I live in North Georgia in a 100% red county and have had no problems

despite my Obama/Biden, Out of Iraq, Honor Our Troops, Bring Them Home and Democratic Underground bumper stickers.

[n2doc]

60. Only my sanity n/t

[old mark]

62. Back when Clinton was President, my wife drove a tiny Subaru Justy

with a Clinton/Gore bumpersticker. It was parked outside my workplace and I was standing on the sidewalk near it, when a guy came over to me and said something to the effect that he would run that car off the road if he saw that sticker in traffic. I got in his face, told him it was my wife's car and that I would fucking kill him if I ever say him again.

This works both ways, all you GOP motherfuckers.


mark

[ampad]

90. LOL

I know this was not suppose to be funny but damn it was! I could imagine the idiot's face when he realized who he was talking to, LOL. I bet he wet himself. :rofl:

[deaniac21]

124. You are so manly!

[old mark]

128. Just angry, actually - this was man years ago,

and I'm a lot older, but this incident still angers me. It is an example of how much these fucking jerks think they are eneitled to run the country. They are outraged when they lose, and resort to lies and scare tactics to afford them a feeling of control.


I really HATE republicans.

mark

[Are_grits_groceries]

64. You mean beside family?

No.

People may think I'm crazy, but I'm their crazy so they put up with it. It's too hot here now for people to be raising much of a fuss. They'd rather drink iced tea than waste the bags on a hat or something.

When it dips below seventy degrees, everybody is all holed up like a blizzard is on the way. No use taking a chance on getting caught out.

If I go near where there are enclaves of loons and have to stop for some reason, I'll just shift into full 'neck mode. "I borrowed this car here, and I can't read. Don't have any idea what that sticker says."
Discretion is the better part of valor in a case like that.

If I have to fight, then they will be sorry because I will have nothing to lose. Somebody's chances will be slim and none, and slim left town.

[Lerkfish]

65. doesn't have to be a rural area: suburban SW Ohio can be pretty scary

I got a LOT of flack for my Obama sign that was surrounded by McCain signs, and here at least, the white closet racist can be a little bit borderline psycho in their antichoice and antigay activities.

[Arkansas Granny]

66. No. I've never felt like I was in physical danger from anyone because of their politics.

[ohheckyeah]

70. No, I can't say I fear for my life.

I don't advertise my political opinions with bumper stickers on my car but I do work at the local Democratic headquarters and I have worked the polls but I've never been threatened.

[asdjrocky]

71. In my neighborhood it's not uncommon for people to fear for their lives.

But never me, and it has nothing to do with politics.

[Enthusiast]

74. One danger is

losing you job if you work with a mostly GOP workforce. If you express yourself you can be castigated, even though the opposition does it constantly.

[Javaman]

75. AHHHH!!!! SOYLENT GREEN IS FEAR!!!

huh, that sort of explains alot.

How about that.

[gauguin57]

78. I fear my car getting keyed and my bumper stickers pulled off.

I fear having bullies get in my face when they see my bumper stickers. I can't say for sure that my car-keying occurred because I'm a Dem (which my bumper stickers indicate) ... but I have had stickers ripped off my car, and I've had people get in my face over politics when I get out of my car.

Fear for my life? Not really. Though sometimes I wonder whether my Obama bumper sticker will be enough to encourage some road-raged Republican to bash into the back of my car in traffic someday. Which could cause my death. I live in a semi-rural, semi-suburban RED area.

[LuvNewcastle]

80. Mississippi isn't as bad as you might think.

My town is actually pretty cool. Most of the people are apolitical and don't have a firm grasp of difference between the two parties. Republicans do outnumber Democrats, but most of the Republicans are old-style conservatives, not the Glen Beck variety. As long as you stay out of redneck bars, you're okay down here. But if you go into one of those places, you're asking for shit.

[guitar man]

81. No

but that's because I shoot better than they do :evilgrin:

[Xithras]

84. No. The overwheming majority of conservatives are sane, normal people...

...who just happen to hold a radically different political viewpoint than we do. It's my experience, living a lifetime in a fairly conservative area, that the drooling Beck worshipers are a distinct but loud minority, even among conservatives. I've had some fairly heated political converstations with friends and neighbors who are conservative, but none have ever given me any reason to fear them (one did once call the office at my wifes school to "warn" the principal that she'd "discovered" my wifes bisexuality and that she might be a threat to the morals of the children).

In 35 years of living here, I've felt threatened twice. The first time was when I went into PP with my girlfriend when I was 19 because she thought she had an STD (she didn't), and the protesters freaked out because they thought she was getting an abortion. When one guy got in my face about it, I looked at him and for some reason TOLD him why I was there. He said he didn't believe me, so I offered to fuck him in the ass to prove it. It would be an understatement to say that he didn't react well to my offer. The guy was twice my size, and the only thing that kept him from killing me was another protester who got between us.

The other time was in 2004 when I had a six foot long Dennis Kucinich standup attached to my front fence. Some idiot stopped his pickup and started waving his rifle around, screaming that I should be "shot" for supporting a "communist gun grabber" blah blah blah. He shut up and went away when I walked out my front door and showed him the business end of my Garand. I never said a word to him, but he got the point. FWIW, my reich wing fundie neighbor got the guys license plate number and turned it over to the police too...we may disagree on just about everything, but he was infuriated that anyone would pull something like that.

[trayfoot]

85. I live in a very rural, highly ReTHUGlican area.

Things have happened to me and my friends during and after the election. The Wednesday after the election, I was accosted by a man in a vehicle. He threatened to rear end me and tried to run me off the road. I had never encountered anything like this. I was trying to think why and it came to me: I had Obama stickers on my car. Many of these neanderthals never thought that Obama could ever be elected! They became enraged when they found out that it, indeed, had happened. They started "acting out" their anger - something we've seen in August with the Townhall Meetings. Yes, these people are capable of violence and will commit it in due time.

[LanternWaste]

86. No. The reds seem to be just as friendly as the blues.

No. The reds seem to be just as friendly as the blues in North Central TX.

But that could be my fault-- I'm friendly to people regardless of politics, religion, or income. And that friendliness seems to catch on pretty quickly with folks around here.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

89. Not unless I'm bungee jumping, but then that's part of the thrill

Seriously, you're a victim of the media. The nutters you see on TV are a vast, VAST minority. Even among the RW extreme. Most are not organized, and most of them are a bunch of scared little lambs when they're not running in a pack. At least that's how it is around here. All 5'3" and 107lbs of my bad self makes them scamper away with their tails tucked.

No, I'm not scared. I'm informed and at times a bit too verbose. If anything they fear me.

[TransitJohn]

92. Only when I visit those overpopulated liberal bastions known as cities.

That's where it gets dangerous. I could pull up per capita violent crime statistics which would illustrate it very nicely for you. Nice stereotyping though.

[Taverner]

98. I assume you are white and male

Otherwise you wouldn't have this unrealistic fear of "city folk"

Trust me, the African Americans in the city aren't looking at your car to steal it.

[TransitJohn]

103. Huh?

Where the hell did race or gender come into this??? I made a tongue in cheek statement that I didn't feel as safe in cities as where I live, and then said statistically where I live is safer. :wtf: did you read?

[Taverner]

106. Sorry man, missed that part

I've just been dealing with so many "WE RURALITES ARE JUST AS SAFE AS YOU!!!" posts

I'm surprised they aren't threatening to kick my ass over such an accusation

[TransitJohn]

108. will this help

belatedly? :sarcasm:
Hope so :evilgrin:

[Witchy_Dem]

100. I'm a drop of blue in a sea of red

Wasilla, AK thank you very much.

Not fearing for my life but dh and I mostly keep our shit on the down low unless we're among company that already knows we're liberal.

I get baited enough by friends that I don't wish to include nutbag strangers.

What's ironic is religiopolitical assumption, by that I mean wingers up here assume since we live in AK, and as a double whammy, in Wasilla no less, that we're fellow wingers and christians. It's funny when they get told that we're neither and then the 'in your face' inquisition begins.

Thanks to Palin, oddly enough, many up here are turning against politics and politicians of all kinds so it's not as creepy as it was, let's say, last fall during the campaigns. OMG Sarah could do no wrong.

[scrinmaster]

102. Nope.

I don't really want to stick either my Darwin fish decal or NRA sticker on the back of my car, though.

[xultar]

116. Black woman near Forsyth County GA. HELL YES.

[tjwash]

119. Jeebus H Christmas...what a ridiculous question

This is the fucking U.S. not Palestine. Turn off the TV, take a walk, and stop believing everything you hear from random idiots on internet message boards.

[Taverner]

129. Again, you must not be a member of any minority...

[Feron]

125. No. I'm not afraid of them.

Bullies are cowards that fold when confronted. However I've worn my Obama shirt around town and haven't been bothered.

[cayanne]

126. North Idaho here

No, I'm not afraid at all in fact, I stand up to them all the time.

[Texasgal]

127. Umm... no.

Lived in Dallas too.. through college went to a conservative school and never felt fear EVER.

[blogslut]

130. As a single woman with no car

I hesitate to wear my Obama/Biden t-shirt when I walk to the store. If I had a car I wouldn't adorn it with an Obama sticker for fear of having it vandalized.

There are some very messed up rednecks in my West Texas county.