paraphrastic redux - sfa - July 2004

Frank's Kansas

Part One - Mysteries of the Great Plains

Chapter One - The Two Nations
---------
[paragraph# (page# first word)] 


26 (p13 in)

 It is typical for a backlasher to entertain the idea that there is
 an ongoing intense conflict in America between a population of
 millions of normal persons and a powerful, dominating intellectual
 class of liberals who despise their tastes and beliefs.
 In 1992 the RNC chairman said on national TV "We are America" and
 "those other people are not." Newt Gingrich once described Democrats
 as "the enemy of normal Americans."

27 (p13 the)

 There is no rational basis for believing that this idea, which progresses 
 through various popular forms, is realized.
 The current elaboration of the idea is the irrational symbolic division
 into the red and blue Americas, derived from the common practice of
 television networks to indicate areas that elected GW Bush with red
 and those that elected Gore with blue.
 Although this distinction is apparently unremarkable, a large number of
 backlashers and "pundits" found it important.

28 (p14 still)

 Many commentators said the distinction indicated a crisis of identity and 
 values. Some may have considered the red and blue classes as complete
 sociological profiles.

29 (p14 and) 
 
 Conservatives interpreted the large uninterrupted red areas in the South
 and the Great Plains as evidence for a working-class movement that
 would vote Republican and reverse changes caused by earlier working-class
 movements.

30 (p14 I)

 The Midwest has changed. There was once vital activity there promoting
 Socialism, farm and labor parties and unions. [Frank describes some
 political features of the Midwest including the 1930s]

31 (p15 almost)

 The change in the Midwest is one of the great reversals of American history.

32 (p15 so)

 Comparison of electoral maps of 2000 and 1896 shows a remarkable inversion.

33 (p16 from)

 "The pundits" made the following two inferences from the electoral map
 of 2000. 

 First, it is presumed that the "heartland" inhabitants have certain virtues, 
 namely, "plainness, humility, guilelessness and righteousness", and it is
 inferred that typically persons with those virtues preferred GW Bush.

 Second, that liberals were sophisticated, wealthy and materialistic.

 Incidentally, four-to-one is the ratio of land area designated red
 to that designated blue. 
 [This peculiar observation is given more significance in Frank's endnote, 
  where he indicates it is an irrelevancy (to what though?) offered as 
  evidence. In a NR article, the difference in area of supporters was offered 
  as a bit of evidence or elucidation for the claim that Bush's support was 
  more diverse than Gore's. This could be part an interesting and surprising 
  argument if it were supported by an exploration of this supposed diversity 
  and how geographic distribution implies it.]	

34 (p16 the)

 It is intended by some that some presentations of the red/blue facts provide
 ["majoritarian"??] legitimacy to a president that received fewer votes than
 one of his opponents, as well as to claim support of a demographic "traditionally"
 considered virtuous.

35 (p16 the)

 Some conservatives suggest that one may normally infer that a person is liberal and
 is arrogant from where they live, what they eat, and what they drive, independently of 
 their economic interests. The red/blue divide has sometimes assisted rhetorically in 
 making some people accept this suggestion.

36 (p17 the)

 Many persons that work in the media believed or assumed that the red/blue state distinction
 was a scientific validation of certain stereotypes of liberals according to their tastes.
 A large number and variety of articles presuppose and exploit this distinction.

37 (p18 red)

 It is typical of these articles to imply that the red states comprise a population in which
 authentic American values are the norm, and that there is a class that dominates society
 which does not understand the thoughts and values typical of the red states.

38 (p18 and)

 Of those conservative pundits who supported GW Bush and publicly admired virtues they 
 said were typical of red states, many live in blue states. They pretend that their
 situation puts them in a position to know that people living in blue states typically
 have various bad attributes of mind and character, including extreme ignorance of how
 "authentic" Americans live. David Brooks is an example of individuals who do such things.

39 (p19 one)

 David Brooks' writings contain many simple factual errors pertinent to his subject matter.
 [several illustrative examples are given]

40 (p19 it's)

 This propaganda does include some facts including:
 There is a "culture industry" and there are many aspects of American life that have no
 impact upon this industry's products. 
 There are large "reaches" of America that have changed from 
 being [voting?] mostly liberal to mostly conservative.
 A few in the upper middle class voted for Gore, view themselves as "socially enlightened",
 are ignorant about rural life, and like lattes.

41 (p19 but)

 The commentators using the red/blue state framework did not pursue a systematic
 or even good-faith examination of political change, but instead increased the
 acceptance of negative stereotypes about Democrats and positive ones about Republicans.

42 (p20 what)

 [nothing significant]

43 (p20 a)

 Many journalists exaggerate the humility of people in red states,
 humility in the form of modesty, "smallness of self", self-professed 
 normalness, and untroubled relationships with WalMart and McDonalds.
 [quotes David Brooks]

44 (p20 John)

 [quotes John Podhoretz]

45 (p21 when)

 "The red-staters" list their own supposed virtues emphasizing humility.
 [quotes Blake Hurst]

46 (p21 on)

 Some of these commentators say that blue staters tend to be less humble,
 and like to show off intellectually. David Brooks once wrote that
 the Democratic Party declined due to "its" snobbery.

47 (p22 which)
 
 A Canadian columnist once inferred from the electoral map that liberals 
 were mind-twisting communists and voted for Gore because it would promote
 collectivism.

48 (p22 a)

 It has been repeatedly stated publicly that red-staters have a 
 better relationship with God than do blue-staters.

49 (p22 but)

 Some commentators have said or implied that red-staters are typically
 "courteous, kind and cheerful". 
 David Brooks has claimed that it is typical of red-staters to play down
 controversy and respect others' views.

50 (p23 a)

 It is said by some that loyalty is characteristic of red-staters, and that 
 most of the army's soldiers are from red states.
 It may also have been said or implied that most arrogant blue-staters blamed
 the 9/11 attack on America while, in contrast, some inhabitants of red states 
 joined the army.

51 (p23 but)

 The most important distinctions of character made by commentators of the
 sort that been discussed above are that red states are that most inhabitants
 of red states are regular workers and most inhabitants of blue states are
 pretentious individuals who do paper work for a living.
 Conceptions of social class dichotomies have been used before by leftists in 
 political rhetorical strategies marshaling resentment and disillusionment.
 One person claimed that he and some neighbors voted for Bush as a reaction
 against "Wall Street".
 

52 (p24 this)
 
 There is a form of tangled reasoning [to be discussed later] that caused some
 individuals to infer that voting for Bush would work against the interests
 that big businesses have in common.
 There is a context that enabled such reasoning. Part of this context was
 a widespread expectation among media commentators, for about ten years prior to
 GW Bush's election, that the economic importance of physical work would be dwarfed 
 by a kind of entrepreneur called a "knowledge worker".  Many of those who 
 entertained this prospect thought that a person would fail to understand and 
 expect this economic change only if that person were a blue-collar worker.
 
53 (p24 the)

 A red/blue state literature developed which in part denied the extreme insignificance
 of physical work relative to management, but it continued to advocate "the free-market 
 policies" of the 90s. 

54 (p24 consider)
 
 [description and quotation from a confessional essay in the American Handgunner
  exemplifying red/blue state literature]

55 (p25 Blake)

 Blake Hurst is a contributor to red/blue literature who has made "fishy" claims,
 as well as obvious non-sequiturs, and who has misconstrued or misrepresented
 himself as blue-collar.  He has also employed individuals at low wages.
 
56 (p26 perhaps)

 [quotes Hurst about class-consciousness and happiness]

57 (p26 David)
 
 David Brooks says the standard conception of class as hierarchic is wrong, and 
 claims instead that classes are free-associations of self-selecting agents, and
 that rich persons in blue states, under the influence of delusions, merely affect 
 to be concerned about workers' problems.

58 (p26 as)
 
 Brooks's conception is obviously incorrect, but is of great significance to 
 understanding how Brooks and other persons participating in the backlash think.
 
59 (p27 what)

 Part of that thinking is that Americans are not "divided" by economics, but are
 "divided" by whether they are "authentic" in terms of taste and humility.
 Part of that thinking is that liberals are arrogant and pretentious, and
 that most people who live in red states are neither arrogant nor pretentious.
 [Hence they must think the arrogant unpretentious don't matter.]
 
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