@alice_radley What chaps me is that they are not particularly hopeful; mostly, they want to see punishment or some kind of leveling inflicted on people in other places. It's a strange phenomenon of wanting to get even with people merely because they are now aware of them. /1
@alice_radley Put it this way: There's a great story about Jesse Helms, who, when told that by a staffer that the NYT slagged him and wanted to write a rebuttal, said: "Son, I don't read the NYT. And no one I *know* reads the NYT."
Now, people have grudges about papers they don't read. /2
Now, people have grudges about papers they don't read. /2
@alice_radley People used to take pride in saying "I feel sorry for people who live in New York. I like it in here Petticoat Junction." Now, it's like people feel like angry losers if they see other people - like their kids - living in the Emerald Cities. /3
@alice_radley As a friend of mine pointed out, it's a weird time when you get people in Ohio saying "Oh YEAH? Well we have good sushi HERE, too!" Like, as if that's something to care about instead of saying "I pity NYers who can't get good BBQ." It's a competition that can't be won. /4
@alice_radley Somehow, we nationalized urban culture so that people everywhere else feel like they should be a part of it, and now they're mad about that, and the answer is this half-assed culture war that makes no sense on almost any level except generalized white anxiety. /5x
