The title of this post is the crystallized distillation of the Republican message: people who are different suck. And, whether we like to admit it or not, this has actually been the primary dynamic of American politics for several decades. For example, check out McCain's latest press release, which emphasizes how much Barack Obama sucks because he likes different stuff:
Only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day, demand "MET-RX chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew -- Black Forest Berry Honest Tea" and worry about the price of arugula
People who are different suck. Because Obama likes different stuff, you shouldn't like him. Even though I am a straight white dude from the suburbs who grew up Catholic in the predominantly Catholic northeast, I've been dealing with this shit since about the fifth grade. Even if you are demographically identical to the local plurality or majority, if you don't like the same stuff as everyone else, then you still suck. And while it is certainly not to the same level as what people face for demographic differences, it still goes for your interests in music, food, clothes, television and pretty much any cultural or consumer object you can name. Being different means you are bad, and should be scorned.
This attitude of scorning those who are different has been the primary dividing line in American politics for a long time. It is the basic conservative mantra, and it can be seen quite clearly in voting patterns (more in the extended entry): |
Here are just three examples:
- A majority of whites for Republicans, even in landslide elections for Democrats. By contrast, non-whites for Democrats by a 3-1 margin.
- A majority of Christians vote for Republicans, even in landslide elections for Democrats. By contrast, non-Christians vote for Democrats by 3-1 margins.
- The LGBT community votes for Democrats by about 3-1 margins, while the straight population is roughly split.
Even though exit polls never do crosstabs for nerds, geeks, and weirdos, I'd wager that they vote for Democrats by about 3-1 margins, too. It is pretty much across the board: the majority identity, no matter what it is, votes for Republicans, while the minority identity, whatever it is, votes overwhelmingly for Democrats.
This pattern isn't surprising in the least. Given that the conservative message is constantly "different people suck," it was pretty much inevitable that all of the different people, even if they are all different from each other, would eventually band together and turn against that message. Functionally, it turns our political discourse into a never-ending replay of what most people experienced since they first entered adolescence: the freaks versus the norms.
Growing up a nerd is, I have no doubt, one of the two or three major reasons I am a Democrat and a progressive. Beyond that, I also have no doubt that it is also why I ended up living in a big city, why I wanted to be in academic for so long, or even why I inevitably always cheer for the underdog whenever I'm watching sports but one of my favorite teams aren't playing. It all comes down to who you identify with. If you grew up a nerd, or a minority, or as some other form of "different," after dealing with it for an entire lifetime, eventually it decisively pushes you into a particular political camp and a different cultural camp. You just get sick of people telling you how people who are different, aka you, suck. And so you start doing things to get away from those people, and even to get back at them.
While this dividing line doesn't seem to be changing at all, the bright spot of all this is that the nerds and the minorities are actually, when taken as a whole, just now entering majority status nationwide. The rapid rise of geek culture and gay culture, the rapid rise of Latinos and Asians, and the rapid rise of non-Christians are collectively turning the tide in favor of the outcasts. Good. After a lifetime of seeing people seize political power by arguing that people who are different suck, I've had quite enough. It may sounds like a campaign cliché, but it really is about time that these divisive politics stopped working. It is even better that these attacks against minorities and people who are different have actually turned a huge amount of the electorate against Republicans for years, possibly even decades, to come. If you consistently scapegoat and foment backlash against a series of rising minorities, your defeat at the hands of those minorities is your just deserts. |
