Ignorance and regional America...

It really is a matter of taste. Last summer, my wife and I drove through Washington State's Palouse Hills, an area of low, rolling hills covered with golden wheat. The wind blew repeating patterns in the wheat while the sun cast moving alternate bright light and dark shadow over the scene.

I thought it was exquisitely beautiful. My wife (b. Denver) hated it. "Doesn't it ever END?" she groaned.

It did end, of course, in Spokane. At least we agreed there; Spokane is a pleasent, attractive city with horrible, horrible winters.

 

Originally posted by nosborne48

Thanks for the correction!

Kansas is a great state! I moved here 18 years ago from the Dallas area and have loved every minute. I live in a small town just north of Wichita.

Slower pace, quiet evenings, low crime, conservative politics (translated republican), strong family values (translated anti-abortion, pro-man/woman marriage), and God-fearing for the most part (translated evangelical fundamentalists). Everything a good conservative, Christian boy could dream of.

I am proud of our more conservative views and a general skepticism of "progressiveness" and "modernism". It is not a lack of enlightenment or intelligence, just a different set of priorities and values. Doesn't make us always right, and seems to be a nice balance to the what we view as extremism from the coasts.

A big difference, I would never dream of assuming a lack of intelligence or education is the primary driver for differing political or religious philosophies. Some of the smartest people I know disagree with me.

As for the ID vs. Evolution debate; that is nothing new. It has been going on for five years. My children went to Christian schools and were taught neither ID nor evolution. They were taught creationsim exclusively. They all went to college without issue. I don't really care one way or the other, but I still do not understand the vehement opposition to teaching ID or the constant "name-calling" because of our desire to teach it.

Just my thoughts.

All that aside, I know we have our wackos just like everyone else (translated Randal Terry, Fred Phelps). Thank God those folks don't represent the majority of Kansans.

 

Hey,

I'm (a) highly religious, (b) intolerant of other perspectives, (c) Republican ... well just those 3, but I hide it well.


I am looking at New Mexico and Texas (the Del Rio area) for my next move. I'm in Florida and just getting tired of all the traffic and all the people. I'd like a little peace and quiet....so if you know of a library looking for a good librarian let me know.

 

KansasBapist's post proves that there is a place for everyone. This is my I believe so much in states rights when it comes to education and the way of life (as long as they subscribe the the overall constitution). I wouldn't last a day where Kansas lives - but it is good to know that a place exists where he can have his values, even if they are not mine.

I also agree that where you live has no bearing on the person you are. Generalizations are usually wrong. I always hear the generalization that Californians are not as hospitable as Southerners - hogwash! It usually depends on how you present yourself no matter where you live.

 

Re: Weak, so weak....

I'm just glad to see someone else besides myself taking crap on this board for a change.....

 

HEY, WAIT JUST A DAMN MINUTE, Mr. Engineer!

Your cut-and-paste attributes to ME something I never said and WOULD never say!

 

Nosborne a Republican evangelical fundamentalist???

 

...millists.

 

Carl,
If WV is such a dung heap, why do you live there?

BLD

 

They (perhaps foolishly) pay me money.... lots and lots of money.

Next question?

 

When Nosborne recants, he doesn't believe in half measures.

 

Sounds like a good enough answer for me!

 

I don't think I would want to box Jimmy -- he is probaby one of those tough cookies..

 

Jimmy scares me. I think he personally wants to kick my a**.....

 

There's plenty of us out here that aren't beef-worshipping republican anti-intellectual nuts intent on pushing our religious beliefs on others.

I think if you couldn't last a day in Kansas then there probably wasn't much of you to start with.

 

Posted by dcv

This is what I don't get about the left, someone help me understand. Is everyone who disagrees with you, is a fundamental Christian, or believes God created the world "anti-intellectual" and a "nut"

Is not possible that my positions derive from knowledge and intellect?

 

Eastern Washington DOES attract some less-than-cuddly folks such as neo nazi skinheads and less-than-ethical politicians (such as Spokane Mayor Jim West).

But, you know, I was raised around ranchers and farmers, Methodists and the Grange, the kind of people that form the bulk of the Eastern Washington population, thinly spread though it may be.

I respect these people deeply. I know them well, grew up eating at their tables and helping with their chores. Their children, my childhood friends, knew what work and responsibility were before they reached the age of 7.
They were tending livestock while I was watching cartoons.

I am not a rancher or farmer because I know just how hard they work and how small the rewards can be.

Are they conservative? You betcha. You work or you don't eat. You need work? There's work but the hours are long and you start early. You don't like it? Then move on down the road. They ask you to do nothing they aren't willing to do themselves. Are they religious? Sure, in part, I think, because unlike office bound bureauocrats like me, their livlihoods depend on the forces of Nature.

Maybe they aren't "sophisticated". Maybe they don't have time for "culture" (though you might be surprised) or cappachino but they have a much clearer understanding than us city folks about life and death, work, family, and God.

They ARE clannish and a stranger has to prove himself to be accepted. They depend on their neighbors out there. They need to see that they can depend on YOUR help when they need it even if it means real sacrifice to give it. Believe me, they will give back, with interest.

And they are under seige by giant, heavily subsidized agribusinesses. Make no mistake, these people don't get rich "farming the government"; Standard Oil does with its tens of thousands of acres.

Anyway, if these are "rednecks" then I respect rednecks more than I do many of my own sort.

 

Horribly misguided though they may be......

Now I'm going to be serious for a minute.... I don't think you and the other conservatives here are "anti-intellectual" nor do I think you are all "nuts". I also think that you probably do derive your positions from knowledge and a certain intellect.

However, it is interesting how we can come to such different conclusions on a variety of topics. In my personal opinion, a lot of that comes down to an open-minded point of view vs. a closed-minded point of view. By that I don't meant to imply that all the conservatives are "closed minded people", just that their world-view is rigorous, "as it is written", and follows a fairly strict religious framework that has absolutely no scientific basis or factual underpinnings. None.

Whereas a more open-minded view (such as I believe that I and my fellow liberals hold) causes us to call into question various forms of authority, and to challenge those that are not able to demonstrate their truth through things I can touch, see, smell, and taste. Or the testimoney of others who are reliable witneses have touched, seen, smelled, and tasted.

Just to make matters clear, I do not regard Biblical/mythological characters who have no historical record as "reliable witnesses" whereas I regard Julius Caesar (who did live, and who left behind a reliable testament of his accomplishments) as a "reliable witness" (even though the Apostle Paul, Jesus, and Peter apparently lived at approximately the same time in history).

It is because you let this unfounded faith in something that can't be proven guide your life decisions and your world view that makes you closed minded, and therefore wrong. Terribly wrong.

 

It may facilitate your understanding to realize that I did not say everyone who disagrees with me or believes God created the world is an anti-intellectual nut. Fundamentalist christians, on the other hand, are pretty much all anti-intellectual nuts.

Your fundamentalist christian positions? Derived from knowledge and intellect? No - that's pretty much the realm of faith and socially transmitted diseases.

 

Yabbut dcv,

The fundamental experiences of BEING and BEING ONESELF cannot be so easily ignored.

I see no rational, scientific, modernist way to deal with these mysteries; therefore, is it really anti-intellectual to admit this and resort to a religious or spiritual approach?

And if you do decide that there must be a God, is it anti-intellectual to look for signs of revelation in human history and experience?

I don't know. It's very easy to lose track of what religion is FOR and start using it to justify other ends. But I cannot see how a thinking human being can AVOID some sort of religious expression.

As for comparing such efforts with a disease, that's just a gratuitous and inaccurate potshot.