Propaganda: Sipping Latte in Kansas

In conservative propaganda in the US, it is common to portray the liberal as the enemy, as a latte sipping, sushi eating intellectual pinhead. Conservative thinkers constantly expand on this theme, adding more details about the mythical liberals to make real Americans hate them even more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_elite

Against this stereotype of the liberal elite, conservative propaganda puts up the image of the typical conservative. The common-sense hard working person who does not take government handouts, and is responsible for his (or her) own success in life.

Often, just to help clarify the image, liberals are said to come from places like San Francisco and New York, while conservatives are typically located in Kansas. Which is about as far away from either sin-hole as you can get.

I've picked up a book called "What's the Matter with Kansas" by Thomas Frank, where Kansas is symbolic of "authentic" America. As opposed to the fake America one finds in San Francisco and New York. According to Frank, Kansas is not really the virtuous humble hard working place conservatives like to think it is. Not to mention some of the crazy ideas people have there. Here is a quote I picked out of the book, which I took the liberty of shortening (a lot) to avoid wearing out my fingers typing it.

"Kansas is where we look into that handsome, confidant, all-American face and realize that we are staring into the eyes of a lunatic".

I want to examine in detail the reality of the stereotypes, but I don't really have the money to ask for a survey of half of north America, so I am just going to work with a survey of two. Me, and you. It actually works a lot better if you happen to be a conservative who hates latte sipping liberals. I am going to be the liberal here and let's see who fits which stereotype better.

To get us started, here is a summary of the stereotypes of the liberal elite

• Latte sipping
• sushi and tofu eating
• vegetarian
• University educated
• Godless moral relativist
• Unable to recognize a field of soybeans
• France loving
• Gun fearing
• Living off welfare or unemployment insurance
• Desk/teaching job (if actually working, it's only pushing paper or talking)
• Afraid of a chainsaw
• Gay marrying
• tax hiking
• government expanding
• Volvo driving (or Suzuki for motorcyclists)
• New York Times reading
• organic market shopping

Here is a stereotype of the common sense Kansas conservatives

• Uneducated, at least no university other than Bible college
• NASCAR fanatic
• Fox news watching
• Cousin marrying
• roadkill eating
• tobacco chewing
• gun fondling
• witchcraft and demon believing
• evolution denying
• Walmart shopping
• American made pickup truck driving (Harley for motorcyclists)

OK this might be painful, but let's see how each of us made out, and you will have to be fair and evaluate your own "Kansas" factor on the honour system. If you cheat, then deduct five points from your score.

For starters, I will admit that I cannot recognize a field of soybeans, but at least I can now recognize a field of corn from a field of tobacco thanks to Mary Ann, who grew up on a tobacco farm and is constantly pointing out the fields to me. Give yourself a point if you can actually recognize a field of soybeans from a moving car.

I worked as a teacher and computer programmer. While neither one produces anything solid, I managed to teach myself myself how to rebuild a vintage motorcycle. I give myself a point for that. Give yourself a point if you can build useful things out of metal or wood like a house or a car or a boat, or if you are a farmer or a fisherman.

I can shoot a gun although I don't own one now, I did when I was young, and I was in a sharpshooting competition once. Because I at least know how to handle a gun safely, I will award myself a point one. Even if you own a gun, you lose a point if you have ever stuck a loaded gun in your sweat pants and gone to a party and it went off, or, if in a drunken stupor, you threatened your neighbours with your gun over their cat walking on your lawn. You also lose points if you have ever pulled your gun on your spouse during an argument.

True I tend to avoid Walmart in favour of local stores, but because Walmart is just full of Chinese stuff anyway, I'm not allowing any points for this at all, on either side.

This marriage controversy is a touchy subject. I never thought of marriage as a privilege, I always thought of it as an obligation, as a way to protect children and give them a chance in life. And I always figured that the original obligation rested with the two people who conceived that child. However, with widespread divorce and remarriage there are grey areas. So if you are married to someone from the opposite sex who is not a blood relative, and have taken the responsibility for any children of your own, we each get to score a point.

I don't like Latte's, I prefer coffee. But now I have to give up all coffee entirely because it builds up bladder stones. And when I did drink coffee, I did not sip it. But I also believe what people drink is up to them in a free country. (exception drinking alcohol and driving) No points will be awarded for either side.

I do not work for a living any more, so that fits the negative stereotype of liberals. But I am not now or ever have been collecting welfare. If you have ever collected welfare, score this point for me.

French loving? You may have me on this one as I do actually speak French. I would point out that there is a difference between French Canadian and French from France, in case you thought they were all the same. If you can't speak French, give yourself a point.

I drive a no-options basic Toyota Matrix, not a Ford pickup truck loaded with all the luxury options. I even roll up my own windows. And this Toyota is actually manufactured in my neighbourhood. My Kawasaki Vulcan is manufactured in Japan. But then the Japanese actually buy a lot of Harley Davidson motorcycles, so nobody needs to get upset about that, it's just normal international trade. If you drive an American vehicle, from an American company you can have this point. If it's a pickup truck, or a Harley motorcycle, add another point. Unless you also own some foreign vehicles.

Apparently the stereotypical liberal is also Godless. I will say that I am kind of irreligious, but at least I don't believe in witchcraft like a lot of evangelical Christians do. And no, I do not think the Earth is only 6000 years old, or that Adam and Eve were literally the first humans. To give yourself a point here, you need to have always attended church regularly AND you must live by "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." That of course means no witch burnings, right?

And one final stereotype I want to take issue with is the claim in Conservapedia that conservatives give more to charity on the average than liberals. Because churches are considered charities, all church donations are considered charitable donations. But many of those donations go back into the local church such as repairs, and more comfortable facilities. So it's not really "charity" is it? Take that stuff out, and liberals, who don't attend church as much, (apparently) statistically give more to charity than conservatives. But I don't want to make this part of the stereotype busting, so I'm not going to get in a contest with who gives more to charity or what exactly a charity is. As a liberal, I want to live in a world where charity is no longer needed. But that means more taxes, doesn't it?