It's fine for what it is. But it's letters, which are by nature superficial. There are plenty of conservative writers they could give a platform to. They do some of that, and good for them, yet it seems pretty minimal.
From one of the letters: Not all Trump voters are Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables.” Many of us are well-informed and highly educated..
What the letter writer doesn't understand is that in the final analysis, Trump voters are "deplorable" by virtue of not having supported Hillary.
The "I'm not like them" response to otherizing labels like "deplorable" is a losing argument because the intent of otherizing is to label all in the group as such.
Somewhere, in response to the "deplorable" label, I read an analogy of a football coach who told his team that half of them were slackers. Every member of the team will believe that the coach could have meant him. Every member of the team will doubt that he had been giving his best effort.
IOW, Hillary's remark that half of Trump were "deplorables" was an attempt to demoralize ALL Trump supporters.
A friend of mine is a Sephardic Jew from Morocco. Her opinions on Muslims or Arabs, by virtue of having grown up in Morocco, are far from being politically correct. Would Hillary consider my friend "deplorable?" Hell no, because she voted for Hillary- as she has voted Democrat for decades.
At least they chose decent letters to use, instead of using letters that reinforced the caricaturized Trump supporter. Perhaps that is a little progress.
I think I've mentioned before that just after the "basket of deplorables" comment, Hillary went on to characterize the rest of Trump's supporters in unflattering terms as (I paraphrase somewhat) a bunch of losers who must rely on the government to give them purpose and material goods. I have no doubt she thought she was being "compassionate" in characterizing them this way.
And in any event, both characterizations "leak" onto all Trump supporters. You are deplorable or dependent or both.
More deplorable comments. There was more than a little bit of irony in Hillary's "basket of deplorables" comment. While half of Republicans may belong in Hillary's "basket of deplorables," a substantial proportion of Democrats also belong in the "basket of deplorables." Consider attitudes towards Islam. The Guardian conducted a poll to determine American attitudes towards Islam. How anti-Muslim are Americans? Data points to extent of Islamophobia.
The survey found that 53% of Republicans had a "somewhat/very unfavorable opinion of Islam." That fits rather well Hillary's contention that half of Trump voters belonged to the "basket of deplorables." The same poll found out that 40% Democrats had a similar "somewhat/very unfavorable opinion of Islam." That is a difference of 13% between Democrats and Republicans. Hillary should have said, "Democrats: we're not as deplorable as Republicans."
Nearly half of Trump’s supporters described African Americans as more “violent” than whites. The same proportion described African Americans as more “criminal” than whites, while 40 percent described them as more “lazy” than whites.
This also fits rather well Hillary's contention that half of Trump voters belonged to the "basket of deplorables:" Once again, a substantial proportion of Democrats have similar views, about 15-17% less than Republicans:
In smaller, but still significant, numbers, Clinton backers also viewed blacks more critically than whites with regard to certain personality traits. Nearly one-third of Clinton supporters described blacks as more “violent” and “criminal” than whites, and one-quarter described them as more “lazy” than whites.
The difference between Democrat and Republican "deplorable" views hovers around 15%. Had Hillary said, "I want no deplorables" to vote for me, and had the Democrat-voting "deplorables" complied, she would have lost the popular vote by a landslide.
9 comments:
Does anyone think this is anything more than a cynical square-filler, done for the sole purpose of claiming, "See--we are balanced and objective?"
Maybe I know of some beachfront property north of Santa Fe that I could interest those two persons in.
Eric Hines
It's fine for what it is. But it's letters, which are by nature superficial. There are plenty of conservative writers they could give a platform to. They do some of that, and good for them, yet it seems pretty minimal.
Glad you pointed it out to me.
Hell must have frozen over....
its only temporary...
-Mississippi
From one of the letters:
Not all Trump voters are Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables.” Many of us are well-informed and highly educated..
What the letter writer doesn't understand is that in the final analysis, Trump voters are "deplorable" by virtue of not having supported Hillary.
The "I'm not like them" response to otherizing labels like "deplorable" is a losing argument because the intent of otherizing is to label all in the group as such.
Somewhere, in response to the "deplorable" label, I read an analogy of a football coach who told his team that half of them were slackers. Every member of the team will believe that the coach could have meant him. Every member of the team will doubt that he had been giving his best effort.
IOW, Hillary's remark that half of Trump were "deplorables" was an attempt to demoralize ALL Trump supporters.
A friend of mine is a Sephardic Jew from Morocco. Her opinions on Muslims or Arabs, by virtue of having grown up in Morocco, are far from being politically correct. Would Hillary consider my friend "deplorable?" Hell no, because she voted for Hillary- as she has voted Democrat for decades.
AVI
There are plenty of conservative writers they could give a platform to. They do some of that, and good for them, yet it seems pretty minimal.
What we get from the NYT tend to be columnists like Charles Blow: Trump Is a Racist. Period.
That is the title of the piece.
At least they chose decent letters to use, instead of using letters that reinforced the caricaturized Trump supporter. Perhaps that is a little progress.
I think I've mentioned before that just after the "basket of deplorables" comment, Hillary went on to characterize the rest of Trump's supporters in unflattering terms as (I paraphrase somewhat) a bunch of losers who must rely on the government to give them purpose and material goods. I have no doubt she thought she was being "compassionate" in characterizing them this way.
And in any event, both characterizations "leak" onto all Trump supporters. You are deplorable or dependent or both.
More deplorable comments.
There was more than a little bit of irony in Hillary's "basket of deplorables" comment. While half of Republicans may belong in Hillary's "basket of deplorables," a substantial proportion of Democrats also belong in the "basket of deplorables."
Consider attitudes towards Islam. The Guardian conducted a poll to determine American attitudes towards Islam. How anti-Muslim are Americans? Data points to extent of Islamophobia.
The survey found that 53% of Republicans had a "somewhat/very unfavorable opinion of Islam." That fits rather well Hillary's contention that half of Trump voters belonged to the "basket of deplorables." The same poll found out that 40% Democrats had a similar "somewhat/very unfavorable opinion of Islam."
That is a difference of 13% between Democrats and Republicans. Hillary should have said, "Democrats: we're not as deplorable as Republicans."
Consider a poll from Reuters. (Are the Brits more likely to poll controversial issues?) Exclusive: Trump supporters more likely to view blacks negatively - Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Nearly half of Trump’s supporters described African Americans as more “violent” than whites. The same proportion described African Americans as more “criminal” than whites, while 40 percent described them as more “lazy” than whites.
This also fits rather well Hillary's contention that half of Trump voters belonged to the "basket of deplorables:" Once again, a substantial proportion of Democrats have similar views, about 15-17% less than Republicans:
In smaller, but still significant, numbers, Clinton backers also viewed blacks more critically than whites with regard to certain personality traits. Nearly one-third of Clinton supporters described blacks as more “violent” and “criminal” than whites, and one-quarter described them as more “lazy” than whites.
The difference between Democrat and Republican "deplorable" views hovers around 15%.
Had Hillary said, "I want no deplorables" to vote for me, and had the Democrat-voting "deplorables" complied, she would have lost the popular vote by a landslide.
Correction. For "somewhat/very unfavorable opinion of Islam," Republicans poll at 53% and Democrats poll at 43%.
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