[tombert]

More than a little frustrating. I genuinely don't know what these people actually like about America, even in the past.

Something I always took pride in for America was that we took research pretty seriously, especially in the last century. Between the CDC, NIH, NASA, FDA, a ton of university research grants, and even the military, the US has been a significant player in research for my entire life. Well, my entire life up until about a month ago.

I know that "dumb American" is sort of a stereotype, and us electing a reality TV star isn't doing anything to dispel that myth. Historically I have defended the US, and pointed out a lot of the "dumb American" memes have been exaggerated or overblown, but now I'm not sure I can; how can I possibly defend this country when the people in charge of this country fundamentally remove every part about it that I love?

But hey maybe I'm wrong and somehow tariffs and losing our place in the world's scientific stage will lower egg prices AMIRITE?

[trilbyglens]

I think it's only possible to disregard the dumb American stereotype if you're from a coastal city. If you've spent any time anywhere else outside of major metropolitan areas in America, you know that there's a very strong strain of anti-intellectualism in our culture. That's nothing new. And in fact, in many places, it's something that people take pride in.

[tombert]

I live in NYC now, but I grew up in Florida, even a fair amount of time in upstate “Florabama” territory.

No shortage of anti-intellectualism, but it’s a mistake to group everyone together there; even in the Deep South there are progressive people who are genuinely intelligent.

[nunez]

See also: Huntsville, AL, aka Rocket City. One of the largest concentration of PhDs in the country, most of whom are working on spaceflight and aeronautics.

Everything _around_ HSV though? Well.

[tombert]

From ages 4-12, we lived in Niceville, FL. Niceville's most famous resident is probably Matt Gaetz, just to get a perspective on the voting populous there.

My parents were and are fairly progressive people, and my dad moved there because he worked for an aerospace company that was located on Eglin Air Force Base; he and most of his coworkers had PhDs in aerospace engineering. These were not dumb or ignorant people, they were educated and intelligent.

I've spent more than my fair share of time shitting on the American south and its own special breed of ignorance, but as I said, I think it's a mistake to assume everyone is like that. There are few things more horrible than the Southern Baptist church, and of course that reigns supreme in those areas, but there's always enclaves of intelligent people who are just as frustrated about this stuff as I am.