• some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    7 months ago

    I believe that my politics are more moral than those of a Trump voter, but I don’t think that says much about my moral character. I was born to liberal parents in a left-leaning suburb of a blue state. If I’d grown up in a rural town where everyone I knew and loved believed that Democrats were the Godless servants of corrupt elites and shiftless poor people, then I’d probably have voted for Trump; the data admits no other conclusion.

    Awareness of how thoroughly accidents of birth and experience shape our selves and life outcomes should make us more supportive of income redistribution and more opposed to retributive criminal justice policies. But it should also make us a bit more patient with Trump voters.

    I grew up in a red state with at least one parent who was conservative and religious. The other seemed to be kind of in the middle when I was a kid and liberal later on. I rejected authority and religion on my own. I get that a lot of people are biased because that’s how they were raised, but I don’t think that grants them any exception for not thinking critically.

    • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Yeah all you have to do is look around and start asking a few questions. I grew up fully indoctrinated. Church school k5 - high school graduation. Within a couple years being out of that bubble it was all so obvious.

      Rural Americans deserve little grace in this regard. They absolutely do know better.