dagblog - Comments for "Food for thought"

‘Normal America’ Is Not A

artappraiser — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 03:17:53 +0000

‘Normal America’ Is Not A Small Town Of White People

By Jed Kolko @ FiveThirtyEight.com/Demographics, April 28, 2016

Earlier this week, Jim VandeHei, a former executive editor of Politico, wrote an op-ed article for The Wall Street Journal accusing the Washington political establishment of being out of touch with “normal America.”

“Normal America is right that Establishment America has grown fat, lazy, conventional and deserving of radical disruption,” he wrote, citing his regular visits to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Lincoln, Maine, as his credentials of normality.

It’s a familiar accusation in a year in which most presidential candidates are trying to pretend they have nothing to do with the coastal elite, and after one — Ted Cruz — spent weeks attacking “New York values.” Even PBS, a standard-bearer of the media elite, recently featured a quiz designed to assess in-touchness with “mainstream American culture” with questions about fishing, pickup trucks and living in a small town.

But that sense that the normal America is out there somewhere in a hamlet where they can’t pronounce “Acela” is misplaced. In fact, it’s not in a small town at all.

I calculated how demographically similar each U.S. metropolitan area is to the U.S. overall, based on age, educational attainment, and race and ethnicity.1 The index equals 100 if a metro’s demographic mix were identical to that of the U.S. overall.2

By this measure, the metropolitan area that looks most like the U.S. is New Haven, Connecticut, followed by Tampa, Florida, and Hartford, Connecticut. All of the 10 large metros that are demographically most similar to the U.S. overall are in the Northeast, Midwest or center of the country, with the exception of Tampa. Two of them — New Haven and Philadelphia — are even on Amtrak’s Acela (that’s “uh-SELL-ah”) line. None is in the West, though Sacramento, California, comes close at No. 12.

The large metros least demographically similar to the U.S. include McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and El Paso, both in Texas, both of which are younger, less educated and more Latino than the U.S. overall, and Honolulu, where Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders together are the majority.

Oshkosh, by the way, clocks in with a score of 71, and Maine’s Penobscot County, where Lincoln is, has a score of 67: both places deserve less of a claim to “normal America” than the majority of large metros do. 3

[....]

continues with several great charts, including several comparisons with 1950's America

At least you understand the

ocean-kat — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 21:57:56 +0000

In reply to My first act as Philosopher

At least you understand the purpose of history. To tell whatever version of the story that best facilitates the accumulation of power.

This is the most perfect

ocean-kat — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 19:49:35 +0000

In reply to oh the humanity!: I can't

This is the most perfect example of extreme hubris I've ever seen. All definitions of the word on line should include a link to it.

Move him to the light

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 19:37:12 +0000

In reply to My first act as Philosopher

Move him to the light entertainment section, or Sociology.

My first act as Philosopher

Michael Wolraich — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 19:07:02 +0000

In reply to Philosopher king. Ha, Ha, Ha,

My first act as Philosopher-King will be to delete Karl Rove from history.

oh the humanity!: I can't

artappraiser — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 04:31:00 +0000

In reply to Philosopher king. Ha, Ha, Ha,

oh the humanity!: I can't believe your link is from "goodreads". At least there's that the quote only got 3 likes.

Philosopher king. Ha, Ha, Ha,

ocean-kat — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 23:58:23 +0000

In reply to Or maybe a US Security

Philosopher king. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha. You're a historian and we're at the end of history.

“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

Go back to your dusty old tomes. We have nothing to learn from you any more. History, and you, are irrelevant.

Suggest looking up "King" and

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 22:09:50 +0000

In reply to Or maybe a US Security

Suggest looking up "King" and normal rules of engagement.

Re: council, think you're creating the same stalemate we have with China and Russia.

Or maybe a US Security

Michael Wolraich — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 20:20:30 +0000

In reply to Frankly who gives a shit past

Or maybe a US Security Council--NY, CA, TX, and FL get permanent reps with veto power. Other states can rotate through non-permanent spots for symbolic votes.

Or better yet, skip all that nonsense and elect me Philosopher-King of America.

Frankly who gives a shit past

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 15:17:14 +0000

In reply to Let's compare apples to

Frankly who gives a shit past New York & California, and most of upstate's just filler for NYC, and no one goes to the Bay Area anymore - it's too crowded - while the rest of CA's uninhabitable wasteland for pretty postcards & U2 covers & what not - so I think we can just say metro LA/metro NYC says "forget you flyover types", and do away with the flawed rigged electoral college as well.