Seriously? In 2008?

[cambro]

I recently took a weekend trip out of town with some friends, and one evening we stayed at a cheap motel in a small town in Wisconsin. We went to Culver's (the only restaurant open past nine) for take-out and then sat down to eat it at a picnic table in front of our building. We'd barely gotten started when a car pulled up and a man came out and

Comments

[weyrwolfen]

I think that it is safe to say that there are always going to be asshats in any time, location, and yes, political party. On my more positive days, I think that they don't make up the majority of this country, but I sometimes wonder.

[cambro]

I'm certainly not surprised to learn that there are racist Democrats. I'm just a bit alarmed that such a small random sample (n=1) of "average Joe" Democrats immediately turned up a racist. It makes me think that the overall percentage of racists is higher than expected. His apparent lack of asshattery in other regards is what worried me most, though. I likes my racists foaming at the mouth. I want to be reassured that they're rare and easy to spot.

[derekasaurus]

The only reason you are clinging to your elitist ideology is because you haven't fully considered the implications of a Negro with nukes.

But seriously, it's always surprising to see overt racism, especially from people who seem to know better, or at least convey the impression that they should know better. But I think of it as a subset of a much more widespread problem: rampant ignorance

[cambro]

Not just rampant ignorance, but proud ignorance. Sam Harris wrote a piece on Palin for Newsweek where he complained about her dangerous combination of confidence and ignorance, and lots of other folks seem to be similarly afflicted. Education is actually a *liability* in some people's minds, despite the fact that the world is growing ever more complex and the problems facing us cannot be solved with gut-level decisions and "not blinking." Some people on National Review Online have actually been complaining about the fact that Obama pronounces Pakistan correctly, because "no one in flyover country says Pock-i-stahn."

Re:racial bias, the Bradley effect is what's worrying me. His lead in the polls may disappear entirely on Election Day. Today's Science quotes a researcher at U-Iowa who predicts Obama will get 50.1% of the popular vote but lose in the electoral college.