osunderdog
Seth CotlarOver the past few years I’ve met far more students at my Oregon university who hail from Idaho. At some point, almost every one has mentioned how weird and scary things are getting there. https://religionnews.com/2023/02/22/how-big-christian-nationalism-has-come-courting-in-north-idaho/
Obviously many people in Idaho are quite happy to live in a place with an ascendant white Christian nationalist right, but that development is driving many young folks to consider moving elsewhere to escape it.
This 2022 podcast on extremism in Idaho is really well done, if you want a deeper dive into that world and the folks on the ground in Idaho who are pushing back against it. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1064278762/extremely-american
knlranch@sethcotlar I’ll check out the podcast - it’s from BSU, where I took a few summer classes! I’m in Seattle, but have family in Idaho & visit often - there are definitely some crazies in that state, can make life uncomfortable. Bummer.
nshrubs@sethcotlar Friend's parents sold their retirement home in Hayden Lake & returned to Tacoma because of the extremists - both legislators & the nationalists moving in - and because of how Idaho ignored COVID.
Thomas H Jones IIHow towns and regions die: have a reason for their youth to flee. Growing up in PA, sawcit happen to the coal region and nearly saw it happen to the steel region.
When it happens, the ones who leave first are those with the means to do so: it starts as brain drain.
Eventually what's left are the elderly and those who felt they couldn't make it elsewhere. Either way, people who are more-easily radicalized to whatever cause.
Steven Molnar@sethcotlar I remember that Idaho already had that subculture over 50 years ago when I went to high school in the Oregon town where your university is located. It would be interesting to know if they have grown in size or are only getting more attention.
@MolnarSteven my sense is that it’s both grown in size and also been mainstreamed. Most have shed the Aryan Nation Nazi stuff for a more normie looking white Christian nationalism.
Eli Rivera 🍉@sethcotlar very interesting - and disturbing - piece. Thank you for sharing it.
Brian Hawkins@sethcotlar The inland northwest is the scariest region of this country, and it isn’t even particularly close.
Linke@sethcotlar @BlackAzizAnansi I’ve been hearing anecdotal tales and rumblings about Idaho getting stranger and more white nationalist for about ten years. Its unsettling.
Kiki Buber@sethcotlar i made a random email address for e-commerce purposes a while back, and then one of these ultra-right Idaho groups added it to their mailing list by accident. I honestly can’t even read their messages, it’s so lunatic. If you want to look for research purposes, let me know.
Parttimesailor@sethcotlar get ready, Florida is next.
Matt@sethcotlar I wonder if Idaho will experience the kind of out-migration that rural places often do, but as a state, where kid leaves for college, stays in big city. Except now they leave the state entirely.
Thorium@sethcotlar I am so glad that I left Idaho just before the pandemic started. The ignorance, intolerance, and hate was pervasive.
Madeline@sethcotlar This has been a long term trend. No surprise to me. Just one more state I want nothing to do with.
bassplayer
Jeff@sethcotlar black hawks need to visit
Lee Z@sethcotlar I have deep roots in Idaho - great grandparent on both sides of my family. I grew up with Democratic governors Cecil Andrés and John Evans, and Senator Frank Church.
It is painful to see what it has become.
I live in Minnesota now and none of my good friends growing up are still in Idaho
Rod_Rescueman@sethcotlar tbf OR and WA east of the mountains might as well be ID. And they all might as well be combined with UT and WY.
Wes Flinn@sethcotlar absolutely the most disturbing thing I’ve read this year.
T of Burning Tarot (she/they)@sethcotlar I'm in Oregon, too. And the Idaho panhandle / Coeur d'Alene area has been a haven for neo-nazis / white nationalists / racist a-holes for decades. But thanks for sounding the alarm that things are getting worse.
ChrisUIn the interest of accuracy, all headlines with Christian should be appended as “Christian”, ‘self styled Christian’, or ‘alleged Christian’, since they invariably are not following the teaching in the gospels and are causing opprobrium for the decent people who actually believe.
#ChrstianNationalsAreBlasphemers