ScalziPro tip: If you're actively rejecting the word of Christ, you don't get to call yourself a Christian. #uspol
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/08/1192663920/southern-baptist-convention-donald-trump-christianity
Tom Bellin 
@scalzi The last part is wild to me. Just absolutely refusing to acknowledge that white fundamentalist culture is shot through with racism and misogyny.
Politics isn't the problem. The problem with evangelicalism and the reason why it had (generally) no problem with Trump is that it's founded on telling deeply bigoted people exactly what they want to hear.
Moni
Roger Moore@Gyerfry @tob @scalzi
The key factor isn't economic anxiety, or it would be going away now that the economy is doing as well as it has in a generation. The problem is social anxiety. People who are used to being at the top of the social hierarchy as a result of their race, gender, and religion are terrified of social equality.
The key factor isn't economic anxiety, or it would be going away now that the economy is doing as well as it has in a generation. The problem is social anxiety. People who are used to being at the top of the social hierarchy as a result of their race, gender, and religion are terrified of social equality.
The economy isn't better. Most Americans can't put up cash for an emergency. The stock market isn't reflective of how well off most people are, especially in rural areas that don't receive a lot of oversight OR assistance. Things are actively getting worse for the majority of us.
@Gyerfry @VATVSLPR @scalzi It is complicated, but the economy not getting better in these communities is purposeful.
What's killing rural communities is their kids are moving away and no one is moving in.
It's hard not to see the way that evangelical belief structures create economic unease, rather than the other way around.
Doesn't that illustrate the issue though? Many people can't afford a reasonable downpayment on a house right now, and if you're rooted in one of these towns, you can't just sell your house to get the money because there's no demand.
(Recently this dynamic changed a bit with WFH, but now employers are largely walking that back)
@tob @Gyerfry @scalzi
What's really killing rural communities is mechanization. The amount of labor needed to farm an area has been dropping every generation since the early 19th century. You can't have viable farming communities when the number of farmers keeps dropping. Mining has also been heavily mechanized, and ranching can't compete with feed lots.
What's really killing rural communities is mechanization. The amount of labor needed to farm an area has been dropping every generation since the early 19th century. You can't have viable farming communities when the number of farmers keeps dropping. Mining has also been heavily mechanized, and ranching can't compete with feed lots.
Nazani