A nation of "trailer park trash": a good thing?

Jul 7 02:48 UTC 2003

Back in item 58, Michael Delizia opined thusly:

        ... in two generations, tops, the US would be overrun by
        trailer trash.  I personally think that would be a good thing...

I'm skeptical of this, but I'm curious and I would like Michael
to expand on this comment before going further.  Specifically,
I would like him to say why he thinks it would be a good thing,
and for whom.  In other words, cui bono?

response 2 of 72:

Jul 7 05:12 UTC 2003

Poor md.

response 4 of 72:

Jul 7 07:24 UTC 2003

I suspect what md suggests is that the repeal of RVW would result in a
slew of PWT births and assumes that the states wouldn't pass enabling
legislation which RVW subverted in the first place. I assume md is
making the point that the vast majority of the consumers of the "family
planning" are PWT.  Md should have also predicted a huge increase in the
crime rate which is another consequence that RVW produced the opposite
of but nobody wants to talk about.

response 6 of 72:

Jul 7 13:47 UTC 2003

But Russ never said what he's skeptical of: 1. that the US will be 
overrun by trailer trash if Roe v. Wade is reversed, or 2. that I think 
that would be a good thing.  Or both.  Let's examine them both:

1. If it's left up to the states, I am guessing that abortion will 
remain legal in the more cosmopolitan liberal states and become illegal 
elsewhere.  Elsewhere is where "those people" tend to live.

2. Fresh in my memory when I wrote that I thought it would be a good 
thing was a conversation on the ride home from a graduation party over 
the weekend.  

There had been a contingent of a dozen or so of "those people" there, 
with their mullets and tattoos and quirky facial hair and cigarettes 
and beer.  You understand that they are quite rare in West Bloomfield.  
One woman had had an American flag bandana on her head and a huge Satan 
tattoo across her back.  Her husband was trying to cut down on his car 
repair hobby because it was consuming too much of his time.  We had all 
stopped smoking several years ago, and we compared notes about that.  
He hadn't tried chewing tobacco yet, as I had.  They described an 
acquaintance who carries a plastic cup around the house to spit into.  
One day his wife accidentally bumped his arm and the contents of this 
mini-spittoon flew all over the kitchen wall, where it remains to this 
day, brown and dry and hardened, because they blame each other for it 
and refuse to clean it off.  I told them I had to give up all tobacco 
because nicotine affected a neurovascular problem I developed in my arm 
after a seemingly minor fracture.  We all compared broken bone 
histories.  And so on and on.

Anyway, it was remarked on the ride home, somewhat humorously, that I 
seem to get along with those people.  When asked why this should be so, 
I answered, quite truthfully, that I get along with everybody.  But, 
but, those people?, persisted my interlocutor.  I could have answered 
that "those people" were the host's relatives, and so deserved my 
respect and attention.  But the truth was, I *liked* them.  What's not 
to like?  This isn't a Whitmanesque "Not till the sun excludes you do I 
exclude you" sort of thing.  (Picture of old Walt straining to be 
somehow sunlike.)  I just liked them.  

So now the question is, what put Russ in such a bad mood.  Something I 
said, obviously, but what?

response 12 of 72:

Jul 7 19:29 UTC 2003

To pass the time on my morning commute, I'm listening to Pat Conroy's _The
Lords of Discipline_ on tape.  Near the beginning, a minor character whose
name I can't remember, a stupidly rich, weaned-on-a-silver-spoon southern
aristocrat type, says to the narrator something along the lines of:  "I read
that of all the popular sports, bowlers tend to have the lowest IQs.  I went
out the next day and joined a bowling league, and met some of the most fun
people I've ever met."  (awful paraphrasing mine)

response 14 of 72:

Jul 7 20:10 UTC 2003

I think the people who support abortion are Godless, and those that are
against it are God Fearing.

response 16 of 72:

Jul 7 20:47 UTC 2003

That is actually untrue, in several senses.

First, I don't know anyone that *supports* abortion. Everyone I  know would
be glad if abortions were unnecessary, but they aren't. What is supported is
the choice of abortion.

Second, from my observtions the vast majority of persons supporting choice
happen also to be religious, and hence hardly "godless". I am not even sure
that a majority of atheists support choice - they may have other than
religious objections. 

Thirdly, "Godless" and "God Fearing" are terms that religious people use
to demean or applaud people not like themselves or like themselves.
"Godless"  is used as an insult and the godfull tend to despise the
"godless", though perhaps not admitting to that. Of course, it literally
just means persons that are free of gods, which are lots of very civilized
and intelligent people. There is no objective reason for the term to be
used against anyone.

response 18 of 72:

Jul 7 21:35 UTC 2003

        I understand why people would choose to adopt a religion, to whatever
degree they choose to believe, but it's truly frightening that there are those
who try to impose theirs on others in the form of law, or by restricting what
children can be taught.

response 20 of 72:

Jul 7 22:12 UTC 2003

It sure worked for his own daughter, too!

response 22 of 72:

Jul 7 23:36 UTC 2003

There are some extremely religious people who are pro-choice.

response 24 of 72:

Jul 8 00:50 UTC 2003

For example.