Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Rampant illiteracy, and Appalachia

It's not just math illiteracy, but there also seems to be a serious problem with the MSM's overall literacy level. I'm not sure why it is, but only a few folks in the blogosphere seem to understand that Obama does not have a problem with white voters. It's merely that Appalachia has a problem with Obama, or at least with non-whites.

For a detailed analysis of the Appalachia problem, check out this detailed post by Kossak DHinMI. Or, Josh Marshal has a more brief primer at TPM.

In a nut shell: A bit of NY, a large part of OH, most of PA, all of WV, stretching into huge chunks of KY and TN, and down into AL, all make up Appalachia. Make no mistake, Appalachia is mostly white, mostly older, and mostly uneducated, and it has been this way for centuries since migrant Scots and Irish moved into this area. This region has also been largely absent of African Americans - even slaves - for most of its history. It is logical to expect that the people of this region would be disinclined to vote for any non-white candidate, not because of any inherent racism, but simply because people tend to vote closer to what they are more familiar with. That is not to say that lots of folks in this region are not racist, given that ignorance is often a symptom of racism, and education is woefully lacking in Appalachia.

Anymore these days, there appears to be a woeful lacking of folks with a decent education in the mainstream media, or at least willful ignorance.

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