Disgusting.



I saw this image on Facebook this morning.

This juxtaposition of maps (top of the 2012 election results vs. bottom, the slave vs. free states prior to the Civil War) implies that the people in red states voted with the collective-vestigial mind of the ante-bellum south: the idea that a vote for “not Obama” is the equivalent of thinking that blacks should still be slaves.  Perpetuating this image as a "stop and think about it" moment is not only a bit dismissive, but further, a serious slander of near half of the population of the United States.

What might have been a funny quip based on image correlation is shamelessly offered as causation; this conveniently furthers the hateful narrative that people who don’t think Barack Obama is a good President are racist.

I’m not racist. I’m disgusted.

Comments

Eric W. Anderson said…
Sadly, I think there is something to this. There really are people who will vote for anyone but the black man. Maybe a lot of them.

It is not the only reason people voted for Romney. Some did so because they thought he was on the side of Jesus. Others because they thought he was genuinely interested in defending freedom in general or the free market in particular.

I'm not quite sure how anyone paying attention could have thought Romney was an advocate for freedom, but at times he talked a good game.

Still, I think there are more than a few who voted Republican from purely racist reasons. And this map tells part of that story.
April 8, 2013 at 9:29 PM
Lynne said…
I am in no way denying the existence of racism, just the fatuous causation this map suggests. I don't think it tells any part of the story unless "that story" is that people like to equate correlation with causation. I am equally sure that more than a few folks voted for Obama for racist reasons.

Let's face it, those of us who have chosen to vote have been stuck trying desperately to decide which set of mixed premises would do the least harm.
April 9, 2013 at 6:46 AM
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