Comments on: Jon Stewart On West Virginia

By: mike mcEachran

mike mcEachran — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:55:59 +0000

I know it’s bad to generalize, but it’s downright silly that pundits et al don’t just saying the obvious: West Virginia has a high percentage of low-income, poorly educated biggots. Thank you, Jon Stewart. Seriously, why all the hand-wringing. It’s not “elitist” to say so; it’s just a plain fact. Git over it, ya’ll…

By: Jim S

Jim S — Mon, 26 May 2008 22:04:04 +0000

Actually, Andromeda, when I spoke of the distillery interviews I was speaking of the part of the country my father was from and I wasn’t that surprised because I remember people like that from when we would go to Tennessee to visit family. Like it or not, the people in the interviews that Stewart showed or in the video that I had seen weren’t plants, they were quite real and based on the vote totals and what people admitted to pollsters they just aren’t that rare.

By: Andromeda

Andromeda — Mon, 26 May 2008 14:13:53 +0000

Though I no longer live there, I am originally from West Virginia, and I felt a sinking feeling as we came up on the primary, because I knew that would mean West Virginia would be in the news, and it’s never a good thing when West Virginia is in the news — it’s always some variant of privileged people who get to look down on those uneducated hicks. Well. Gotta love respectful forums for people interested in discussing the world beyond their own experience.

By: Jim S

Jim S — Sun, 25 May 2008 23:39:00 +0000

I remember seeing an amateur video where the guy did interviews with some people in the gift shop of the Jack Daniels distillery. It was the consensus of these people (Including the employees.) that we just couldn’t have a Muslim as President and they just couldn’t vote for someone who wouldn’t swear on the Bible. Because after all, someone at church had told them he was a Muslim. Racism and ignorance, a combination that is found everywhere.

By: Tony Lambiris

Tony Lambiris — Sun, 25 May 2008 17:13:52 +0000

TerenceC: there was nothing to confuse or split hairs over: the original Mason-Dixie line was between PA and WV, end of discussion.

By: gljunket

gljunket — Sun, 25 May 2008 16:42:57 +0000

Way to go bloggers! Morphed the whole hilarious piece by Jon Stewart into a debate about the Mason-Dixon Line and Confederacy………now that’s “intellectual!”

By: TerenceC

TerenceC — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:58:48 +0000

What I should have said is that none of those 3 states were “slave” states – but none of the 3 you mentioned were in the Confederacy – which was the premise of my original statement. By the way seven states seceded by February 1861:

* South Carolina (December 20, 1860),[12]
* Mississippi (January 9, 1861),[13]
* Florida (January 10 1861),[14]
* Alabama (January 11 1861),[15]
* Georgia (January 19, 1861),[16]
* Louisiana (January 26 1861),[17]
* Texas (February 1 1861).[18]

After Lincoln called for troops, four more states seceded:

* Virginia (April 17, 1861);[19] there was also a rump Union government of Virginia[20]
* Arkansas (May 6, 1861),[21]
* North Carolina (May 20 1861)[22]
* Tennessee (June 8 1861).[23][24]
The slave states of Maryland and Delaware did not secede.

By: Tony Lambiris

Tony Lambiris — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:27:04 +0000

TerenceC: I agree Ohio and PA are above the Mason-Dixie line, but Virginia and West Virginia are not. You can confirm this with multiple sources. A quick google search gave me the definition “It is basically the Southern border of Pennsylvania, which makes it part of the borders of what is now West Virginia and Maryland. It also forms the Eastern border of Maryland.” Not to mention a quick re-cap of the Civil War would tell you that West Virginia was a border state.

By: TerenceC

TerenceC — Sun, 25 May 2008 13:30:39 +0000

Tony

What the hell are you talking about? West VA, Ohio, and PA are all above the Mason Dixon line and weren’t part of the Confederacy. The problem is Hillbillies – they are finally being pidgeon-holed for the type of people they truly are – provincial, narrow minded, easily manipulated, and in need of something other than political pandering.

The people in these areas are racist’s, and they always have been – their problem with people of color is that people of color will and often do take those same under 50K jobs these people “cling” to. If the only thing that comes from the 2008 election is exposing the base level of ignorance these people live with that may be enough. Is this how ethnic cleansing starts – deep differences so profound they can’t be overcome except through social surgery or massive societal change created through migration/immigration.

By: Tony Lambiris

Tony Lambiris — Sun, 25 May 2008 05:55:18 +0000

You’d think people living below the Mason-Dixie line, given their history as “slave states”, would try extra hard to be more accepting and tolerant in this day and age. I guess what they say is true, old habits DO die hard!