Agent Monkeysee on 26/1/2006 at 18:06
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
I think there's probably something to this. Even in the more right-wing states, the major urban centres tend to be fairly left-wing (Salt Lake City, for example, has one of the most liberal mayors in the entire United States).
Red state/blue state is a false dichotomy anyway. It's really urban vs. rural, which has been pretty much the political make-up of every representative government since the beginning of time. It's certainly the status quo here in America.
If you break voting tendencies down by county instead of state there's far far far more grey area than a state breakdown gives you. Basically urban counties tend blue and rural counties tend red, though obviously there's quite a bit of variability among that as well. The point is Houston trends left nearly as much as New York, while upstate New York more resembles Bumfuck, Texas.
TheGreatGodPan on 27/1/2006 at 01:54
I think the red states are going to be outbred by the blues because of immigration, but just because they vote democrat doesn't make them liberals/enlightened/tolerant or whatever. I have to disagree with the "being around different people makes you more tolerant". Which state do you think is more racist, Vermont or Mississippi? Which is more white? If you want to get a bunch of democrat-voting white northeners pissed off about racial crap, institute forced bussing. It worked in Boston back in the day. If you can distance yourself from a group then you can rationally think over things and say they're just people like you and me who deserve fair treatment. When you're around them then those annoying people who talk in a manner you can't understand even if its supposed to be english, drive poorly while blaring their awful music and hit your car but don't have insurance, get in a fight with your kid at school and so on that end up representing the whole. Deviation from the norm of acceptable behavior is what will stick out in your mind and what you will remember. If you've got plenty of problems of your own (which is likely if you live in a similar area as minorities likely to be disadvantaged) its easy to shift blame onto them. If you lose your job its because of them whether it actually is or not. In "Guns, Germs and Steel" Jared Diamond (likely others before him as well, but I don't know who they are) divides humanity into five very broad racial groups. There are two that you'd be hard-pressed to find racism against outside of Africa: Pygmies and Khoisians. That's because you'd also be hard pressed to find any of them outside of Africa. If you want to find BNP or Le Pen supporters, its generally in areas with a higher than average influx of immigrants. If you want to find supporters of open borders, look in gated communities.
Convict on 21/2/2006 at 14:05
Paz, related to your previous (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1393384#post1393384) post in this thread, a survey by (
http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2006/Sunday%20Telegraph%20-%20Mulims%20Feb/Sunday%20Telegraph%20Muslims%20feb06.asp) ICM found that 40% of British Muslims wanted Sharia llaw in their areas. I have previously stated that I believe foreign policy affects domestic issues, however in this case issues such as the war on Iraq are unlikely to have significant direct influence on this. However potentially Muslims may feel alienated because of the USA led war on Iraq and this may cause fundamentalism (but I think that this would be a small factor).
It is alarming to note that around 10 - 15% of British Muslims surveyed had rather radical views regarding placards calling for the killing of those who insult Islam, attacking Danish embassies in Muslim countries as a result of the publication of the cartoons and exercising violence against those who are deemed by religious leaders to have insulted them. Another previous (
http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Poll%20Nov%2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Nov04.asp) poll for the Guardian found some other alarming data such the question 5 responses such as 1/4 of respondents believed that Muslims should not inform authorities about people involved in terrorist activities.
I have stated that we should go in and force liberalisation (via way of constitutional change) on Islamic countries. If Muslim immigrants came from liberalised countries then there would be much less desire for Sharia law when they come to the UK etc. Please discuss.
Naartjie on 21/2/2006 at 14:17
It took you a month to think of that?
fett on 21/2/2006 at 14:25
I don't know, there are lots of folks around here who would do well to wait a month before posting their 'thoughts.'
Naartjie on 21/2/2006 at 15:22
Quote:
I'm waiting for the Left's typical personal attacks to begin however.
The Left my arse. Stop trying to be the little crusader and grow up.
PigLick on 21/2/2006 at 15:25
no wait dont say that! we all really respect convict, eagerly we await, perched over our keyboards.
SD on 21/2/2006 at 15:49
Quote Posted by Convict
I have stated that we should go in and force liberalisation (via way of constitutional change) on Islamic countries.
You can't "force liberalisation" on anyone, any more than you can put a fish on dry land and expect it to evolve lungs and legs.
And regarding the 40% of Muslims wanting sharia law in the UK - I can guarantee if you went to a Muslim state, that figure would be a lot higher. What that shows is that Islam in the West is secularising, like all religions do eventually. That, to me, is good news, not bad.
PigLick on 21/2/2006 at 15:51
see, I told you, perched, waiting
