How America Fractured Into Four Parts

[Ferguson97]

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/george-packer-four-americas/619012/

Longer article, but a very good read.

[Red Velvet]

“Smart America” sounds like a bunch of nothing ideologically but explained with fancy words to make it sound like a real thing. Makes sense it’s associated with the democratic party lmao

I see it differently. Combine “Free” and “Smart” into one thing and you have the same governing technocrat and neoliberal establishment who is having to deal with populist insurgence coming from the right (“Real”) and left (“Just”). Exactly like it’s happening in most places in the world.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

You can't post a thread with a title like this and expect to be taken seriously while not even including a map!

[Battista Minola 1616]

My problems with this article are more than this, but I will just mention how in the 'Real America' section - which looks to me like a cartoonish reduction of the White working class to a bunch of raging evangelical fundie white nationalists - it says that "In this way, it renders the Black working class invisible" and I can't help but chuckle and think that if true it must have done a great job at that on Packer himself, because the Black working class is basically excluded from the article's narratives.

[Mr. Smith]

I already said this in another thread but, this is clearly written by "Smart America".

[courts]

I already said this in another thread but, this is clearly written by "Smart America".

at least he seems somewhat aware of how obnoxiously self congratulatory and out of touch those types can come off

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

We are divided between Secular and Traditionalist, R v D, just the 🚨 of War Communist Red and Secular blue, no difference

[If my soul was made of stone]

My problems with this article are more than this, but I will just mention how in the 'Real America' section - which looks to me like a cartoonish reduction of the White working class to a bunch of raging evangelical fundie white nationalists - it says that "In this way, it renders the Black working class invisible" and I can't help but chuckle and think that if true it must have done a great job at that on Packer himself, because the Black working class is basically excluded from the article's narratives.

This take on the white working class, without mentioning anything about the non-white people with a similar economic station, brings to mind the inanity of J. "probably a Fed" Sakai, which is hardly flattering.

[Vosem]

I do not understand what the distinction between Free and Real America is (especially since his description of Free America underscores that much of its support comes from the working-class -- he cites road-work crews). Is it just that the former is optimistic and the latter is pessimistic?

[Hope For A New Era]

It's nice to read, but then you get to the end and realize that it's a Buttigieg speech. A lot of nice-sounding words, that when added together, ultimately amount to almost nothing.

This is a "state the obvious in as many words as possible, making sure to not even try to find the author's blind spots" article.
.

[HillGoose]

why does the media always be trying to divide everybody up

we r all americans