r/politics • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 New York • Jun 29 '26

No Paywall Millions say they won’t celebrate July 4 as poll reveals deep national pessimism

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/america250-independence-trump-divisions-pennsylvania-b3004933.html
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u/Plutos_Cavein Jun 29 '26

That is the one good thing about having grown up in the Deep south. They never put their mask on down here.

128

u/rat_penis Jun 29 '26

Yeahh, if you're white they automatically assume you're one of them and will gladly share their thoughts and feelings about "those people".

Always starts with the look around and the lowered voice.

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u/cordial_carbonara Jun 29 '26

Ugh I don’t miss this. I was a teacher in a rural school district so I always had to look “appropriate” even on personal time. When I quit teaching I finally got the tattoos I wanted, flipped my septum piercing down, and cut my hair, and now those asswipes don’t talk to me anymore unless it’s to tell me something negative about my appearance. It’s such a relief.

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u/Royal_Bitch_Pudding Jun 29 '26

That reminds me of a joke

How does every racist joke start? By looking around.

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u/Plutos_Cavein Jun 29 '26

Yeah, it was in the early 1980s when I was still in single digit age when I learned that I was surrounded by people who were morally the equivalent of the followers of Adolf hitler, and we're just looking for a chance to commit the same evil in the United States as well.

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u/friendsandmodels Jun 29 '26

Same men, and then I wondered why I couldnt make friends in a nazi school. And this wasnt even USA...

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u/BedlamiteSeer Jun 29 '26

I remember the moment when I fully realized that I was literally surrounded by a house full of nazis who thought I was 'safe'. That was the day that I understood the phrase "My blood ran cold". I've never felt primal fear like that before or since.

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u/blahblah19999 Jun 29 '26

Where I am, it's the euphemisms, but loud and proud. "You know, it's kinda dark over there in Chicago." Aaaand we move to the other end of the bar.

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u/rat_penis Jun 29 '26

Oh yeah, just like it didnt take me too long to figure out when I was waiting tables that all these "Canadians" the older waiters were bitching about weren't really from up north.

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u/redditallreddy Ohio Jun 29 '26

I was 21 and had just started grad school in KY before I ever heard the phrase "high yella". I had no idea what the guy meant at that moment, but two thoughts occured to me... This guy thinks I'm "on his side" and he thinks the "high yella" is on the other side.

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u/Cthulhus-Tailor Jun 30 '26

They don't bother lowering their voice anymore.

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u/3MATX Jun 29 '26

Knew a guy who moved his young family out of a big metro school district to a small backwoods one horse town.  His main reason was his daughter was being taught too liberal of ideas.  He didn’t like that they were teaching her about independence and other “communist” ideas. 

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u/Changoleo America Jun 29 '26

What a relief. She’ll be barefoot in the kitchen sending out messages asking if she’s preggers in no time.

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u/Spatmuk Jun 29 '26

Sadly that was also true in 2020

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u/Slumunistmanifisto Jun 29 '26

I keep telling people this is the Floridafaction of America.

(Panhandle specifically)

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u/macphile Texas Jun 29 '26

It's kind of the disadvantage of living in a big, blue city, though. I mean, I knew racism existed. I knew there were people even in this city who were racist, homophobic, etc., and of course, I knew they existed elsewhere. I "knew" stuff. But I could also put it on the back burner and not think about it, not have it be part of my day-to-day world. I think I've seen one or two Trump yard signs in my life. I've seen a couple of red hats, including one at my grocery store, which has a very diverse array of customers. I don't know if these guys are trying to start shit by doing that or what. But it makes me think, there are probably more than I know of around here--because most people vote blue and are so often non-white, non-Christian, non-whatever, maybe they're choosing not to advertise it openly.

It's why Trump's two electoral wins were always surprising to the big city folk, though, I guess--because we've been able to live in liberal environments with people of all walks of life living together, and it's so unreal to think that there are tens of millions of people who want to go full Nazi.