Coastal privilege
10th September 2008
Megan McArdle dips into sociology.
I’m surprised–though I shouldn’t be, of course–that any number of liberals who are (presumably) comfortable with concepts like unconscious discrimination and privilege when it comes to race, have not even stopped to consider that the same sort of thing might be operating here.
Let’s be honest, coastal folks: when you meet someone with a thick southern accent who likes NASCAR and attends a bible church, do you think, “hey, maybe this is a cool person”? And when you encounter someone who went to Eastern Iowa State, do you accord them the same respect you give your friends from Williams? It’s okay–there’s no one here but us chickens. You don’t.
Red America exaggerates the contempt, of course. It’s also true that if you’re expecting racism and sexism, you’ll probably end up misinterpreting perfectly innocent remarks. But the fact that they aren’t right in every particular does not mean that, in general, they’ve got it wrong. For one thing, in both DC and New York I’ve spent a fair amount of time listening to liberals make jokes about red states that would horrify them if they were told about blacks. But even if that weren’t true, I wouldn’t be the best person to assess whether there is prejudice or not. I’m so close to it that I can’t see it.