Kurt Vonnegut had a word for people who sought out a phony basis for association and affinity with people who they deemed some relationship, some club membership which was essentially phony: Granfaloon.
So, there were people who met at some bar in Philadelphia or New York who discovered an Indiana connection--maybe they were born there or had lived there and thus you are my good buddy, my new best friend because you are a Hoosier!
Oh, plueeeze.
This shared connection was not based on any substantial shared values or genes or anything other than this fake connection.
I would argue that, for the most part, state identification in the United States fits this description now. A Texan from Austin is likely more like a New Yorker or a person from San Francisco than he is like someone from Lubbock. The Virginian from Fairfax County is likely more like the lady from Westchester, New York than she is like the woman from Richmond. The man from Chapel Hill or Durham, North Carolina shares more politically, socially, even physically with the man from Durham, New Hampshire than he shares with the man from Greenville, North Carolina.
In fact state borders are now anachronisms, and group unlike people, who have no substantial connection of interest, economy, values, education.
If we were really ready to come into the twenty first century, we'd abandon the idea of states altogether.
But most especially, this idea of "White" put forward by the granfaloons of the Charlottesville white supremacists.
There was an old joke in the Third Reich about the tall, blonde, blue eyed, fair skinned German Aryan, that he was as blond as Hitler, as tall as Goebbels, as lean and hard as Goering.
Hitler and his cronies had to invest considerable time and attention to define who was really White and Aryan in Germany. It was difficult because they were trying to define a group characterized by a distinction without a difference.
The Charlottesville Nazis had the same problem. They were trying to find unity and coherence among people who shared only superficial traits--apart from the hate.
So, there were people who met at some bar in Philadelphia or New York who discovered an Indiana connection--maybe they were born there or had lived there and thus you are my good buddy, my new best friend because you are a Hoosier!
Oh, plueeeze.
This shared connection was not based on any substantial shared values or genes or anything other than this fake connection.
I would argue that, for the most part, state identification in the United States fits this description now. A Texan from Austin is likely more like a New Yorker or a person from San Francisco than he is like someone from Lubbock. The Virginian from Fairfax County is likely more like the lady from Westchester, New York than she is like the woman from Richmond. The man from Chapel Hill or Durham, North Carolina shares more politically, socially, even physically with the man from Durham, New Hampshire than he shares with the man from Greenville, North Carolina.
In fact state borders are now anachronisms, and group unlike people, who have no substantial connection of interest, economy, values, education.
If we were really ready to come into the twenty first century, we'd abandon the idea of states altogether.
But most especially, this idea of "White" put forward by the granfaloons of the Charlottesville white supremacists.
There was an old joke in the Third Reich about the tall, blonde, blue eyed, fair skinned German Aryan, that he was as blond as Hitler, as tall as Goebbels, as lean and hard as Goering.
Hitler and his cronies had to invest considerable time and attention to define who was really White and Aryan in Germany. It was difficult because they were trying to define a group characterized by a distinction without a difference.
The Charlottesville Nazis had the same problem. They were trying to find unity and coherence among people who shared only superficial traits--apart from the hate.
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