Hal, I would like to clarify one thing about my statement. I did not mean that all the people who are racists in America live in the country. I used these as an example, because of course the KKK and the rest of the white supremacists, and the militia movement, for the most part draw their members from rural areas. However, my bigger point is that there is a human tendency to demonize those whom we have to compete with most closely in an economic sense, which brings back a lot of real hateful tribal rivalry emotions from our primitive brains. These instincts helped us to survive in much earlier times, but just cause hatred now.
Certainly, racial hatred and prejudice are not just a rural phenomenon, however. Do you remember the working class Irish in South Boston, who protested pretty violently the integration of their schools? Or the race riots in New York recently because a Hasidic Jew ran over a little black boy accidentally, killing him? It is really almost everywhere.
On another note, I am sure you are aware the Pope apologized last month for several centuries of misinterpretation by the Catholics of the New Testament, which created a climate of hatred against the Jews in Europe.
Have a nice time with your wife!! |
