Thread by @docrocktex26

They could just as easily have called them diversity deserts, because the issue above all else is these White rural communities don’t just lack accurate news, they lack *people of color*. They’re racist, sexist and ignorant in general due to segregation, not just fake news.

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My word, did @mattyglesias just delete the damn tweet?! You were actually on to something, man...

I’m not sure why he deleted it but here’s the screenshot. Clearly I can and will carry on without him though...

How Trump thrives in ‘news deserts’ politico.com/story/2018/04/… h/t @mattyglesias

For starters, @mattyglesias is right that this analysis is screaming for statistical controls. There are people of color all over America who don’t have access to reputable tv news/the internet but they KNOW Donald Trump is a racist crook and would NEVER have cast a vote for him.

The expansion of broadband internet access in rural communities was supposed to give them broader access to the world around them, but instead they used it as a spigot for information that validated and affirmed their deep seated prejudices and fear of people outside their world.

Likewise, because they live in highly segregated communities they’re highly unlikely to interact with people who would contradict the bigoted stereotypes they see on their chosen TV shows or internet sites. They’re mired in confirmation bias.

In other words, you can sit these folk down in front of factual news and information all you want to, but they will willfully reject it because it doesn’t confirm or conform to their insular worldview. Trump spoke to their fear, bigotry and ignorance and that was enough for them.

White journalists and talking heads need to stop searching for alternative explanations to the White American majority’s racism and misogyny. Y’all are wasting everybody’s time and it’s pathetic.

Every few weeks they release yet another lukewarm take on how there must be a “good” reason for these people to have thrown the country away on November 8, 2016. Wake the fuck up already y’all, ALL the reasons are deplorable. Stop putting lipstick on this ugly ass fucking pig.

Again...

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You aren’t helping to solve the problem if all you’re gonna do is keep giving the White Americans who voted in majority for apartheid easy outs for their betrayal. Ignorance isn’t an acceptable excuse, and neither are racism and misogyny. The three go together.

The fact that these people have no basic moral intuition or power of discernment to the extent that they would even fall prey to blatantly racist and sexist fake news and propaganda IS the problem. They choose to be ignorant and hateful, stop absolving them of it.

Fox, Sinclair, Drudge, Infowars, Breitbart, AM hate radio etc, NONE of that shit would exist or be as profitable as they all are if there weren’t millions of White Americans consuming and proliferating their bullshit. Stop pretending they don’t exist, stop ENABLING them.

The bottom line is STILL that millions of predominantly White Americans are bigots, and it’s so patently obvious to the point that Russia exploited their bigotry and ignorance to sabotage our election/install Donald Trump. They know us better than we do, and excuses won’t fix it.

While y’all are out here making weak ass excuses for the deplorables, our adversaries (foreign and domestic) are busy creating ever more racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic propaganda to serve them ahead of our next election.

Spend more time highlighting the folk who had good sense enough not to vote for this fucking atrocity. Amplify the voices of people who aren’t one fake news headline away from voting for the Klan. Stop glorifying ignorance and hatred.

It isn’t a “news desert”, it’s segregation. #protip

Because there’s always a blast from the PJ past for these occasions, check out this thread from July 2016. The basic gist was the White majority was susceptible to propaganda due to lack of sufficient diversity online and in real life. 💅🏾

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