he/him/they/them

  • 22 Posts
  • 161 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 30th, 2023

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  • Are all Republicans the ‘same’ I your opinion?

    Pretty much, yeah. I didn’t used to, but they’ve shown me time and time again that they are awful.

    but without the stereotypical bigotry stuff

    I think that’s less and less possible

    I don’t think it’s possible to be Republican without the stereotypical bigotry stuff. Even the “conservative economics” crowd – when you look at it, those “conservative economic” policies they support have been designed specifically to harm and disenfranchise marginalized groups. For instance, “the Dakota Access Pipeline is good because it helps the economy” is objectively a bigoted opinion.

    believing that their policies are right (being very opposed to immigration, accepting LGBTQ, pro corporate, etc)

    I mean, yeah. These people often believe their opinions and beliefs are helpful and just. They may believe that undocumented workers are really taking our jobs, or that we LGBTQIA+ people are pedos, or that privatization helps the poor – but all of these things are so mustache-twirlingly atrocious that they don’t get a pass for subscribing to beliefs that are causing so much widespread harm, even if they truly believe they are in the right.

    I like the Midwest, and dislike the East Coast look and feel. I haven’t been on the West Coast enough to form a meaningful opinion.

    I like the east coast because of the way their cities are designed. Visiting places like NYC or Philadelphia, I don’t even miss not having my car. I used to live near the west coast, and that was the opposite. I know there are things like parks and public transportation in LA and OC, but maaaaan I still felt compelled to drive everywhere. There’s natural beauty out there though, and I like their conservation areas. Personally, I’d live in Minneapolis, MN if I could. 10 minute walk from a park everywhere you go, and they keep extending the lightrail. I guess I kinda like the midwest. I don’t like my state, though, because I can never fit in here, and it’s like they specifically design our communities to be miserable. It could be a nice pretty place to live among nature, but it’s not.

    Most of the corruption I’m surrounded by seems to relate more to socioeconomics and greedy politicians than people who care about someone’s color/etc, but again, maybe naive…

    All that stuff is related, though. I don’t trust anyone who says they’re “just” an economic conservative because that’s still harmful – and this includes liberals, by the way. I don’t trust anyone who defends these inherently inequitable systems. I’m extremely unhappy with both our major parties.

    This is all my opinion though, and much of it is based on my repeated experiences. I had to leave my last job because I reported overt racism by people who were some of these “totally not racist but conservative” types. Didn’t surprise me that it happened, because I’m old and I’ve seen this scenario play out time and time again with different people.


  • I am still hoping the whole region isn’t as bad as I’m led to believe

    Well I mean, it’s not all bad. We’ve got the tribal governments, we’ve got a still not insignificant number of people who aren’t members of extremist hate groups such as the Republicans. Some of us just live here because we somehow found ourselves here and lack the resources to relocate easily. I personally fear when people write us off as all bad when there are plenty of us working to make positive change. I know so many people on the res who aren’t in positions to move states, and I know there’s also a concerted effort from the right to block Native votes. There are a lot of good people here. In fact, I sometimes can forget I’m surrounded by bigots because my own social circles aren’t like that at all.


  • I’m in one of the marginalized groups, being gay and married to a first-gen immigrant who also has trans people in my family and neighbors , family, friends who don’t speak English and/or are non-Christian (Muslims, atheists).

    It’s not like everyone here is bad, but the people who elect these bigots know exactly what they stand for, and they support it.

    Also, South Dakota has a really problematic history, so it’s not like all of this has just come out of left field.

    And I know not all religious people are hateful, so I try not to characterize them that way. One of the first people I felt comfortable coming out to was a Muslim woman, and we (my husband and I) literally are friends with some clergy who happen to be some of the most outspoken LGBTQIA+ allies in our community imo.

    But anyone who supports Republicans here knows exactly what they’re getting, and as I’ve said in many cases wish people like Noem would go even further to marginalize and oppress these marginalized groups. In fact, I used to try to befriend Republicans, but in every case they ended up disclosing to me some extremely fucked up goals, and I can’t legitimize their worldview by having anything to do with them beyond what my work requires.


  • South Dakota here. I typed out a long reply several times, but I don’t know how to explain it.

    Our governor is obviously an extremist, fully subscribing to the concept of a “border crisis,” anti-LGBTQIA+ policies, being so overtly racist that she’s banned from three reservations.

    I’m a “redneck” looking cis male, and people will share with me their opinions, thinking I’ll agree. These people don’t think people like Noem and Trump go far enough. It’s actually important to understand that even the “nice church people” types believe this. They support much more extreme policies than what we’re seeing.

    Edit: I forgot to say this, but this is only responding to the contents of your post. Your link takes me to the kbin login page.