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By
WADE GOSSETT
In the aftermath of the 2004
presidential election, this classified ad, titled
"Straight male seeks Bush supporter for fair,
physical fight," appeared on the popular
craigslist.org site. The poster explained that, "I
would like to fight a Bush supporter to vent my
anger. If you are one, have a fiery streak, please
contact me so we can meet and physically fight. I
would like to beat the s*** out of you."
The British tabloid Daily Mirror, also channeling
those who thought that no sentient -- let alone
rational -- being could have voted for a moronic,
petulant man-child over an obviously flawed but
basically sane and decent man, greeted its readers
with this headline: "How can 59,054,087 people be
so DUMB?"
Well, are they dumb, these Bush supporters, these
Red Staters? Oobviously not all 59 million who
voted for George W. Bush belong to the same
demographic, geographic, or even IQ group. And as
the recent 2006 Congressional election, which
resulted in a Democratic rout, has shown, many
voters are capable of changing their minds when
the facts become unavoidable. But we know now,
simplistic as it may sound, that there is a core
group, that 30% of voters who are still with Bush,
those dead-enders mostly from the Confederate
states, plus Idaho and Utah, who will stick with
Bush no matter how incompetent and insane he's
shown to be because he's a "good Christian man."
Of all the weird cults, how a fake cowboy from
Connecticut who's never worked and never served
and never read has managed to inspire these red
staters with so much affection may be a mystery,
but Michael Shea, filmmaker from progressive
Venice Beach, California, decided to find out. And
so he took his film crew on a 22-state
cross-country trip to the red states of the US and
interviewed several of these Bush voters.
It's obvious that Shea does his best to provide a
truly fair and balanced look, and he conducts his
interviews with civility. His questions are
pointed, but they're delivered gently. "Red State"
was neither conceived nor filmed as an
inquisition. Shea is trying mighty to understand
why these people think so differently than he
does. It's commendable, but ultimately many of the
folks he interviews are revealed to be mostly
ignorant of the world and so afraid of modernity
that it's unlikely anyone can change their minds.
One man describes California -- based apparently
on a very short hotel stay -- as a place of
prostitution and drugs. California is, of course,
bigger than most countries and has many disparate
regions. Abortion and gay marriage dominate these
people's thoughts and voting, even when they're
solidly in the progressive camp on economic
issues.
Shea tries to approach these people as fellow
human beings capable of viewing us also as human
beings worthy of sharing the country. But, I'm
sorry to say, what comes through loud and clear is
that these folks want to turn our country into a
capitalist theocracy, like -- they incredibly
insist -- it used to be. How is it possible to
share anything with people whose very idea of what
this country is all about is so fundamentally
different? One vomitous mass of a woman
inadvertently trips, and let's us know what she
craves for is segregation. Then realizing she gave
herself away, attacks Shea for tricking her into
telling us what she really thinks. She is Gladys
Gill, the head of Mississippi's Concerned Women
for America.
Before Shea ventured into Bush country, he cut his
shaggy hair. This is telling. He didn't want to
alienate anyone by looking like their idea of a
dirty hippy. This almost inconsequential act sets
the tone of the film: Shea tries hard to find a
middle ground and is willing to compromise with
the red staters. He does not want to offend
anyone. Time and time again he strives for the
middle ground. Inadvertently this approach
highlights the principal difference between red
and blue: The red states do not want any middle
ground. They want it all. They want the gays and
the secularists and anyone else they don't like to
just go away. This is their country and they don't
want to share. We have Shea, they have Coulter.
Therein the difference lies.
I wish I knew who that guy from craigslist.org
was. There are still moments when I feel like
joining him. |
