Tom Wolfe explains the election results but doubts our betters will get it:
The truth is that my pals, my fellow journos and literary types, would feel more comfortable going to Baghdad than to Cincinnati. Most couldn’t tell you what state Cincinnati is in and going there would be like being assigned to a tumbleweed county in Mexico.
They can talk to sheikhs in Lebanon and esoteric radical groups in Uzbekistan, but talk to someone in Cincinnati . . . are you crazy? They have no concept of what America is made of and even now they won’t see that.
I can't remember who blogged it, but having Christiane Amanpour report from the parking lot of the Dairy Queen in Possum Trot, Texas would be something I'd like to see. She might find some interesting things going on down there.
Wolfe, like many others, is pointing to James Webb's ethnography book "Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America," as an introduction to the people who decided this election.
I won't hold my breath waiting for people to "celebrate our diversity".
Posted by floridacracker at November 8, 2004 09:09 AMWhat a pleasant surprise. I like Tom Wolfe anyway (even though he can't write a decent ending to a novel), but I really expected him to be a Gore Vidalite.
Posted by: James at November 8, 2004 02:21 PMThanks for the interesting post. I'm Scots-Irish myself. Noticed that book in a recent WSJ which mentioned there were about 30 million, many or most supporting Bush.
Posted by: Norma at November 8, 2004 05:33 PMJames-Tom Wolfe has a way with words. I loved his "Social X-Rays" and "Master of the Universe" in Bonfire.
Me too, Norma.
Posted by: Donnah at November 9, 2004 04:20 PM