Betcha this'll never make the Rec list!
homophobia:
irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals.
ruralphobia:
irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against rural life or rural folks.
Greetings from my neighborhood library. My neighborhood library is open six days a week with a half dozen computers, Wi-Fi, every newspaper in the region, and of course shelf fulls of books and other media. Our town provides all utilities; Nice to have your own local utility repair folks when the power goes out. We've got parks including a swimming pool for the kids, subsidized housing for low income folks, senior housing, and our own medical clinic and hospital right here in the neighborhood. And while there's a big box home improvement store nearby, we've got our own co-op lumber yard with complete hardware and tool departments. As you've probably guessed by now, this progressive neighborhood leans democratic- Our state legislators and congressmember are all democrats and we voted for democrats in all the recent statewide elections. We've got a very active PFLAG chapter and both our state legislators voted against the Republicon's anti-marriage amendment.
You'd expect this progressive 'hood to be in a major metro inner city, or at least a first ring older suburb. Surprise: We're 30 miles from an interstate highway, 20 miles from the nearest Walmart, and 70 miles from the nearest Target store. My neighborhood is the town of Tyler, Minnesota, an old railroad town and rural trade center in southwest Minnesota. Our population is a bit over a thousand and holding. And being 20 miles from a bigger town actually helps us- for example, local tradespeople bought shares in the co-op lumberyard to keep it open so they wouldn't have to drive 40 miles whenever they ran out of nails, etc..
So much for any stereotypes about rural life and rural folks... And we've got stereotypes and downright ruralphobia in spades here at DKos and in the progressive movement. Heck, last week I was engaged in a running argument with the managers of Netroots Nation over there ignorance of rural issues and outright worship of big cities. I get the general feeling that we won't see NN meet in a metro area of less than a million in my lifetime. And that ruralphobia infects the progressive movement, as we see every election cycle when resources are showered on metro area races while winnable races in rural districts are ignored.
So let's work through our ruralphobia, and as a guide I'll talk about my own journey out of ruralphobia and into the countryside. I wasn't born out here, in fact my family was a couple generations removed from rural life. I believed all the common stereotypes about rural areas being fertile ground for narrow minded bigots who'd kill you if they wouldn't get caught. And being these irrational fears were set in lonely rural areas, there was a good chance they wouldn't get caught.
Cut back to the late 1970s... I take a vocational school course and learn how to drive truck. I get hired by a big wholesale bakery in the inner city of Minneapolis. My job? Drive out to rural Minnesota and Wisconsin and deliver bread, mostly at night. So here I am, wandering into rural truck stops and resteraunts supposedly peopled with narrow minded bigots just looking for an uppity queer woman to teach a lesson to. The reality... I spent many a pleasant break and lunch conversing and socializing with the rural farmers, truckers, cops, retirees, etc.. By the time that job disappeared in 1992, I was such a confirmed ruralphile that I travelled the countryside at every opportunity. I started looking at rural land, even though my job kept me in the city all week. When gangbangers took over my 'hood in Minneapolis I enjoyed weekend's at my late friend Stephanie's home in Starbuck, Minnesota. And when I finally retired and the city of Minneapolis made it financially impossible to rehab my house there, I bought a most affordable earth sheltered home out here in western Minnesota. I'm not saying I don't get a little nervous in the presence of a half dozen bullhaulers, but I seemed to pretty well cured of ruralphobia.
I'm not the only progressive who has progressed beyond ruralphobia. For some years I've served on the board of the Stonewall DFL, the GLBTI caucus of Minnesota's democratic party. There's a half dozen pride celebrations in rural Minnesota every year, and it used to be like pulling hen's teeth to get board members to attend them. Now, it seems like half the board shows up to staff our table at events clear across the state, and many stay overnight and enjoy the whole weekend's pride celebrations.
So there is a cure for ruralphobia, and the sooner we start talking about it the sooner we'll be rid of ruralphobia. So let the discussion begin...