What a Blue NC Means for Berkely, or My Reply to Dave Winer

Here’s my reply to this post from Dave Winer (particularly the comment thread):

“I’m a white middle-class male who lives in Asheville, NC. I’m also a web marketing consultant that follows the techmeme world pretty closesly, so I get to travel out to the promiseld land of the Valley and NYC quite often.

I’m also a progressive. I also grew up in redneck-ville, SC. And I’m now a seminarian at a podunk little Baptist school near Charlotte, NC.

Next week, a group of 10 of us are taking off from seminary and heading to Charleston, SC (home of the first Synagogue in this hemisphere), Florida and DC to meet with rabbis and attend services in the hopes of finding more common ground on the question of Jewish-Christian relations. Baptists (particularly from the South) have a rocky relationship with Jews (as you know) bc of the bone headedness of the Southern Baptist Convention (of which we nor our seminary are a part), so there needs to be dialogue there. We’re trying to show another face of Baptists from this area. And the 10 of us aren’t alone down here in redneck-ville.

For the past 8 months, I’ve been working on the ground here in NC to get Obama through the primaries and now in the general election. I’m the vice-chair of our precinct and there’s so much excitement about Obama both here in Asheville (where he spent 4 days doing pre-debate prep and held a rally on Sunday that drew 22,000 in a town of around 70,000) and NC in general. After we return from our trip, I’ll be working non-stop doing last min voter registrations, canvassing neighborhoods and going door to door to get out the vote. And I’m not alone.

My point is that I’ve been a reader, listener and subscriber of yours for years (and agree with you 90% of the time) and this post makes me especially sad considering we are on the verge of seeing NC go Blue in just a couple of weeks. The enormity of that shift is incredibly important for my 1 year old daughter that will thankfully grow up never knowing a President Dubya but will certainly be charged with cleaning up his messes. The enormity of that shift (along with a potential Blue VA and shifting demographics in places like Columbia, SC) will change American politics as “the South” will no longer be safely Red in the coming years.

As a self professed Obama supporter, I’m shocked that you and the other commentors here would pre-judge an entire region of our country, where a number of people (even us religious folk) are working to cause change in the trenches (both for Obama and for better religious dialogue).

When Obama is elected because of a blue NC and Berkely erupts with celebration and “job well done” self lauding, don’t forget out us down here in the South. We will have worked hard for that change, and we will continue to be working hard for change everyday.

Now back to clinging to my guns, religion and Bible-
Sam”

Perhaps I’ve been reading too much from another Berkely resident, John Elliott, who is doing work on the ground.

42 Replies to “What a Blue NC Means for Berkely, or My Reply to Dave Winer”

  1. I responded to your comment on my blog.

    Reply

  2. yep, saw that and tweeted about it. just wanted to get some people thinking who read here, and point them over to Scripting.com for the full convo.

    Reply

  3. Just gotta say I thought your rant was pretty unfair.

    Reply

  4. It was more of a defense rather than a rant, and I'm sorry that you see it as unfair. I'm really not sure how it could be unfair since I was responding to the tone and content of your post and comments in regards to how Southerners are anti-Semitic right wingers by nature. I'm just trying to point out that's not the case.

    Reply

  5. “I’m shocked that you and the other commentors here would pre-judge an entire region of our country”That didn't happen Sam.

    Reply

  6. Really? Then what is this comment?http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/10/08/had…Not to mention the tone of every other commenter there.My aim with my comment is simply to remind you and your readers that not everyone in “the Bible Belt” is a gun-totin' racist/bigot/anti-semite. There are (*gasp*) progressives here fighting for Obama, justice and reconciliation.The type of derogatory attitude you and the other commenters presented about southerners, be they dimwit Republicans or Dems, does no good in helping to bridge the gaps in our society (and in our Democratic Party) that are ever widening. Let's put aside the gross-generalized stereotypes and realize that there are plenty of folks all over the map that share our views…hence, we're looking at a Blue NC this election.

    Reply

  7. I responded to your comment on my blog.

    Reply

    1. yep, saw that and tweeted about it. just wanted to get some people thinking who read here, and point them over to Scripting.com for the full convo.

      Reply

      1. Just gotta say I thought your rant was pretty unfair.

        Reply

        1. It was more of a defense rather than a rant, and I’m sorry that you see it as unfair. I’m really not sure how it could be unfair since I was responding to the tone and content of your post and comments in regards to how Southerners are anti-Semitic right wingers by nature. I’m just trying to point out that’s not the case.

          Reply

          1. “I’m shocked that you and the other commentors here would pre-judge an entire region of our country”

            That didn’t happen Sam.

            Reply

            1. Really? Then what is this comment?

              http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/10/08/hadMyFillOfNashville.html#comment-2943891

              Not to mention the tone of every other commenter there.

              My aim with my comment is simply to remind you and your readers that not everyone in “the Bible Belt” is a gun-totin’ racist/bigot/anti-semite. There are (*gasp*) progressives here fighting for Obama, justice and reconciliation.

              The type of derogatory attitude you and the other commenters presented about southerners, be they dimwit Republicans or Dems, does no good in helping to bridge the gaps in our society (and in our Democratic Party) that are ever widening.

              Let’s put aside the gross-generalized stereotypes and realize that there are plenty of folks all over the map that share our views…hence, we’re looking at a Blue NC this election.

              Reply

              1. We were talking about Belmont University in Nashville, not you or North Carolina or a whole region, or even all of Nashville for that matter. You over-reacted on a pretty big scale there Sam.

                Reply

  8. I responded to your comment on my blog.

    Reply

    1. yep, saw that and tweeted about it. just wanted to get some people thinking who read here, and point them over to Scripting.com for the full convo.

      Reply

      1. Just gotta say I thought your rant was pretty unfair.

        Reply

        1. It was more of a defense rather than a rant, and I’m sorry that you see it as unfair. I’m really not sure how it could be unfair since I was responding to the tone and content of your post and comments in regards to how Southerners are anti-Semitic right wingers by nature. I’m just trying to point out that’s not the case.

          Reply

          1. “I’m shocked that you and the other commentors here would pre-judge an entire region of our country”

            That didn’t happen Sam.

            Reply

            1. Really? Then what is this comment?

              http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/10/08/hadMyFillOfNashville.html#comment-2943891

              Not to mention the tone of every other commenter there.

              My aim with my comment is simply to remind you and your readers that not everyone in “the Bible Belt” is a gun-totin’ racist/bigot/anti-semite. There are (*gasp*) progressives here fighting for Obama, justice and reconciliation.

              The type of derogatory attitude you and the other commenters presented about southerners, be they dimwit Republicans or Dems, does no good in helping to bridge the gaps in our society (and in our Democratic Party) that are ever widening.

              Let’s put aside the gross-generalized stereotypes and realize that there are plenty of folks all over the map that share our views…hence, we’re looking at a Blue NC this election.

              Reply

              1. We were talking about Belmont University in Nashville, not you or North Carolina or a whole region, or even all of Nashville for that matter. You over-reacted on a pretty big scale there Sam.

                Reply

  9. I responded to your comment on my blog.

    Reply

    1. Sam Harrelson October 9, 2008 at 12:35

      yep, saw that and tweeted about it. just wanted to get some people thinking who read here, and point them over to Scripting.com for the full convo.

      Reply

      1. Just gotta say I thought your rant was pretty unfair.

        Reply

        1. Sam Harrelson October 9, 2008 at 12:51

          It was more of a defense rather than a rant, and I’m sorry that you see it as unfair. I’m really not sure how it could be unfair since I was responding to the tone and content of your post and comments in regards to how Southerners are anti-Semitic right wingers by nature. I’m just trying to point out that’s not the case.

          Reply

          1. “I’m shocked that you and the other commentors here would pre-judge an entire region of our country”

            That didn’t happen Sam.

            Reply

            1. Sam Harrelson October 9, 2008 at 13:30

              Really? Then what is this comment?

              http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/10/08/hadMyFillOfNashville.html#comment-2943891

              Not to mention the tone of every other commenter there.

              My aim with my comment is simply to remind you and your readers that not everyone in “the Bible Belt” is a gun-totin’ racist/bigot/anti-semite. There are (*gasp*) progressives here fighting for Obama, justice and reconciliation.

              The type of derogatory attitude you and the other commenters presented about southerners, be they dimwit Republicans or Dems, does no good in helping to bridge the gaps in our society (and in our Democratic Party) that are ever widening.

              Let’s put aside the gross-generalized stereotypes and realize that there are plenty of folks all over the map that share our views…hence, we’re looking at a Blue NC this election.

              Reply

              1. We were talking about Belmont University in Nashville, not you or North Carolina or a whole region, or even all of Nashville for that matter. You over-reacted on a pretty big scale there Sam.

                Reply

  10. I responded to your comment on my blog.

    Reply

    1. yep, saw that and tweeted about it. just wanted to get some people thinking who read here, and point them over to Scripting.com for the full convo.

      Reply

      1. Just gotta say I thought your rant was pretty unfair.

        Reply

        1. It was more of a defense rather than a rant, and I’m sorry that you see it as unfair. I’m really not sure how it could be unfair since I was responding to the tone and content of your post and comments in regards to how Southerners are anti-Semitic right wingers by nature. I’m just trying to point out that’s not the case.

          Reply

          1. “I’m shocked that you and the other commentors here would pre-judge an entire region of our country”

            That didn’t happen Sam.

            Reply

            1. Really? Then what is this comment?

              http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/10/08/hadMyFillOfNashville.html#comment-2943891

              Not to mention the tone of every other commenter there.

              My aim with my comment is simply to remind you and your readers that not everyone in “the Bible Belt” is a gun-totin’ racist/bigot/anti-semite. There are (*gasp*) progressives here fighting for Obama, justice and reconciliation.

              The type of derogatory attitude you and the other commenters presented about southerners, be they dimwit Republicans or Dems, does no good in helping to bridge the gaps in our society (and in our Democratic Party) that are ever widening.

              Let’s put aside the gross-generalized stereotypes and realize that there are plenty of folks all over the map that share our views…hence, we’re looking at a Blue NC this election.

              Reply

              1. We were talking about Belmont University in Nashville, not you or North Carolina or a whole region, or even all of Nashville for that matter. You over-reacted on a pretty big scale there Sam.

                Reply

  11. I responded to your comment on my blog.

    Reply

  12. yep, saw that and tweeted about it. just wanted to get some people thinking who read here, and point them over to Scripting.com for the full convo.

    Reply

  13. Just gotta say I thought your rant was pretty unfair.

    Reply

  14. It was more of a defense rather than a rant, and I'm sorry that you see it as unfair. I'm really not sure how it could be unfair since I was responding to the tone and content of your post and comments in regards to how Southerners are anti-Semitic right wingers by nature. I'm just trying to point out that's not the case.

    Reply

  15. “I’m shocked that you and the other commentors here would pre-judge an entire region of our country”That didn't happen Sam.

    Reply

  16. Really? Then what is this comment?http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/10/08/had…Not to mention the tone of every other commenter there.My aim with my comment is simply to remind you and your readers that not everyone in “the Bible Belt” is a gun-totin' racist/bigot/anti-semite. There are (*gasp*) progressives here fighting for Obama, justice and reconciliation.The type of derogatory attitude you and the other commenters presented about southerners, be they dimwit Republicans or Dems, does no good in helping to bridge the gaps in our society (and in our Democratic Party) that are ever widening. Let's put aside the gross-generalized stereotypes and realize that there are plenty of folks all over the map that share our views…hence, we're looking at a Blue NC this election.

    Reply

  17. We were talking about Belmont University in Nashville, not you or North Carolina or a whole region, or even all of Nashville for that matter. You over-reacted on a pretty big scale there Sam.

    Reply

  18. We were talking about Belmont University in Nashville, not you or North Carolina or a whole region, or even all of Nashville for that matter. You over-reacted on a pretty big scale there Sam.

    Reply

Leave a Reply