I feel your pain . Ellensburg is pretty conservative, tho thankfully their are several people who understand the danger the current occupant in the WH presents. Some are religious and one is like me agnostic/atheist. It's the parking lot people or ones in the store that get annoying.

I'm in Spokane and it's... Ugh. People take it as a personal affront and somehow like I'm attacking them just by being different.

But I'm me, I'm good, and I like me. So I'm not too concernes

@ToolGuy

Seattleites get tired of the constant rain, clouds and gloomy fog. Also traffic congestion is horrendous in Seattle. People in California want to get away from earthquakes.

Wenatchee has sunshine, clean air and no traffic congestion. People sell their homes in California and Seattle and can buy a house in Wenatchee for far less.

Wenatchee get 300 days of sunshine per year. Mission Ridge Ski Area has powder snow 20 minutes from town. Wonderful skiing, fishing, hiking, etc. Symphony, plays and musicals. Wenatchee is a medical center. We have four neurologists, two hospitals and hundreds of medical specialists.

@jorj I’ve lived longer in rural areas than a city, but have come to know both well … thus still ask - why are the US rural areas so consistently Republican..? Is it the water? Religion? Inbreeding? Generational arrogance..? Racism? Jealousy of the educated? Disrespect for science…?

They’re not trump’s base due to their intellectual equivalence to a college town..

@jorj Ignorance is a life choice? I’d say it’s a condition.. if self-inflicted. Intellectualism is discouraged, ‘real men’ only need so much ‘book learnin,’ ur else they’ll end up with four eyes! ...shit like that..

The ‘City Liberals’ I’ve known are, educators, production supervisors, health care providers … well educated physically fit parents concerned about the future.. They admire and appreciate knowledge, not feel it’s forever beyond them. Or, that they’ll be judged negatively for acquiring it.

I’m from the West Coast! Disregarding Alaska or Hawaii -- which of those three states gave us trump..? Not mine! ‘America’s’ heartless heartland did - with help of course from the usual suspects..

‘We got trump’ after decades and billions were spent attacking his opponent. ‘We got trump’ because we lost ‘the fairness doctrine’ (requiring equal public air time on political subjects & candidates), allowing several media entities to run full-time non-stop political propaganda denouncing anyone standing in their way of one-sided wealth and control.

‘We got trump’ because my nation was primed for his brand of evil and ignorance. ‘We got trump’ because instead of having paid attention to the important stuff … our society was chasing shiny objects and the latest trend. ‘We got trump’ because the russians knew Hillary would stand up to them!

And ‘we got trump’ because my rural brethren (the actual subject of the post) are nowhere near the moral, patriotic, land-loving, salt-of-the-earth folks they’d have us believe. They are less educated than their suburban counterparts, and apparently proud of it ~

@jorj ...don’t know why I’d hoped for more from you..

But you’re not alone around here, so tell me, as an Atheist or Agnostic, who’s going to best protect your freedom from religion?

Other than that, your accusations are childish and unworthy of my time ~

@Varn That was an interesting back and forth. I too have lived in the both city and rural. Willfull ignorance is EXactly the way to describe it. It devolves to stupid when after enough attempts they still only watch fox & friends to the exclusion of all other input. What is most disturbing and sad is the amount of knowledge literally at our finger tips and still if you only pick one view and ignore all the information you'll remain ignorant.

@silverotter11 This summer my county’s being wired with underground fiber, with eventual internet speeds as fast as anywhere. If the municipalities wish to keep up with the world, they’ll do it too. But yes, the information’s available for the ruralites to use.

Even in rural Oregon I could trek 30 miles to a college town with an ‘open to all library’ with high speed internet and knowledge galore Their charter required them to provide material to all members of the county, though rarely used by any...

“jorj” above could be used as Exhibit A. No desire to learn is what it apparently comes down to. ‘At best,’ parrot talking points gleaned from ‘rush,’ or ‘fox,’ or as likely an online ‘white nationalist’ group.. Such remain, even move to the rurals to avoid the educated..

I’d volunteered bigtime in my kid’s rural school, so met parents.. Many having specifically moved from a suburban area to ‘make their stand’ in ‘the country.’ Like “jorj” above, they rejected education, consistently voting against school board candidates looking to improve any aspect of it, from curriculum to infrastructure. Then off to ‘Sunday school’ they’d go ..to donate big to ‘their church.’

It was tragic to watch my children’s school friends morph with time into closed minded, religion soaked, self-limiting adult versions of their parents... Or, those rebelling with drugs, pregnancies, reckless behavior and eventual homelessness. We’d helped some.. But it became all mine could do to escape.

A desire to ‘keep life simple’ seems the mantra of the ruralites.. But life’s not simple, especially if children continue to be pumped out with a religious mandate ..into an ever increasingly competitive world. They can hide in the hills, the basements of their churches, or the bunkers of their compounds ... but eventually the world will find them. Must be what all their guns are for?

Sorry for the tangent.. Still in the thick of it, rural ignorance remains a troubling aspect of my life. But the answer may be inside the word ‘ignorance,’ as they chose to “ignore.”

@Varn Thank you for sharing this. Really, I know what you are saying and it is sad to see the minds of people closing as the elected officials that have brought trumpthink to full flower. There really is war against knowledge. Working against it, working to get intelligent officials elected and the really bad ones out is a priority.

Always wondered about the Ark. If god created all the animals in the first place, why did he not just recreate them, what did he need Noah for ? And why did all the land plants not drown, and if they did what did the animals eat when they landed, and........ ?

@jorj Until someone says the fatal two words . . . . "Prove it."

No doubt, some people are idiots . . . . not all though. Agnostics and Atheists have the false belief that they are wasting their time though . . . . but if they are wasting their time, it would not explain why I became an Agnostic . . . . . But that happens is, the Agnostic or Atheist has a discussion with an religio-nazi, and walk away thinking it was a waste of time . . . . but when the person they talked to has to think over what was said, and try to construct counter-arguments, they can't . . . . so they are forced to change their views. Everyone is influenced by what they hear, even the religio-fuktards, if it were not so, you would not see the results of all the shit the media is spreading.

Wow, the other side of the Republican Coin ...I’m dealing with his inbred gun-toting worshipers in the hinterlands.. No golf for them ~

The PostScript is a nice touch.

I was never that defiant with co-workers or neighbors, but I was also open about who I was. Now that I am retired, I don't need to take any shit from anyone and don't.

You go sister!! Me too, I say "let your freak flag fly" LOL!

Good for you, Jolanta!

I have found many conservative Christians believe it is okay to force their beliefs on others, to the point of harassment - sort of like the way fundemental Muslims want to force Sharia Law on everyone, least the conservative Christians haven't resorted to stoning anyone, yet. I have yet to fine a moderate, liberal or progressive Christian or otherwise so inclined. I currently reside in a conservative area of WA State. Everyone is welcome to their opinion and belief I do not find it necessary to ever call anyone names for their belief or opinion - the president or elected officials aside, they knew the job was dangerous when they took it.

@silverotter11 I haven’t had any trouble declining the Christain overtures myself and have found almost all of them to be good people. I think a lot of them are Christian more because of tradition than because they truly believe. However you do occasionally religious nut but I usually just ignore those.

@silverotter11 When people attempt to force their beliefs on others by harassment & intimidation, they are insisting they are right because they deeply fear they are wrong. People who are secure in their beliefs may offer those beliefs to those who seem interested, but they don't force or demand acceptance

@Remiforce That is true.