It's a Beautiful Day in Happy Valley

[6_bleen_7]

A disturbing article appeared in the New York Times last Sunday (may require registration to read). It explores George W. Bush's continuing popularity in Utah, hinting at the reason behind this anomaly without quite explaining it. The outrageous quotes therein from Bush-faithful Utahns just make me want to fly back there and slap a few people

Comments

[samwibatt]

Well, at least we don't have very many electoral votes.

[6_bleen_7]

For now. With that birthrate you'll be picking up a couple every election. Sigh.

[chillyrodent]

It would have been cool to have more information. About Delia, for example. ... said Delia Randall, a 22-year-old mother [of eight] from Provo.

[chillyrodent]

Hmm, I don't connect STDs and tooth-loss with Mormonism. Lack of education, yes.

[jimcarson]

Lack of education, yes

The folks I've known personally were definitely educated. Their their strong conviction and prioritization of social mores were (to me) creepy.

[wananga]

These people are ming-bogglingly stupid. And they're allowed to breed? That has to be stopped.

[6_bleen_7]

Not stupid, but rather closed-minded. I knew medical students at the University of Utah who were fantastically gifted academically, but still fervently believed all of Mormon mythology down to the last archaeologically impossible detail. It requires a fastastic level of doublethink to know anything about science and still take the stories in the Book of Mormon at face value.

[wananga]

Fair enough, but I still think they shouldn't breed.

[6_bleen_7]

I agree with you there. The birth rate in Utah rivals that in Third World countries. If they suddenly cut it to one child per family, the population would still rise for decades, while everybody got older without dying.

[6_bleen_7]

The thing is, the folks interviewed are not rednecks. Provo is a lot like Bellevue: a generally prosperous satellite city of Salt Lake. It astounds me how insular Mormon society is, given that so many Mormon men have spent two years assimilated within a completely different culture. (Of course, they were there to convert the "ignorant heathen," but still.)

[6_bleen_7]

Well, yes, one can be a redneck in spirit without being a redneck in demographic. But typical "redneck" ignorance is an unfortunate consequence of socioeconomic status and a culture that denigrates thinking and learning, whereas the people proclaiming their loyalty to Bush are willfully ignorant; they have the education and experience to think critically, but don't.