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I’m gonna give you a really unpopular take on that, but I think it’s sort of a half truth. Not that the civil war is fake, it seems fairly real as far as I can tell, but that it’s actually quite common for the news media to focus on other stories besides the ones that matter simply because they don’t want to undermine their patrons. Or they might quite often simply ignore part of a story or exaggerate something to make it seem like it’s bigger or smaller.
Furthermore, they aren’t exactly wrong about the elites. They aren’t in the same world as you and I are. They certainly consider themselves Americans in the sense that this is their home, but quite often, because of their donors and the fact that most of them spend large amounts of time overseas, don’t see the fact of them being Americans as a reason to choose to do things to help the average American over other global concerns. They also, just on the values, attitudes, and beliefs don’t hold the same culture that regular Americans do. Traditional American culture is Western European (basically British, Celtic, and German), more religious and very specifically evangelical Christian, strongly believe in the work ethic — and especially practical work (building and inventing useful things, farming and so on), and strongly oriented to their family. The elites would see that culture as backwards, racist, poorly educated and cultured, and in need of enlightenment.
Funny thing is the "German" part could even get you in jail about 100 years ago or so... You know, given the war with Germany and yelling fire in a crowded theater and all that. As for the Celtic, if we go another 50 years back, "no Irish need apply" would be a familiar phrase. So I wonder, what is that "traditional American culture" we love so much?
I mean yeah, cultures change. That doesn’t mean that there’s no current culture or clash between American folk culture and the type of culture the elites want us to adopt.
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