How the Other Half Lives

I live in a hall of mirrors.

Each day, I communicate with my self-selected peer group, both online and off. We debate amongst ourselves the relative merits of concepts and theories which involve at least a modicum of intellectual consideration. Sources are cited, and biases examined. In the end, though we may not always agree, there is at least an understanding that our individual conclusions are coming from an honest attempt to assess facts and opinions and distill their essences for a clearer grasp of whatever truth may lie within.

What I forget, at my own peril, is that this is not normal.

I grew up in a relatively small Texas town. In that time, I learned a lot about how what would come to be called Red America makes its decisions. Gut feelings are prized far above the so-called “facts” that the pointy-heads who think they’re better than you trot out from their ivory towers. They tell you to question your feelings, but those feelings were put there by god, and “facts” are meant to trick you into betraying your creator and your culture. Science, psychology, challenging tradition, all of these things are the enemy of the gut, which you must clear your mind to hear, and it will channel god’s will through your heart.

Raised in that environment, even with parents who did not wholly cotton to its tenets, it’s been a difficult…