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Matt Forney, for those here who never heard of him, is a relatively obscure blogger, troll, journalist and author who at least used to identify as alt/dissident-right (he even attended that infamous NPI conference of Richard Spencer in 2016), one of the earliest disciples of Roissy and had been active in the blogosphere as early as he was. He’s from NY state but has been an expat living in various countries for a decade or so, it’s thus entirely plausible that his knowledge of US small towns is limited or outdated. I find it very unlikely though that he isn’t aware of the opioid epidemic or the white trash characteristics of Jerry Springer’s audience, parts of West Virginia or the fandom of professional wrestling.
Anyway, what I’d point out is that his tweet seems to specifically address a clueless and rosy assumption that seems to hold on among comfortable middle-class mainstream Republicans, probably since Reagan’s time or at least Clinton’s time, that although the nation’s big cities may be lost to cultural degeneracy and leftist hegemony, but the predominantly white rural areas, flyover states and US small towns are still populated by decent, hard-working, salt-of-the-earth patriots with their heads screwed on right. This notion appears from time to time, just think of that dumbass ‘Try That in a Small Town’ song that was also discussed on this board.
What is the truth of the matter? Tattoos, for example, used to only be worn by prostitutes, soldiers, sailors and criminals. I imagine there was a time when the only people who had piercings were dissident artists, freaks and hooligans. There were degenerate hobbies that were only practiced by the spoilt offspring of rich urban families or members of the underclass with nothing to lose. But all these things have since been normalized and commercialized, as is to be expected under modern capitalism. These trends started in big cities and gradually spread to mid-sized towns, eventually to small towns. It wasn’t a quick process, but it did happen. It seems many people share the illusion that it has not happened and will not happen to the bucolic small towns they have always idealized. That is Forney’s point.
I think you're heavily overselling the spread. I actually do live in a small town, and with travel sports I see a bunch of the others in the area. A mom having a tattoo or three is no longer outrageous, sure, but not the default, they're in reasonably concealable locations, and she mostly doesn't have any facial piercings. The vast, vast majority have no visible "cultural degeneracy" markers at all.
Arm tats on dads are a bit more common.
I've never had a diner waitress who looked like a leftist. I mean, they exist, but it's like the white girl with dreads at the smoke shop. The attendants at one particular amusement park were very disproportionately gender-ambiguous they/thems.
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