I was driving through rural Oklahoma yesterday and stopped for gas in the little panhandle town of Guymond. It used to be a ranching community. In recent years it has been dying. The population dwindling as the younger generation moved away. Now there is an industrial hog farm there and it has produced a strange dynamic. Where formerly, the hispanic population was relegated to menial jobs like building fence and seasonal labor, the now have relatively well paying jobs at the pig shit factory. This is because by and large the white kids won't do that work. So times are changing. But the business owners are still by and large white and conservative.
It has always struck me as strange that the state that gave use Will Rogers and Woody Guthrie is now subjecting us to James Inhofe and Tom Coburn. What the fuck happened? Well, getting them out of this rut is going to be no easy task if my breakfast at McDonald's is any indication.
I pulled into the place and ordered a sandwich and an orange juice and was surprised to see a small plasma screen tv with some chairs around it. I wasn't used to seeing that in a McDonalds. So, I sat down in front of it and noticed that there was a news show on. They were discussing the Supreme Court nomination and realized as they were droning on and on about empathy, that it was Fox News. I looked around and noticed that it was filled with mostly middle aged hispanics and asked if anyone else there was offended by Fox News. Someone said, 'change it'. So, I got up to change the channel and I couldn't find any buttons on the damn thing to change the channel. I walked over to the counter and asked the manager 'How do you change the channel on the TV'
'Oh, you can't change the channel. That's all you get on it!'
"Are you serious?' I replied. 'That isn't even real news. It's right wing propaganda' Loud enough to make sure everyone in the place heard it. There was general laughter at this point. 'That crap will make you stupid. Its no accident that there isn't any choice' and I walked out of the place to eat my sandwich in my car.