What JD Vance Isn't Telling You About Eastern Kentucky ...

** Edited, PS added.

I haven't read or watched "Hillbilly Elegy," because knowing that JD Vance is a Republican, I already knew that he would be prone to blaming people for their own poverty and addiction, despite the fact that these are chronically economically deprived communities, we're talking about, with little to no jobs (with their leadership making no attempts to attract more business, I'll get to that below) and were targeted by certain pharma companies for the opioid crisis.

I have read excerpts, however, and I think he's oversimplifying solutions to complex problems (like Republicans often do), as well as not telling you everything you need to know about these areas. 

For example, communities that are chronically economically deprived are also drug-addled, violent (gun and otherwise) and full of crime, whether it's inner-city or Appalachia.

(Republicans like to ignore that Appalachian America is just as gun-violent and drug-addled as inner cities, because it doesn't support their narrative that only Democrat-led "chocolate" cities are drug-addled and violent. They like to use Detroit as an example,  completely ignoring that car companies began shutting down plants and outsourcing their jobs overseas since the 1980s.)

You will also see violence, drugs, and crime - and tack on homelessness - in pockets of large cities that although may be economically thriving overall, have a greater disparity between rich and poor, to the degree that the cost of living/housing exceeds even middle class ability to obtain it - LA, NYC, Chicago, etc.

However, for this post, we are focused on Appalachian Eastern Kentucky, that has been chronically economically deprived with few jobs but coal mining for well over a century.

And despite JD Vance insinuating the culture is chosen and creates the economy, IMO - with some statistics to back it up - it's actually the other way around - the economy creates the culture. 

When there are few jobs and few resources, especially for decades, people will resort to fighting each other over them and do whatever they need to do to survive, as if there's an apocalypse - and it's not pretty.

But to step back a minute,  the first and most important thing you need to know that JD fails to mention is that these Eastern Kentucky counties have exclusively had Republican leadership for the last 60+ years, as their populations are 80% or more Republican.

Ironically, yes - many of them are on food stamps public assistance,  and still vote Republican - but when there are no jobs, what else have they?

The only part of that makes me scratch my head is how they can still vote Republican though on public assistance, but I have a good idea why - keep reading.

And considering public assistance is the bare minimum to survive, yes - many do sell opioids for extra cash, guns, prostitution, whatever they can do to make extra cash. 

Like I said, with few jobs and few resources -  people will do whatever they need to do to survive.

You see, my Dad was born and raised in nearby Harlan County, also in Eastern Kentucky (about 1 hour from Vance's Breathitt County), which is actually worse, economically and otherwise.  Yes, THAT Harlan County, AKA as "Bloody Harlan, dramatized in the popular FX TV show "Justified."

Harlan County, Kentucky, is one of the most drug-addled, violent communities in America.

Harlan County is also 94.4% white of European heritage, 85% Republican.

And though the official religious census data gives Christian faith a 51% in Harlan County in 2020, it only tracked church membership/regular attendance.   

However, since only 1 person in the total population of 23K in Harlan identified as "other" (Baha'i faith) - with no Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, agnostic/atheists at all being reported - it is likely the true Christian demographic in Harlan County is just shy of 100%

JD Vance's nearby Breathitt County has almost identical demographics, but with a slightly larger Democrat population.

Thus, the second thing JD Vance isn't telling you is that these Eastern Kentucky, drug-addled, gun-violent communities are almost exclusively white, Christian Republicans.

Well, at least he mentions them, he just conveniently ignores the demographics - because as I said, it doesn't fit the Republican false-narrative that only Democratic-led, black, inner cities are addled with drugs and violence!

One thing JD does get right, from what I understand, is that the culture begets itself - but is that their own fault?

Some may carry some choice responsibility, but then again, they don't have many choices - and there is just as much argument that their leadership's choices carries some responsibility.

People fear change, and the people in charge in these regions know that and want to keep it that way, because it benefits them, using their their fear of change and outsiders to glean votes for themselves.

My grandfather was once a deputy sheriff in Harlan, leaving Harlan as "a crooked puzzle that will never be solved" for Louisville.

He said it's not the fault of the everyday, poor Harlan person - it's the fault of the leadership and people that DO have money, benefitting from (and exploiting) them for their own gain - and again, the leadership in all of those counties is Republican and has been for over 60 years. 

(My grandfather was also Republican, but considered the Republicans in Harlan as corrupt lackeys for the coal companies who were out to line their own pockets rather than caring about the people.)

Because just like the coal companies that came in years earlier who exploited them, causing the "Harlan County Wars," to the degree that federal government came in to stop the violence and rescue them for exploitation - TWICE - the Republican leadership does the bidding of these corporations and exploits them, too, for their own gain.

Republicans like to spout their belief in "trickle down" theory - which although may create jobs locally (not in Eastern Kentucky), it has never worked once at a national level for anyone from the middle-class down, especially at a national/multinational corporate level.  People are too greedy!

And yet coal miners and other labor unions in American continue to support Republican economic policies, despite it being the same political side as the coal corporations and executives, cutting their own throats financially and benefitting those that already have money.

Why?

Because their fear/distrust of outsiders "invading them" is greater.

Fear of people of color, immigrants, Northerners, newcomers in town, non-Christians, and nowadays, non-Republicans stealing their stuff or taking control of them is what motivates them to vote more than economic policies - and don't Republican politicians know it!

Another facet of this then is a matter of "the devil you know is better than the one you don't" and fear of change  - and just about everyone they know is Republican, for better or worse. At least they know what to expect, they know what type of exploitation they're going to receive and can adjust versus someone unknown.

Thus, their fear is based on the unknown, and it would border on irrational, if it wasn't helped by the coal companies being based in the Northeast, and what they did do them  - pushed them off their land using law enforcement, when they wouldn't sell for pennies, or burning their houses down, even killing family members.

I guess it never dawns on them that the same people that did that to them were also white Republicans - or that it was the federal government and it was liberals were also from the Northeast  that came in and rescued them?

To them, however, the main problem was that they didn't know the people that did those things to them, they came from somewhere else. 

Actually, this distrust for outsiders/new people is somewhat pervasive throughout Kentucky in general, but nowhere is this mentality more prevalent than than Eastern Kentucky/Appalachia.

It's amazing to me that this borderline-irrational rural fear, particularly with how violent and drug-addled Eastern Kentucky tends to be, has essentially taken control of America.

As for what Kentuckians think of JD Vance, Breathitt County is one of the few Eastern Kentucky counties that has a larger Democratic population than other Eastern Kentucky counties, but still a strong Republican, Trump-supporting votership - and the LHL reported today that many consider him a "sellout."  

Also, someone who shall remain nameless that we know from Breathitt County  - who has a master's degree himself - said this today (paraphrasing):

 "We're real proud of him for getting out of that and what he's made of himself and all, but he's part of the problem.  My family from Breathitt wanted to strangle him for making them all look like lazy hillbillies who enjoy living that way, in his book."

"He acts like he's got it all figured out, it's so easy, that he's just smarter, harder working and better than everybody else in Breathitt, but there aren't enough jobs there, which is why his grandparents left - which, by the way, most people can't even afford to do, even if they have family.  They don't have two cents to rub together between them to be able to afford to move away." 

"He also acts like he's the only person to ever get out, when the rest of us got GI bills, just like him, or got scholarships or put ourselves in debt for years with student loans."

"Also, he was previously a "Never Trumper," calling Trump the "cultural heroin" of the nation and possibly the "American Hitler" - but now he's all about Trump?!?" 

"That's why people are calling him a sellout, Democrats and Republicans alike, because he never explained that 180, so it just looks like he's about himself and whatever it takes to get power. " 

That's true, about not being the only person to get out, and not because he worked harder than everybody else - coal miners are some of the hardest working people in America, doing the jobs no one else wants to do, for little pay.

After both shoveling coal for at least some time, both my father and my grandfather were able to get out of Harlan alive, too, despite that song ("You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive") - to Louisville and Cincinnati respectively, but not by working harder than anybody else, and they didn't do it alone.

My father got a public-university rural scholarship to EKU and earned a double-degree in physics and chemistry, and my grandfather used his GI bill, just like JD Vance, to buy a house in Louisville.

At the same time, my grandfather pulled favors with state politicians that he had met during his time as a deputy, after passing the civil service exam for engineering (with the highest score ever in Kentucky, at that time), requesting a job from them, which they granted him. 

Sure, they were smarter than the average bear - but that in and of itself doesn't get you there, either.

No one is truly self-made, whether it's private or public assistance, or somebody simply took a chance on you enough to give you a job.

Thus, instead of crediting yourself for your hard work and being "self-made," you should be thanking these people for helping you or giving you a chance!

And here's something interesting...

It depends on the individual and their values ...

For example, except for sharing the same politics, my straight-arrow grandfather otherwise rejected the violent, criminal culture of Harlan completely, in favor of a straight-laced, non-violent, non-dramatic life, non-criminal life, free of drugs or alcohol. He was by no means wealthy, in the end, but lived a comfortable, peaceful life.

Conversely, in my Dad's case, he instead admired the flashy, gaudy lifestyle that his dishonest insurance salesman father-in-law had instead, gleaned from cheating his neighbors to get wealthy, as did violence, to get what he wanted.

(In fact, my great grandmother's first husband, my great-grandfather's predecessor, was shot and killed in a shoe store over a pair of shoes - not by him, but just to show you how limited resources are there and how prevalent gun violence is.)

Thus, that double-degree in physics and chemistry didn't even matter, in the end, because even though he started out working for Fisher Scientific in Cincinnati, due to his "get rick quick" mentality from his youth and admiration for his father-in-law's methods, my father ended up becoming a violent criminal, in the end.

Now, in a way, you can understand that "get rich quick" mentality after being so poor, but what you have to do to get that comes at a cost.

So in some cases, you can take the boy out of Harlan, but you can't take Harlan out of the boy - in other cases you can - it depends on each personality and what they value.

Yes, the culture does perpetuate itself - but the Republican leadership  isn't helping, doing nothing for the people but line their own pockets by exploiting them and doing the bidding for the coal companies, getting their votes through fearmongering. 

So I'd call JD Vance worse than a "sellout" - he's a political prostitute of the highest order.

Because he's exploiting these people for money with his book,  then fearmongering them for their votes, while at the same time, blaming them for their own poverty, despite his party being in charge where they live and knowing there aren't any jobs and no efforts to attract any to these regions.

_______________________

PS 

Hehehe - I just looked at a British Trump-supporting conservative's blog, who often likes to "mirror" what I say politically, just to be an ass, and he didn't disappoint.  

He hadn't mentioned Trump's VP pick of JD Vance before, except that he was picked (and I checked before I wrote this post, as a sort of experiment), but since I wrote this post, last night, he has - especially laughable because it's being presented by a person who doesn't even live in this country 😂

I didn't comment, haven't in literally years, because that's what he wants, is to provoke, so I'll say this here, since I know he's reading: 

Dude, I gotta tell you - though America in general does not care what you think, Eastern Kentucky especially does not care what you think.

They don't even care that you're a white-male conservative who supports Trump.

All they care about is that they don't know you, you're not from there, you have no family ties there, and you have a funny accent - and that you haven't done a thing for them.

If you actually showed up at somebody's house in Harlan, with that British accent, the shotguns would likely come out, same as anybody else, just because you're an outsider, but especially because you're not American - and waving your Trump flag around would not save you. 😂

In fact, the only thing that saves my husband with his Detroit accent, when we visit Eastern Kentucky, isn't even his time as an Army ranger - it's his marriage to me, who has family in that area.

He knows that if anyone ever gives him shit, the first thing out of his mouth is "My wife's people are from Harlan County the X and Y families of Harlan County" and then just start rattling off family names from there, starting with my dad, my grandfather, uncles, aunts, cousins. 😂  Not because we were so prominent there, but because you have to prove kin there.

Harlan is especially that way, they don't like strangers, as I said, due to the coal wars years ago.  But if you have family ties to the region, they'll welcome you in with hugs, like they know you. They just have to "know your daddy."

Your daddy could be a serial killer, for all they care😂, they just have to know your people and that they lived their same struggle, at one time.

Point being, you have no idea what it's like to live in America, you've never even stepped foot here, and you know even less about what Eastern Kentucky is like, even most Americans don't.

You haven't done shit for Americans but criticize our culture and our politics, you can't even vote here, and nobody even knows who you are - so why would any American care what you have to say again?

In fact, you haven't even done anything to truly help anyone in your own country!

You just sit around, writing multiple posts all day,  apparently having nothing better to do than write about  what's wrong with everybody else -  from the world in general to your neighbors to other bloggers (which is why we all left). 

All comfy, from behind your computer, you post the latest nothing-burger "news," which is actually something someone you don't even know said on X/Twitter, accepting it as gospel truth, though it could be a Russian chat bot, for all you know (or care)! 

You don't actually care about people's experiences, you just  want to use them so you can be right, validate yourself, and have things your way -  and hopefully get a book deal out of it (never gonna happen, largely because you've never once been right about any of your prognostications). 

Worse, your conspiracy theories never make any sense, and contradict what the last one you just wrote 5 minutes ago 😂 One minute, the Jews are behind everything evil and running the world, the next minute they're victims, based on your regurgitation of right-wing talking points you clearly haven't thought through.

But my absolute favorite is calling normal jet exhaust lines in the sky the "Bill Gates chemtrails,"  spreading COVID and political mind control! 😂  You do realize that's totally wackadoo and you believe that based on no proof whatsoever, right?

Welp, if that's true, then you may want to write your hero and his GOP buddies about relaxing all the EPA rules lately!

Regardless, if you want to keep criticizing American culture and politics anyway, as if you're an expert, without ever having even stepped foot in this country, it's your folly - but do realize that's all it is - your own ignorance and folly.